Re: Object aligning

[Lars Clausen <lars raeder dk>]

On Wed, 2006-05-24 at 13:13 -0400, mirko vukovic us tel com wrote:
> here is my wish for object aligning:
>
> I often draw data flow diagrams, and I find it visually appealing for the objects to be aligned on a 
> rectangular grid.  This is not by design, but by aesthetics (or lack of them).  For example, I will often 
> align objects horizontally or vertically so they are on the same horizontal or vertical line.  I then use 
> the zig-zag line to connect them.  In the end, the objects end up as if they were aligned with grid points. 
>  Note that not all grid points are occupied
>
> I would therefore find it useful if 
>
> 1) the object snap would not only work for the eight snap points along the edges, but for the object center 
> as well.

The issue here is that when moving an object, it snaps to the objects
'position', which is the upper-left corner.  Changing that would have
ramifications beyond the merely trivial.

> 2) if we could create a background grid of non-uniform (horizontal and vertical) spacing, and the objects 
> snapping to the grid points.
>
> Gimp has something like that (I used it once, and don't recall the name, as I don't use it too ofter), 
> where one can "drag out" vertical and horizontal guide-lines from the border onto the canvas, and then 
> align objects with them.

Yes, guides have been asked for before, but nobody has had the time to
implement them yet.  They're certainly an idea I'd like to see in there.

-Lars