[Bf-funboard] method 2b of reworking of ctrl-t, ctrl-p, ctrl-c, etc

[Ton Roosendaal]

Hi Luke,

I think you're looking in the wrong direction. We should separate the  
two things as much as possible, to allow both new users as power users  
to work with Blender.

The issues are:

1. Getting communicated as clear as possible what 'selected' and  
'active' means for Blender. This is "context", as also described in the  
UI doc
2. Make sure tools work in a consistant and non-blocking (nonmodal) way  
with that.

Using a popup menu which shows all selected objects is just wrong. This  
is something a user already should (unconsciously) *know* at that time.  
Including which Object actually is the single 'active' one.

Quote:
"Where most of the users' time will be spent in routine operations of  
the    product and where learning is only a small part of the picture,  
designing for    productivity-- even if that requires retraining-- is  
often the correct    decision." [Raskin p 4]

-Ton-

(Not that I want to declare Raskin our Holy UI Saint! :P )



On Saturday, Sep 27, 2003, at 09:51 Europe/Amsterdam, Luke Wenke wrote:

> (see previous "Reworking of ctrl-t, ctrl-p, ctrl-c, etc" threads for
> background info)
>
> 1) select some objects
> 2) ctrl-p
> 3) The popup menu could say "Select Parent" and in the menu the list of
> selected items is shown. If the active item wasn't initially selected,  
> then
> I'm not sure whether it should appear on the list... or maybe it could
> appear, except be separated from the rest of the items. The mouse would
> begin over the name of the active item. And when you move your mouse  
> of the
> various names, the objects could be tinted (just in case you can't  
> remember
> the name of what you want to be the parent) Then you left-click/enter  
> or
> press esc (like usual) to confirm or abort.
>
> The pop-up menu could look like this:
>
> (assuming the selection is object1 object2 active1)
> Select Parent
> ==========
> active1
> ----------
> object1
> object2
>
> And active could appear there whether it is selected or not (or maybe  
> that's
> a bad idea because it implies that if you choose object1, it will be  
> the
> parent of active1 and object2) - on the other hand, the user should  
> probably
> understand which things are the children since only the selected  
> things can
> be children (even though an unselected active object can be the parent)
>
> So anyway, this works as fast as the old method even if you have a good
> understanding of how active things work...
>
> e.g.
> using the new method (2b), applying ctrl-p and ctrl-t
> 1. select the items
> 2. select the active item if necessary (it isn't necessary with method  
> 2b
> since the active item can be chosen in the final step)
> 3. ctrl-p - mouse appears on active item
> 4. left-click to confirm - the name you clicked on becomes the new  
> active
> item
> 5. ctrl-t - mouse appears on active item
> 4. left-click to confirm - the name you clicked on becomes the new  
> active
> item
> .
> That is as fast as the current method... and if your desired active  
> item is
> hidden amongst lots of other items, method 2b is faster (in the current
> method you've got to repeatedly do shift-RMB to search through the  
> objects -
> in 2b, you can just pick the name from the final menu, and the objects  
> can
> be highlighted/tinted while you're browsing the list).
>
> - Luke.
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>
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------ 
--
Ton Roosendaal  Blender Foundation ton@blender.org  
http://www.blender.org