[Bf-committers] Proposal about headers menu shortcuts

[mindrones]

Hi,

I forgot to add, usually menus don't have 16 options, but 3, 4, 5...

It would be very easy to switch options, because we can use 4 fingers 
like on a piano on the 1, 2, 3, 4 keys and easily move the hand to do 5, 
6, 7.

Regards,
Luca


On 7/30/2010 8:39 AM, mindrones wrote:
 > Hi,
 >
 > sorry for the very long mail, it's not easy to explain this stuff in a
 > single word :)
 >
 >
 > Introduction
 > =================================================
 >
 > What bugs me about 2.5x series is that we don't expose shortcuts in the
 > headers menu anymore.
 >
 > This makes it difficult to find a shortcut when you forget, especially
 > for newcomers.
 >
 > Example
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > To know the shortcut of the pivot point menu in the 3d view, one simply
 > doesn't know.
 >
 > Problems
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > One has to:
 > - look at the 2.49 toolptip of that menu, and hope it isn't changed, OR
 > - lookup in the super slow keymap editor and go crazy if he doesn't find
 > the exact name soon
 > - ask friends/forums/IRC ->  stupid, and time sink for a sigle command
 > - a newcomer might not know about 2.4, or keymap editor
 > - even if he finds out, it is difficult to find again, hence to fix 
in mind.
 >
 > - the bad thing also for experienced users is that we have one shortcut
 > for each command to remember.
 >
 >
 > Worse example: finally you find out but the shortcuts are a mess
 > --------------------------------------------------------------------
 >
 > Lately I've been doing a bug report and tried many windows types to see
 > differences in the bug behaviour, pressing shift-F2, shift-F3, shift-F4,
 > lots of times.
 >
 > I realized it was pretty much a mess, this is what we have now:
 >
 > http://www.mindrones.com/blender/ideas/windowtype_shortcuts.jpg
 >
 > ...which IMHO is really bad for memorization.
 >
 > New problems
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > - Ok, once you know it, eh... you know it, but it's not easy to build a
 > mental scheme of that.
 >
 >
 >
 > Proposal
 > =================================================
 >
 > These are some solutions that came to my mind.
 >
 > 1)
 >
 > Sort them numerically (3Dview = shift-F1, shift-F2 = timeline, etc).
 >
 > Problem is that many aren't numeric (example, the pivot point use ".",
 > "," etc)
 >
 > 2)
 >
 > Another approach could be showing this shortcuts in the menu, but again
 > I think many would be against for eye-candy.
 >
 >
 > 3) THE ACTUAL PROPOSAL
 >
 > I propose to use a unique shortcut to open the headers menu, followed by
 > a number.
 >
 > For example for the window type it would be good "<" because it's free
 > and it is in a similar position of the button itself (bottom-left).
 >
 > (exception: in the text editor we need to use "<" but could override
 > this as we have for the ctrl-arrows global command which is overridden
 > by the text command "skip words")
 >
 > But we have 16 views, more then 10, so?
 >
 > With layers we do
 >
 > - layer 1  = M,1
 > - layer 2  = M,2
 > - ....
 > - layer 10 = M,0
 >
 > and after 10,
 >
 > - layer 11 = M ->  ALT,1
 > - layer 12 = M ->  ALT,2
 > - etc...
 >
 > For the Window type menu we could do:
 >
 > - option 1  =<   ->  1
 > - option 2  =<   ->  2
 >
 > and after 10,
 >
 > - option 11  =<   ->  alt,2
 > - option 12  =<   ->  alt,2
 > - etc....
 >
 > For easier situations like pivots, we can do:
 >
 > - option 1  = .  ->  1
 > - option 2  = .  ->  2
 > - etc.... (no need to use alt)
 >
 > Easy.
 >
 >
 >
 > Benefits
 > =================================================
 >
 > Consistency with popup menus
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > If this egst accepted, this could be applied to all menus in the headers
 > everywhere, it would be consistent with the popup menus and would be
 > flexible because if a new option appears or get removed, this is easy to
 > find and rebuild in mind.
 >
 > Think about Remove double in 2.4x: it was "W, 6" and now it is "W,4": it
 > has been quite easy to learn again because there was a simple rule, we
 > only had to remember the new number.
 >
 >
 > Save a lot of shortcuts
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > And also, this would save a lot of shortcuts, that could be reused
 > elsewhere.
 >
 > If for example we use "." to open the pivot menu, we are free to use ","
 > and the remaining ones to do something else.
 >
 > In the window type example: if we use "<" we free all the "shift-Fx
 > "commands for something else.
 >
 >
 > Easy to memorize
 > ----------------------------------
 >
 > First off, we would have just one shortcut to remember for pivots,
 > window types, etc...
 >
 > If you're going answer "numbers are cold", or so, if the choice is
 > non-destructive then if one remembers the number wrong he can just keep
 > the fingers on the keyboard and try a new number.
 >
 > This helps a lot memorizing, because usually you learn by mistakes.
 >
 > Examples:
 >
 > - I want the cursor to be the pivot
 >     - press ".", followed by 1
 >     - ack, it's not what I wanted
 >     - easy,  press 2
 >
 > - I want the window type to be "timeline"
 >     - press "<", followed by 1
 >     - ack, it's not what I wanted
 >     - easy,  press 2
 >
 > =================================================
 >
 >
 >
 >
 > Many thanks for your time reading this :)
 >
 > Regards,
 > Luca
 >
 > _____________________________
 >
 > http://www.mindrones.com
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 > Bf-committers at blender.org
 > http://lists.blender.org/mailman/listinfo/bf-committers
 >


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