shift-F4 and Append ideas Re: [Bf-funboard] good append

[Luke Wenke]

> I said:
> >I am more concerned about things that Blender does NOT have.
> There's a difference between 'more concerned' and 'only concerned'

ok.

> The question is not if you need practise to do something, but how much
> strain it produces for the hand. 'Repetative strain injury, RSI'  is one
of
> the most serious Computer 'diseases'

Well since I'm mainly proposing that shift-LMB be used when appending
multiple items it wouldn't be used very often since you could append lots of
items all at once then not have to append any for a long time. Since I
didn't know about the non-intuitive multiple selection thing with the RMB I
ended up appended many items, one at a time. And that is what I think a
major factor in RSI would be - doing the same series of movements over and
over again (to append each individual item).

> >Shift-left-click is also totally consistent with how multiple layers are
> >selected... if you right-click there then you get a menu popping up...
>   Layers are buttons. As far as I know, every button in Blender is pressed
> with a leftclick, while selections inside every kind of window are
> made by RMB. Totally consistant.

Not really. In the 3D windows, the RMB is used to select one item (like how
the LMB is used in append). But to select multiple items or toggle
selections on and off, you use shift-RMB. (or RMB in append). That is
inconsistent. (Of course, you can use "B" to select items as well in the 3D
window)

>   And I still don't care about standards (OS like Windows...). Compare how
> Windows, Mac selects and copies text with the way Linux does. The Linux
way
> is much faster.

Could you explain how that works? I can't imagine it being faster than
windows... in windows you can select text in many ways: 1) hold shift and
use the arrows/pageup/pagedown/home/end/ctrl-home/ctrl-end 2) left click and
drag 3) ctrl-a (selects everything 4) double-click - selects a word 5)
triple-click - selects a paragraph 6) right-click and go to "select all". To
copy text you can 1) use ctrl-c 2) right-click the selected text and go to
"copy"

> But it's not a well known standard. Because Gates is a
> brilliant marketing expert, and nothing more. There's a bunch of that
inside
> Blender. Do what everybody does and you get what everybody gets.
> Blender can be extraordinary (and popular later) or ordinary and popular
> now.
> So I vote for efficiency and consistency over standard OS compatibility.

But I think that OS conventions aren't as bad as you say. I don't think
blender would have suddenly been less efficient if it had let people use the
LMB to select things in the 3D window and the RMB to place the cursor
(reversing the mouse buttons - which would be more consistent with the
OS's). Even within blender, the LMB is often used to make selections - the
layer buttons, radio and toggle buttons, etc. And tabs/panels - which aren't
even buttons.

>   The way the textbox reacts to a leftclick is a bit strange though.

Yeah, if you leftclicked item1 and only highlighted item2 and item3 using
the RMB, item2 and item3 would be appended, and item1 would be displayed in
that textbox...

> wouldn't be surprised if there's a logical explanation. Hidden Qualities
are
> still qualities. But on the other hand, this could get improved.
> But LMB for selection is the real inconsistancy as far as I know Blender.

There's also that append vs. 3D window (and IPO, etc) selection
inconsistency (the use of LMB, RMB and shift-RMB). And as said before, LMB
is used a lot for selection... for panels, tabs, layers, buttons, items in
dropdown menus, etc. Though you could argue that those are controls not
items - though in texture/material/etc dropdowns you are choosing items... I
don't think the case to change the mouse buttons (and use of shift) is
completely clearcut but I think it is leaning towards my side.
- Luke.