Re: Preferences dialog (RE: Review of Keybindings [Re: Dia's user interface])

[rob campbell att net]

On Wed, 1 May 2002, Lars Clausen wrote:
> > It does look good, but it will be difficult to maintain
> > those good looks
> > as options inevitably get added.
>
> True.  That can be a bonus, interface-wise:  It will
> make us think twice before adding more options.

I think we're already at the point.  What about settings
for the diagram tree?  Or the shape editor thingie (I
don't have the CVS version, so I don't know what those
might be)?  Or often requested features, like
customizable units, which hopefully Dia will have
someday?  A single, well layed out dialog would become
unwieldly.

> Actually, I don't like Gimps prefs dialog.  I can never
> figure out where the thing I'm wanting to set lives.
> What's the difference between Interface, Environment
> and Session, and between Display and Monitor?

That isn't the fault of the notebook or tree metaphor. 
That's bad design.  What if the proposed dialog was split
into 2 pages, Editor and New Diagrams?  And additional
pages were added for the diagram tree and other
functions, as necessary?

The current dialog only has 23 options, including the
diagram tree pane.  That's not a lot nor unreasonable. 
And I expect the number of reasonable and appropriate
settings will grow.  I think the problem with the current
preferences is that it's poorly organized, it's
unattractive, and some of the options are unclear. The
proposed dialog fixes these problems, but it limits
expansion.  I don't think the tabbed dialog should be
thrown out too hastily.

Rob Campbell
rob campbell att net