Re: Now look what you made me do

["Sameer Sahasrabuddhe" <sameerds gmail com>]

On 10/2/07, Lars Clausen <lars raeder dk> wrote:
> However, I think the change should be of the entire editing of one
> object rather than everything edited in edit mode, since you can tab
> between objects without leaving edit mode.

Tabbing to other objects while in edit mode ... is that a good idea?
1) How do you insert a tab?
2) This reflects the action-object paradigm of interaction, like the
"cut tool" in xfig. You first select the cut tool and then go about
deleting an object. The object-action paradigm would be to select an
object, then select the action. Selecting a different object
automatically exits the action. Gnome is an action-object environment
(disclaimer: not an expert) and, retaining edit mode while tabbing to
a different object doesn't "fit in".
3) If tabbing to a different object in edit mode retains edit mode,
then what does clicking on a different object do? Disclaimer: this is
the first time I was exposed to the idea of tabbing to a different
object, whether modal or not. Dunno about the thoughts and arguments
that went into implementing this. Apologies for not doing my homework
yet again.
4) In edit mode, if you edit object1, then move to object2, edit it
and move back to object1, then which action is picked for undo ... the
last action on the current object (object1), or the last action in the
mode (object2)?
5) My pet analogies ... nautilus, explorer, spreadsheets ... they
don't work that way.

> It should be possible to hack the stack when ending edit for an object to collapse
> all edit into a simple text change.

Allowing tabbing to different objects while in edit mode implies a
separate undo stack for each object, managed by the mode. When exiting
the mode, every stack will be collapsed into a per-object change,
pushed in the latest-interacted-first order for objects.

Sameer.
-- 
Research Scholar, Department of CSE, IIT Bombay
http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/~sameerds/