Re: GUI design of 0.7

[Joel Biddier]

C. Ecker wrote:

> I did think about the toolbox and came to one conclusion: I should keep my
> hand from things I am really bad in. Further, it is not worth thinking too
> deep about that. It takes only some minutes to change it and is really
> just the look.
>  
I'm no expert myself. But the idea here is that we need not be. As you 
say, this is cosmetic and can change.

> More important is to clarify the conceptional questions so that we can
> start coding:
>
> - What buttons do we need at all ? My idea was that there should be no
> buttons at the document window and that all frequent operations should
> have buttons (undo/redo, selection, drawing tools, grouping, stacking,
> dublicate, ...). The user should be able to do the common things without
> touching the keyboard.
>  
Yes, I also am reconsidering having a buttons on the document window. 
But the issue is then where do you put all the buttons?
I'm a stuck on this - they have to go somewhere. The main toolbax may 
not be able to accommodate all the buttons and still have
an esthetic look. Again Sodipodi is the example that always comes to my 
mind. But some may like that UI, so it is just a matter of taste.
And this can change. I'm not fervent on the look as it may seem. It you 
go with the Sodipodi look, Im OK with it.

> - Do we want CSDI or not ? (I do not like that term anyway)
>  
Again, I am neutral on this. You or Bernhard should decide and go with 
it, seeing that once you do, it's done (no going back).

> - The role of the toolbox as main window
>  
That will depend on CSDI/MDI ... , and where we put the buttons. Figure 
that out and the toolbox may follow (maybe ;-) ).

> - ...
> matrix like organization, grouped, structured by
> leaving some cells empty.
>  
We should fill the blanks in this case.  I'm only putting ideas out there.

You need not  take what I say to heart.
If a suggestion is usefull use it, if not, don't . That's the best 
practice. Remenber you are coding, I am only yelling form the side lines 
;-).

>  
>
> > It is my (off the hip) feeling to use multiple menus, but many of them
> > tabbed. I did use Illustrator alot in the past (professionally). So I am
> >    
> Do you mean "menues" or "panels" ? In the current 0.7 there are some
> panels with tabs and I changed them to single panels mainly because
> of drag and drop (e.g. from property stack to named styles panel) and
> because single panels somehow appear "cleaner" to me.
>
>  
I most likely mean menus (Fill, Line, ...). You are the main programmer 
here, so I say if you like the single panels (i.e. Fill panel separate 
from Line panel) go with that.

I am only suggesting ways of conserving screen real estate. This is also 
the idea behind a two (or three max. Hence,  groups of 2,4,6... and 
3,6,9...) column grid. It conserves the maximum amount of screen real 
estate. Note that everything is square. So, if the main panel is wide, 
you loose all the space beneath it (assuming the main panel is not 
always on top, which in the case of say CDE, it may not be).

--J