[Bf-funboard] Toolbox and Menusystem

[Luke Wenke]

> Some suggestions for renaming things:
>
> "Duplicate linked" -> "Create Instance" / "Clone"
> Ok, won't fit to well to the shortcut, but "Duplicate linked"
> just sounds strange and isn't easily understood.

http://members.chello.nl/j.kassenaar/blender/hotkeys/kall.htm
On that webpage it has
"Duplicate" and "Data-linked Duplicate" (There are two types - according to
that site, one is d/shift-d and the other is alt-d)... I those two names are
good... and they go well with the hot-key letter.

> "Make Single User" -> "Break Links", "Unlink", "Make Autark"
> Because I'm the user and single!

I'd strongly recommend against "make autark" since that work is meaningless
to me and I've finished an information technology degree so if I don't know
what it is, then many or most others wouldn't either.
Since the hotkey is "U", my vote goes for "unlink".

> "Copy Properties" -> "Transfer Properties"
> So that nobody mixes up with the notorious Copy/Paste.
> Besides, "Properties" is itself in the Copy-Menu.
> Copy Properties > Properties seems strange.

It could be "Get Property From [activeObjName]" (it could be singular
[property] since you only get one property type at a time) Or I guess "Copy
Property From [activeObjName]" would be better since the "C" in copy goes
with the ctrl-C hotkey. When people are using it incorrectly (like a copy
and paste) they would generally select one object since it doesn't make much
sense to copy the locations/rotations of multiple objects... and when they
only select one object then a helpful error message could appear. e.g. "one
or more destination objects must be selected". That implies that the
currently selected object is the "source" for the property
(location/rotation/etc).

> I collected items that depend on more than 1 object beeing
> selected:
>
> - Join Objects
I think this should be called "Join To [activeObjName]" because after the
operation, the new name of the object becomes whatever the active object was
called. And ctrl-J only works if the active object is selected. (It won't
work if all of the selected items are non-active)

> - Boolean Operation
> - Copy Properties
> - Track (Make, Clear)
> - Parent (Make, Clear)
Clear Track only needs one (or more selected). Same with "clear parent".

> - Make Links
>
> Hope that are all!?
Maybe not.... there is g, r, s, del, x, etc... see these hotkey lists:
http://www.eskimo.com/~johnnyb/computers/blender/Blender_Hotkeys.html
http://members.chello.nl/j.kassenaar/blender/hotkeys/kall.htm

>.... Luke brought up that those items should be accessible, even when
> no appropiate selection has been made. And that helpful error
> messages should be used. I agree, but instead of
> reporting error, messages advising the user to select other
> objects should be implemented.

By "helpful error message" I mean a message that is informative and helpful
should appear. At the moment when you press ctrl-t, etc, with not enough
things selected, nothing at all happens. It appears to the user that the
operation completed successfully - unless they try and test the tracking,
etc.

- Luke.