Re: Modifying properties of several objects at the same time

[Ben Hetland <Ben A Hetland sintef no>]

Daniele Pighin wrote:
> Alle 14:41, domenica 26 ottobre 2003, Alan G Isaac ha scritto:
>
> > To change the properties of multiple objects in
> > a diagram, I like to be able to associate a style
> > with them.  The style defintion should be local
> > to the diagram.  Each object can then be associated
> > with a list of styles, which should cascade like
> > CSS style sheets do.  In the long run, I think any
> > other approach proves awkward.
>
> I must say that Alan proposal is very very interesting.

I too agree that this was really a good idea about style, and one 
that would facilitate working with larger diagram needing consistent 
properties among elements.

However, I know that sometimes general rules need to be broken for 
strange reasons, so in that case I think that individual diagram 
elements also need to be able to override the general properties 
dictated by the applied style (perhaps without loosing the style 
association for the sake of the remaining properties).

In some cases styles could be an extra overhead that one doesn't 
want to be concerned about (smaller diagrams for example). For this 
reason I think that this functionality is orthogonal to the 
properties editing in general. Backward compatibility with current 
Dia files is also an issue here, I think. Perhaps is it a feature 
that should even wait until after a stable 1.0 is out?


Regards,

-+-Ben-+-