Re: Alternative user interface

[Timo K Suoranta <tksuoran cc helsinki fi>]

I tried turning off the reset tools after create. It was slightly better,
but not much. If you want to change the tool, you still have to go the
palette. Not good. Also, with context sensitive palette one chould choose
starting point for connector. Currently connector is always created
unconnected to anything.

It is true that my hardware problems are not Dia' fault. I just wanted to
demonstrate that two mouse buttons is enough, and with proper assignments
you can do a lot with them.

I think most people would like to use the most efficient way, not the one
they are used to. One should not be afraid of testing new ways. Especially
since we are in mostly GNU/Linux environment this should not be a problem
at all.

Finally I want to emphasize that I do not want duplicate menu item. I want
it to be direct operation such that I do not need to go to a menu to
activate it. That is why I put it to a mouse action with modifier key. I
want to reduce user interface overhead. Most of this has to do with the
mouse - I want it to stay on the work.

While these changes require a bit more code, there is at least one simple
way to improve the current user interface: add shortcut keys to shapes.
Together with the 'dont reset tools' this would enable fast switching from
different shapes without need to visit the current shape palette. There
could be a palette with shortcut keys (0..9 for example) to which you
could drag shapes.


-- Timo Suoranta -- tksuoran@cc.helsinki.fi --