Re: gEDA-user: pcb: active layer helpers

[DJ Delorie <dj@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Be careful not to mix the need for viewing the other side with the
> need to modify the other side.  What the user wants to observe is
> often different than what the user wants to control.

If we decide to keep this, I'd make it a settable option.  Or,
something you can put in your local menu definition.

> Whatever you do, you may want to keep in mind that in the future PCB
> is likely to need more colors to differentiate between items on the
> screen,

The functionality is isolated within the lesstif HID so it can do
pretty much whatever it wants/needs.  At the moment, it just uses a
color halfway between the regular color and the background color.
Even without this, the active layer is always drawn on top, and the
status bar has an indicator (colored, no less) to tell you which is
the active layer.

Stippled might be useful though.  We'll see how it holds up under real
use.

> especially if it ever supports more than 8 layers.

It already supports more than 8 layers.  Just, not by default.  I've
tested it with over 50 layers.  I suspect we'll need to increase the
default, and add some layer management tools (add/delete/move), in
order to support editable masks, keep-outs, plating regions, etc.