Re: Patch for Delete key behavior (for dia-0.96.1)

[Lars Clausen <lars raeder dk>]

On Fri, 2007-09-28 at 11:34 -0400, Michael Ross wrote:
> Inkscape works fine to me.  Explorer is only used when I name or
> rename files and folders.  Never heard of Nautilus.

It's the default file manager in Gnome.  You may not have noticed the
name.

> Explorer isn't serving the same purpose and so if form follows
> function then it may not be the best model. 
>
> Seems to me that Inkscape is closer to Dia in that we want blocks of
> texts that are mutable for content, location, and size as blocks. 

What we should follow is what the user expects, what the commonly used
guidelines say, and what is practical for effective use.  Unfortunately,
users who've tried other similar programs before will expect similar
behaviours as the various programs they come from, while those who
haven't tried similar programs will expect "standard" behaviours.  So
I'm all for looking at what other programs do for testing how well
something works or for picking a choice that's otherwise even, but I
will not go against what the HIG or common sense says is the right
thing.  I am not going to have Alt-F4 listed next to my Quit menu entry
just because it's used like that for backwards compatibility.

> I think Inkscape has a better method than Dia from a user POV, maybe
> not from the developer side...can you just steal it? Is that code
> open? The font size in Dia has always been inscrutable.  In Inkscape
> the text is a vector entity which can be rotated, its aspect ratio
> changed, fill and stroke, and opacity are options.  I will take all
> that!  Explorer has nothing I know of that is comparable to the text
> function of Inkscape. 

Inkscape is very differently structured, it being a vector editor and
all.  I did once look at what they did for fonts, and just couldn't see
a good way to use what they have.  BTW, the font size entries in current
SVN are in pt unless you choose otherwise, and the unit is shown in the
entry box.

-Lars