[Bf-funboard] buttons layout proposal

Ton Roosendaal bf-funboard@blender.org
Tue, 12 Aug 2003 13:20:47 +0200


Hi,

Daniel, I think your proposal is most probably easiest to implement -  
and gives quick results in allowing extensions - but bypasses the  
thoughtprocess we're going over for a while now.
Changing interfaces in a tool like Blender is something you cannot do  
often, we now have the opportunity to work on that, and I rather aim at  
a complete make-over in the sense of redefining design concepts -  
interface theory - which will help us building further on Blender for  
the entire 2.x series. This involves design rules for:

- pull down menus
- button panels / toolbars
- quick menus (toolbox)
- hotkeys

And that all related to contexts which already exist in Blender, which  
can be summarized as:

- global context (screens, scenes, internal database)
- current window type (space, editor)
- current 'indicated' data (scene, material, ipo, etc)
- current mode
- current selection and 'active' item (face, strip, bone, etc)

For button panels I would like to find rules as well, to have options  
and settings presented in such a way, that we can prevent a lot of  
confusement Blender users & newbies now are fighting with.

-Ton-



On Tuesday, Aug 12, 2003, at 00:09 Europe/Amsterdam, Daniel Fairhead  
wrote:

>> So in a choice between Daniel's Tabs and Matt's Dropdown's, I vote for
>> the dropdowns because I can still have all I want visible, which is  
>> not
>> possible with tabs.  It will make things more elegant for and  
>> organised
>> for newbies while possibly still functioning in the same way for old
>> timers who got used to having everything up front!
>>
>> Nothing personal Daniel! :o) Just my opinion based on my workflow!
>
> NP. If the dropdowns are implimented, then hopefully it means each
> buttons-dropdown is seporated and object based (note, not object
> oriented) in the code, and so can be re-used properly elsewhere,
> for instance, in a horizontal window, the window should be  
> re-propotional.
>
> The drop-downs are very cool as allowing multiple things visible at a  
> time,
> but I would still vote for re-organizing the buttons within the  
> dropdowns,
> giving better labeling, button-texts, spacing, etc.
>
> A question about dropdowns:
>
> If we can have a horizontal window with the the dropdowns next to each
> other horizontally, what happens when there are too many dropdowns to
> fit in the window?
>
> Whichever way it is done, all needs much thought (everything.  
> dropdowns is very
> good idea.)
>
> If this is all done object based (note: not object oriented. can't do  
> that easily with
> c), then dropping the sections from the dropdowns into tabs should be  
> no trouble
> either, if ever that does have advantages. Or pop-up windows for other  
> functions
> as well. (Imagine having _all_ editing functions in drop-down  
> sections. extrude,
> subdivide, flatten, split, etc ... and then instead of a pop-up menu  
> when you press
> "w" key, you get the correct section (either as a popup, or roll-out  
> in your buttons
> window!)
>
> This would partially solve the "hotkeys do functions I can't find in  
> the GUI!" dialemma.
>
>> on a side note: a 13 second 100% Blender animation commercial should  
>> make
>> its debut on 3 of our local TV stations today! ;o)
>
> hurrah!!
>
> Dan
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>
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation ton@blender.org  
http://www.blender.org