[Bf-committers] Floating buttons proposal

[Jorge Rodriguez]

The purpose of floating controls is to allow designs from the proposals of
persons like:


   - Bill Reynish<http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J4mFuYz0ZBU/TqRngF0eagI/AAAAAAAAAJw/2LASnxw262k/s1600/Blender_ui_cleanup.jpg>(On
the left of the 3D view)
   - Myself <http://i.imgur.com/ErmDd.png> (On the bottom of the 3D view)
   - Leeroy/LCG <http://i.imgur.com/Lxqn1.jpg> (Along the top)


My proposal doesn't include any specific designs, only the ability to
create them through scripting. The 'T' toolbar would likely be replaced
entirely by some sort of floating control arrangement. The end result would
be more space available for the user. The "previous operator" panel is in
my opinion a good workflow idea with a failed design implementation, and we
should experiment with other
ways<http://dl.dropbox.com/u/4205810/blender-opstack.png>of doing it,
which would be supported by the floating controls structure.

I think that not having pixel locations, while it makes sense with the
properties panels, may not make so much sense here. Some designs, such as
the third, may not boil down to just a row or column of buttons. These
designs won't change all that often, so I don't think adding one button
between others is a use case that we need to be more concerned about. To
zoom, the layout engine can simply scale the pixel locations and sizes. We
can include the ability to arrange buttons in rows and columns as well, but
I think pixel locations is a good idea.

Note: Undocking a panel is another thing to do on my list, but it's not
part of this proposal.

On Fri, Jun 15, 2012 at 7:01 AM, Brecht Van Lommel <
brechtvanlommel at pandora.be> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm missing details on how you interact with these floating things, a
> mockup, an example for how they would be used, etc. For me it seems
> that this would be another way to present what we already have in
> panels and menus. So how do these coexist, what goes where? Right now
> we basically have a toolbar, a redo panel, and properties of the
> space.
>
> Could they be some sort of region inside a space like we have now, but
> overlayed with a transparent background?
>
> Also explicit values for pixel sizes should be avoided in scripts,
> that doesn't work well with a zoomable interface, and makes it more
> complicated to drop in a button between others. It's nice to allow
> flexibility but in the end I think you mostly want e.g. a row of icons
> for a toolbar, or undocking some panel, .. ? So it may not need that
> many layout code changes, that seems lower priority to me.
>
> Brecht.
>
> On Wed, Jun 13, 2012 at 8:06 PM, Jorge Rodriguez
> <jorge at lunarworkshop.com> wrote:
> > As part of my GSoC I'm going to be implementing some floating buttons in
> > the 3D view. It should help with usability, with reducing clutter in the
> > properties/tool panels, and with tablet users. I'd like some Blender devs
> > to please review it and make comments so that I can revise it before it's
> > updated.
> >
> > http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/User:Vino/Floating_Buttons_Proposal
> >
> > Thank you.
> >
> > --
> > Jorge "Vino" Rodriguez
> > jorge at lunarworkshop.com
> > twitter: VinoBS
> > 919.757.3066
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Bf-committers at blender.org
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-- 
Jorge "Vino" Rodriguez
jorge at lunarworkshop.com
twitter: VinoBS
919.757.3066