Re: Zoom Patch

["Phillip Neiswanger" <sigsegv0 gmail com>]

On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 23:53:57 -0600, Sameer Sahasrabuddhe  
<sameerds gmail com> wrote:

> On 8/31/08, Phillip Neiswanger <sigsegv0 gmail com> wrote:
>
> > 1. This is the mouse I own.
> > http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230284952391
>
> Errr ... ebay says the item is not available for bidding, and I couldn't  
> see what it is.

Wow! The item is ended, but I can still scroll thru it. I couldn't find  
much of anything about it on Logitech's site, but hopefully this amazon  
link will work for you.

http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-TrackMan-Marble-FX-Trackball/dp/B00000JBUI

>                 But I went to the manufacturer's website for info, since  
> that is less likely to suddenly disappear, and I am guessing that this  
> is what you have:
>
> http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/mice_pointers/trackballs/devices/156&cl=us,en
>
> Nice. But not my type. They don't even sell it in my country! And  
> anyway, that is not the point here.

I've tried these and others. I don't like them as much as my marble fx.   
Hard on the wrist, carpel tunnel and all that.

> > What does it matter anyway?
>
> It matters because Dia is a Gnome application, and in general Gnome  
> tries to be very thoughtful about many disparate but large classes of  
> people. Hence I quoted this link, which any Gnome application is  
> required to follow. Anything from here, that is not implemented  
> correctly, is a bug.
>
> http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/input-mouse.html.en

If that's the consensus I have no problem with this. I'm just interested  
in a more interactive zoom.

> > Shouldn't this be something I can configure?
>
> Definitely. But the defaults must follow the HIG, and you seem to be  
> changing the default behaviour in the Dia code itself.

Right. Because that is how Dia is currently written. It's all hard coded.  
There's no configuration code in any of the mouse handling code right now.  
If the consensus is to add configuration code, then let's start talking  
about that.

> > Reguardless. The point of my patch was to give Dia a more interactive  
> > zoom
> > than what is currently provided by Dia. In the end, I don't care what
> > sequence of buttons I have to press or what kind of mouse movement is
> > required. I just would like to see a more interactive zoom.
>
> So there are two things here:
> 1) A better feature
> 2) A change in the user interface
>
> About the first, I am not qualified to comment and its not nice to  
> bother someone who is actually contributing solid code instead of just  
> talking.

I have a zoom extents patch I'd like to submit later this week.

> But about the second, here's what Gnome has to say about the middle  
> button/wheel, from the same link:
>
>   "Your application uses the middle button to paste the current
>    PRIMARY (usually the last-highlighted) selection at the pointer
>    position. (snipped a table about modifier keys). If you do intend
>    to use the middle button for a different purpose somewhere,
>    only do so as a shortcut for experienced users, and only for
>    operations that can also be performed without using the right
>    button or middle button."
>
> And also:
>
>   "Ctrl+scrollwheel-up should zoom into the window or control under
>    the mouse pointer, and Ctrl+scrollwheel-down should zoom out.
>    Zooming in this way should not move keyboard focus to the window
>    or control being zoomed."

No need to quote these anymore. I read the document and will go back to it  
in any further discussions. I will note in these documents the absence of  
the word *shall*. This indicates to me that the document is not binding as  
it is a guideline. Having said that, I'm not interested in making changes  
people will find obtuse. Let me again make it perfectly clear my interest  
is the feature, the only requirement I have for this feature is that I can  
access and use it with my non scroll wheel possessing mouse.

However, even with a fully configurable mouse we are going to have to come  
up with a default configuration that people will initially use. If the  
that configuration provides an interactive zoom, which I think it should,  
my personal opinion is both mice with and without a scroll wheel should be  
supported out of the box without the need to access a configuration dialog  
to use it.

To wrap up, I see my patch as a work in progress. If the consensus is to  
support zooming on the scroll wheel, I'm willing to do the work. I'll even  
buy a mouse with a scroll wheel to get it done.
--
phil