[Bf-funboard] Mouse versus hot keys

joe joeedh at gmail.com
Wed Feb 18 07:13:16 CET 2009


On Tue, Feb 17, 2009 at 4:38 PM, Roger <hovergo at net-tech.com.au> wrote:
> <snip>
>> This sounds like the age-old argument.
>>
>> Basically, blender's UI is designed to be fast to use, at the expense
>> of easy to learn.
> </snip>
>
> Blender is very fast, efficient and clean. That we all agree on.
> However nothing in previous arguments for or against precludes making the access
> to some functions cleaner while retaining the current hot keys.
> Then eventually those hot keys can fall into disuse as the new user base grows.

I didn't say that.  That's why blender is the way it is *now*,
obviously us devs plan on making it *better* in the future.  And the
current hotkeys aren't *bad*, supplementing them
is a good idea, yes, even trying to find better ways of doing things,
but trying to phase them out would be stupid.

>
> If indeed there is an "age old argument" then perhaps there is merit in the
> argument, it may just need fleshing out, a new understanding thereof.
> This forum is the tool for fleshing out, discussing new concepts, looking for
> ways to make the 3D modeling, animation and production experience more dynamic
> and that in it'self will encompass new hitherto unthought of ideas for improvement.
>
In my experience, forums are useless for design discussions like this.
 Too many people jump in who ruin the discussion, take it off topic,
rant how much they hate the way things work now, curse us for not
making it like some other app, etc.

The truth is that blender's UI has been stuck more because of internal
code issues, not because we don't want to improve it.  It's not like
we're resisting or anything.

> I see no merit in relating new concepts for improvement to existing ways because
> if the existing ways were the best then there would be no requests for improvement.
>
You can't just ignore the way things work now.  That'd ruin the
consistency of your application.  Of course you don't have to stay
within the bounds of the current workflows either, but you should try
and make everything make sense, and especially don't destroy an old
workflow to create a new one.

> I have previously discussed that universities use and  teach on graphics
> tablets, the mouse and keyboard are things of the past.

That's debatable.  People generally don't switch quickly or easily en
masse to something new like that.  Eventually everyone might use
tablets, yes, but not for several years at least.

> How do new students grow into Blender if it has only hot keys. The way we work
> nowadays is only a growth into the future.
> When, and it will come soon, the mouse is replaced by graphics tablet then point
>  and tap or point and and press will be required not just a mouse replacement.
We do want better support for tablets (or alternative pointing device
setups in general), of course, but that's something that'd need a lot
of design/thinking time to do right.

Besides, saying that "new students can't grow" into blender because
they need a keyboard is kindof silly.  I don't know of any major
comprehensive 3D application where you can use a tablet exclusively,
so it's not like their being taught to only use tablets for 3d work.
And you should never base your immediate priorities on what you think
might happen years from now.

>
> If I could easily set up Fedora to use a graphics tablet, I like my daughter and
> her friends would have little or no need for the mouse or keyboard.
> Roger

Ah, how would you type. . using the tablet pen?  That sounds awkward.
Most people learn to type fast on qwerty keyboards, and won't want to
relearn typing as fast on tablets, without keyboards.

Joe


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