Re: Review of Keybindings [Re: Dia's user interface]

[rob campbell att net]

> The menus on MB2 (middle) and MB3 (right) should be
conveniences,
> shortcuts to the main menu.  I don't know what the
Gnome usability folks
> have to say about that, but it doesn't matter.  The
menu is the menu is
> the menu: it contains the full set of options/commands
to use the program.

I agree, FWIW.  My personal preference would be to have
everything on a menu bar (or floating menu) and have the
right-click for context-sensitive options.  But I know
some people prefer the convenience of having the full
menu where ever they click.

Dia has an option to display a menu bar, but it disables
the right-click menu elsewhere.  Could I have both?

> I looked at Dia's preferences with new eyes.  Using
> Glade, I mocked up a
> new preferences dialog

Could you post a screen shot, for those of us without Glade?

> "Reverse dragging selects intersecting objects"  Huh?

This is a pretty common and useful features in CAD
programs.  "Reverse drag" means drawing the selection
rectangle from right to left, rather than left to right
(maybe "Reverse drag" is too Euro-centric).  It selects
objects fully and partially within the rectangle, not
just  fully within as when dragging from left to right. 
It would nice if the alternative selection method it
invoked was configurable, for example "Select objects
outside of rectangle", "Select objects outside and
intersecting rectangle", "Select objects insider
rectangle", etc.

The confusion on this option points to two general
improvement could be made to Dia's interface: context
sensitive help and help buttons wired to the help file. 
Are there any GTK+ applications that have this
capability, that the code could be borrowed from?

Rob Campbell
rob campbell att net