Re: GUI design of 0.7

[Pieter Edelman]

>
> Oops, OK. Then I think that this is not too simple, for it depends on
> the object.
>
> before I go on and on (and make a bigger ass of myself ;-) ) is this
> what you mean:
>
>  If I draw a spiral using a dialog and now a want to change the number
> of twists, I chang the params on a dialog and hit an "apply" button.
> What would be the alternative? Other than an on canvas drag node to
> modify type deal.
>
> "When you are applying an effect,
> you can choose to update the image after every parameter change
> (autoupdate)"
>
> I don't understand.It is clear I am not getting something...
>
> --J
Ok, maybe I took some shortcuts in my explanation. Let me try again:
Suppose you have a spiral object with three twists and you want to make it 
five. So you bring up the dialog for changing the number of twists. Let's say 
we use a text input field for that. Now there are two options:
- The moment you enter "5" in this text field, a new spiral with five five 
twists is drawn. I call this "autoupdate". I'm not sure if this is the 
correct term.
- The moment you enter "5" in the field nothing happens. Only when you hit the 
"apply" button on the dialog, a new spiral with five twists is drawn. I call 
this "manual update". Again, not sure if this is the correct term.

In both cases, the change is made permanent as the "Ok" button is pressed, or 
removed as the "Cancel" button is clicked.

Both options have their strenghts and weaknesses. An auto-update scenario has 
the great advantage that immediate feedback is given. BUT, if the updating 
takes some time (let's say, more than half a second), it can become very 
annoying in some cases. For example if you want tho have 50 twists, the 
spiral is redrawn as you type "5" and again if you type "0". Or if you want 
to use a slider, in which case redrawing occurs at intermediate steps. Or if 
you want to change both the number of twists and the spacing between them 
from the same menu, in which case a redraw is done after changing each 
parameter.
In these cases it is more convenient to turn of auto-update and press the 
"apply"-button (or better, the "preview" button) when you think you're ready 
for it.

Note that drawing spirals isn't that CPU-intensive, but other oprations (like 
colorizing, but that may be due to my crappy coding;-) are.

To summarize, in my ideal scenario, each dialog has a tick with 
"auto-update" (or "auto-preview"), and a "apply" ("preview") button.

I hope I made myself more clear now,
Pieter
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