Re: gEDA-user: Solving the light/heavy symbol problem

[Chris Malton <chrism@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 20/05/11 17:01, DJ Delorie wrote:
> * Standard library is light, users heavyify them (we need a better
>    verb for that ;) into a project-specific (or even site-global) heavy
>    symbol library.
Personally, I'd say that this is a sensible way to go.

I'd then suggest having an extra set of options somewhere (perhaps even 
have an entire beginner mode), and this guides people through the 
"heavification" of symbols.

For example, when you select a component to add to the schematic, it 
offers some help by suggesting a set of "frequently used footprints" 
(probably generated from the user's MRU list), along with suggesting 
addition of other attributes.

The other thing that I find insanely useful is gedasymbols.  I don't 
suggest for a single moment that shipping the entire gedasymbols library 
with gEDA/PCB is a good idea, but perhaps the following should be 
considered (no idea if it's actually possible):
- gEDA has a way of detecting a network connection.
- If connected, search will also search gEDAsymbols, and on request 
download the sym (and possibly its associated footprint).

This, again, would certainly help with streamlining my workflow, as I 
tend to spend a fair amount of time opening tabs and browsing to 
gedasymbols.

I don't think shipping heavy symbols is a good idea - it is easier to go 
from light -> heavy, than the other way, even if it's only a few mouse 
clicks away.

One final comment about this: Perhaps the proposed sym+metadata+fp is 
the way forward - the metadata is basically a set of overrides on the 
sym and fp data, and everything gets dealt with that way.

Just my 2 cents.....

Chris


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