Re: gEDA-user: PCB: GUI comments on speed

["harry eaton" <bumpelo@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> Finally, pcb came first (before gEDA) so maybe gEDA should bend to pcb's
>> UI. I certainly find
>> pcb's to be more natural and less "thick" i.e. fewer keystrokes or other
>>operations to accomplish
>> something.

>Relative to what?  To gschem?  Allow me to posit the argument that you
>don't know gschem very well then, because I'm at least 4x to 5x faster
>in gschem at getting work done than I am in pcb, easily.

Let's take a simple example. Suppose you want to move something on screen.
In gschem you must first enter select mode (s key) but you must divert you
view
from where you are working up to the top bar to see what mode you're in
because
the cursor gives no indication. Then you have to click and release the
object you
want to move, then hit the m key, then you can drag it to the new position,
then
you click and release to let go of it in the new position.

That is 7 operations just to move something, and it remains selected when
you're done
which might not be what you want. Now compare to pcb. The arrow tool is
bound
to the middle button so press the middle button over the object and drag it
to the new
location, then release. That would be 3 operations for pcb. Even if you have
to hit
F11 to switch to the arrow tool in case you don't have a 3 button mouse it
only becomes
4 operations. The cursor also always shows you what tool is active so you
don't have to
divert your attention from what you want to do to see if you need a mode
switch first.

Pick just about any other operation and pcb does it in fewer button clicks,
keys pressed
etc. than gschem does. For placing components pcb's UI is awesome, select
the rotate tool,
put up the rats and use left mouse button to rotate elements, middle button
to drag them
around and the b key to pop them to the back side. You can come up with a
well organized
parts placement very quickly.

It's not that I don't listen to user input, quite the contrary a lot of the
pcb interface came
from user suggestions. It's just that I don't agree with your views that
different (and more)
steps are better.