Re: UI-update
Tim Hutt <[email protected]>
| Newsgroups | gmane.comp.graphics.ipe.general |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <CAKuVd4CtDyq6zHb-OT3x0x7PJshUPv5aynfD0cP0sBUi9akbPQ@mail.gmail.com> |
I agree with all this. Especially the undo dialog. No other programs have a dialog to tell you the undo stack is empty. But maybe you are attached to it, in which case a simple compromise could be to add a "Don't show this again" checkbox. The same for deleting layers, ie "All objects in this layer will be deleted. Continue? (Yes) (No) [×] Don't show this warning again". Cheers, Tim On Nov 28, 2011 5:48 PM, "Troels Sørensen" <trold-/cMCkHlkxH8bN9Upbcd4uVpr/1R2p/[email protected]> wrote: > I realised that my replies only went to Otfried... so here we go again: > > 2011/11/27 Otfried Cheong <[email protected]> > >> On 11/27/2011 09:15 AM, Troels Sørensen wrote: >> >>> Reading actions.lua also made me figure out that it is indeed >>> possible to delete a layer. This is highly non-obvious, and actually >>> the reason for me starting to write ipelets. Is there any reason for >>> not allowing deletion of non-empty layers (besides the undo-code not >>> supporting it atm.)? I often end up with extra layers that are not >>> visible in any views, and it is annoying having to empty a layer to be >>> able to delete it. Similarly, the selected layer in some view seems >>> like a strange block for deleting a layer. >>> >> >> So what should be the desired behaviour? Simply delete all the objects >> in the layer that you are deleting? Or move them to the active layer? >> > > Layers is not a feature that is unique to ipe, and thus the behaviour > should be the same as in the other programs using layers: deleting a layer > also deletes all objects in the layer. This is the behaviour in both > Photoshop and Gimp. > > Every view needs to have an active layer, so what should Ipe do when you >> delete a layer that's active somewhere? I think it would be a rather >> unpleasant surprise if Ipe simply switched the view to a different active >> layer. >> > > I don't think that the active layer should have any influence on what can > be deleted. Imagine your text-editor saying "You cannot delete this line; > that's where your cursor is". There are two situations to consider here: > 1) The layer to be deleted is active in the current view: the user already > has focus on the layer-frame, and can see what is going on. > 2) The layer to be deleted is active in another view: the user has to > change to that view for it to even matter. It seems unlikely that the user > will remember what layer was active on that view, but not be able to > remember that it was deleted. > > As long as the rule for selecting the new active layer is consistent, I am > not too worried about which one it is. Possible rules for the case that > the active layer gets deleted include: > 1) Previous layer becomes active, unless deleted layer was the first, in > which case the next layer becomes active > 2) Next layer becomes active, unless deleted layer was the last, in which > case the previous becomes active > 3) Either of the above rules, but restricted to visible layers in that > view. Select last layer, if no visible layers remain. > > The problem of having an invisible layer as the active one is deeper than > simple deletion of layers. I would suggest either using a different colour > for the active layer in the layer menu, if the active layer is invisible, > or displaying a warning in the status line. > > Of course would we could do is enable "delete" in the side menu for all >> layers, and then show an error message if it is active in some view, to >> make it clearer to the user what is happening. >> > > I am not a big fan of pop-up warnings. No other program I know of pops up > anything for simple warnings that show up in normal use of the program. > While it does ease the learning curve, most advanced users will get > annoyed by it. This also holds true for undo/redo; I don't need a pop-up, > simply because I reached the end of the undo/redo stack. A simple message > in the status line would suffice, like most other programs do for undo/redo. > > Best, > Troels > > _______________________________________________ > Ipe-discuss mailing list > Ipe-discuss-rGrgPyRx506NN8uzcEdRPYRWq/[email protected] > http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/ipe-discuss > > _______________________________________________ Ipe-discuss mailing list Ipe-discuss-rGrgPyRx506NN8uzcEdRPYRWq/[email protected] http://lists.science.uu.nl/mailman/listinfo/ipe-discuss