Re: gEDA-user: Layer button backgrounds

[Colin D Bennett <colin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 18 Aug 2011 23:12:57 +0200
Kai-Martin Knaak <kmk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Colin D Bennett wrote:
> 
> > I really dislike the double-click idea.  I often need to quickly
> > enable/disable visibility of multiple layers, 
> 
> Nothing beats accel-keys for fast actions. In this case [ctrl-N] or 
> [shift-N] would be the natural choice. 

I don't argue that in general, keyboard accelerators are a very fast
way of working.  But I can't see them being the best way of
quickly showing/hiding multiple layers.

I try to work with left hand in the qwerty home position and right hand
on the mouse (and no looking away from the screen).  Pressing Ctrl-7
means I have to look down at my keyboard and move my left hand from the
home position.  Also, without numbers on the layer buttons, the layers
after about #3 are not easily and without extra thought associated by a
human with the correct numeric index.  If I wanted to hide âviasâ,
âpins/padsâ, and âsilkâ, it would be tremendously harder to figure out
that I had to press Ctrl-6, Ctrl-8, Ctrl-9, rather than  just
click-click-click with the mouse directly on the layer's button.

> > and the last thing I need is to have to double-click each button.
> 
> A double click is a single action to me. 
> If you don't like double clicks, how about [control-click]?

Control-click is better for me.  Double-click requires my mouse to
pause for a moment longer than a single click, introducing
a discontinuity in the otherwise fluid move-click-move-click-move-click
process I would use to show/hide a set of layers.

> > I would much prefer a small region on the button (or next to the
> > button) that controls active/inactive. 
> 
> Seems, our preference differs in this aspect. I'd rather not target 
> small areas for quick, fast actions. This is what we have now with 
> the toggle buttons. And I tend to mis-click every once in a while. 

I know about Fitts's law, but once my mouse is in the layers palette, I
don't have to move far to hide/show many layers at once, so I don't
mind if the Show/Hide button is relatively small.

Anyway, I think it makes sense to have both keyboard shortcuts and a
way to show/hide layers with the mouse.  Perhaps useful for different
purposes, but also based on personal preference.

Regards,
Colin


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