[Bf-taskforce25] readability improvements of properties window

[Dalai Felinto]

Too much UI dance for every tab opening is way too distracting IMHO.
Leave it as an alternative (not the default) can work though.

Dalai Felinto
http://blenderecia.orgfree.com

On 17/09/2009, at 19:14, Jon Sandström <sjon at student.chalmers.se>  
wrote:

> The buttons window (properties) has seen some major improvements in  
> 2.5,
> however,
> even more can be done to improve readability and navigation of the
> interface.
> The biggest problem is that blender has to show a lot of data, but  
> there
> is an
> easy way to solve this which is already practiced in the interface to
> some extent.
> The trick is to only show data which is of interest to the user.
> currently blender
> gives the user the ability to hide unneccesary data by for example
> collapsing tabs.
>
> A more efficient way to work is to give the user the ability to show  
> the
> wanted
> data and then hide it automatically when it is no longer of interest  
> to
> the user
> (Imagine having to close the windows start-menu manually every time
> after opening it).
> An easy way to extend this behaviour in blender is to automatically
> collapse all
> tabs when a new tab is opened. This way the interface will stay clean,
> and a minimum
> amount of scrolling is needed. (see mockup:
> http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5245/mockupr.jpg)
>
> sometimes however, it is desireable to show multiple tabs. this can be
> done in two ways:
> 1) shift+click - this opens the selected tab without closing the ones
> currently open.
> 2) pinnig - all tabs that are pinned will remain open untill unpinned.
> This is basically a
> more flexible version of current behaviour.
>
> this workflow will require an improved design of the "hotspot" area in
> the tab headers.
> currently the triangle is used to open and close the tabs, while the
> rest of the area is
> used to move the tabs. since the "open/close" hotspot is the one most
> frequently used,
> this should have the largest area, and a new third area could be  
> used to
> pin the tab
> open (again, see mockup:
> http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5245/mockupr.jpg )
>
> when the user opens a tab we can assume that he/she wants to see all  
> its
> content,
> and therefore blender should if necessary scroll to a position were  
> the
> entire content
> of the most recently opened tab can be viewed
>
> conclusion:
> if tabs are automatically closed, it will be easier and faster to find
> desired data.
> this behaviour can co-exsist with current behaviour (pinning) so i
> cannot find any arguments
> not to implement it
>
> if anyone with the knowledge, time, and motivation required, could try
> this in action
> i would be very thankful. i'd also like to hear your thoughts on this,
> and maybe someone
> can find some arguments against this approach.
> If you like/dislike it, please let me know :)
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