[Bf-funboard] Recover last session, open recent, and open

Doug Ollivier doug at mudpuddle.co.nz
Sun Apr 22 06:51:07 CEST 2007


Thanks for the feedback Bassam


Bassam Kurdali wrote:
> Hi, in my opinion, we are "ok"... Here is my reason:
>   

I agree that we are "ok" but I think we can be "fantastic"

I posted it here since I don't see it as a bug, and i only see it as an 
"improvement" rather than an essential feature.

Coming from a user experience background rather than a coding background 
I have certain motives.   Functionally the features I post about work 
fantastically, so we are fine in that sense, but experience wise I think 
there are opportunities to hit areas where expectations can be exceeded, 
and new standards in open source pleasure can be set.

>> 1) Recover last session.
>>     
> pops up a "dialog"- you have to do the further action of selecting which
> file to recover
>   
Is this a suggestion or a current feature?  if its a suggestion, then it 
sounds great (removes the need for users to find, and look in the temp 
directory).  If its a current feature then perhaps its in a CVS build 
which I haven't used yet.


> blender "drops out" sounds like a crash? otherwise I'm not sure what it
> means.
>   
I don't know if similar things are experienced by others, but when my 
blender scene has enough poly's  the interface becomes rather unstable 
(not visually unstable, but responsively unstable)  this means that it 
is common for me to open a menu and have it close, without me choosing 
or clicking anything.  or have a menu button chosen without me clicking 
anything.  I personally call this dropping out.

It dropped out when I was moving my mouse towards save. and the menu 
disappeared. the screen changed its 3d content.  I deduced that it 
recovered the last file, which didn't offer any, popup, undo, nor 
backup, resulting in a fairly minor loss of data, and this topic on the 
funboard.

> I can't comment on undo across save- I've not seen any other app do
> this, but I have no idea if it's because it's bad, hard to implement, or
> if they just didn't think of it. Perhaps some of the more
> design/interface oriented people on the list have a better idea.
>   
Blender is a unique program in that the interface works with a single 
file at a time. and does not have multiple files open in separate 
sub-windows.

This is another opportunity to implement something which is unique 
within blender, which meets a possible desire for undo across file 
changes (or a backup as you have suggested.  switch.blend or something. 
or a quit.blender per file....)

> I could be insensitive here- I'm a fairly good touch typist and I've
> never pressed a "dangerous" hotkey by mistake during the years I've been
> using blender. This may not fit other users experiences.
>   
When referring to dangerous I  was simply meaning "permanent" changes.  
I access most file functions through the menu. many others might too.  
I'm assuming the hot keys for many of these functions are a little less 
likely to be accidentally pressed.

As a power user you are also likely to be proficient with the hotkeys, 
comfortable setting up the software for your system, and comfortable 
fixing/recovering things if anything goes wrong.  Your experience using 
the software is likely in the top few percent of users.  However, a 
problem which would not effect you or many others, can potentially ruin 
someone's day.

I'm a bit of an advocate for "average users", as I feel something that 
meets the average users needs will also meet the needs of power users 
such as yourself, and newbies alike.  at least these types of 
non-invasive features won't get in the way of power users which would be 
a disaster.

Thanks for your response Bassam

Again, not a demand for a feature, nor a complaint.  but rather a heads 
up on something i have found which "I" think has potential for development.

Catch ya round.

Alltaken


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