Re: Group resizing isses

[George Georgalis <george galis org>]

On Mon, Nov 3, 2014 at 2:05 PM, Hans Breuer <hans breuer org> wrote:

Am 02.11.2014 um 21:28 schrieb George Georgalis:

I've not had any additional group resize problems. The build from today
seems just fine too, my patched build script is attached.

Your attachement assume everyone wants to build Dia on Linux to /usr/local which for me certainly is not the case. Also it throws away alll the local changes, which certainly is not for everyone.

I attached the script I use to build my patched version, for the purpose of lowering the bar for anyone to try using larger handles, the script was never intended for Dia integration, only the patches within where offered as an alternate view.
 

To make patch review more easy please use unified diffs and don't mix that with some custom shell code,

Minimal patch attached.

 

but ...

I imagine variable re-size handles could be complex to integrate into
preferences, but everyone I've shared my handles/connection point size
increase patch with, has been very receptive. The size of these items does
have a real useability impact.

[... but] I'm not convinced of the "real usability impact". For testing I've now changed the two sizes with my local version, too. Maybe I just need some time to get used to these;) Or I'm using Dia with a lower resolution than you.

Definitely the former, possibly the latter. At first I had the snap points 2px larger, as I got familiar with the different look, I upped them to 9px square, like the handles, yes the increased visibility can be distracting if you are not use to seeing them. I'm using 1600x900 resolution on a rather small laptop display, I also have mouse sensitivity at maximum to make good use of a high resolution mouse and minimal tabletop space. True, this setup is harder for pixel by pixel mouse control but for pixel wise detail, I normally rely on snap gravity or magnification anyway, neither an option in the Dia interface.

The visual distraction of easy-to-see and -land-on snap points, is natural, for the functionality the larger size provides. As mentioned before, I found my work flow is easily divided into object generation and  connecting snap points, and an object resize and location phase. I simply un-enable the snap-point visibility when not in the first phase.
 

Small snap points not only can be hard to land on (frustrating and ironically causing wrist fatigue), but they can be hard to see.

 

 

IMO the bigger handles are also cluttering the view. For the connection points I've left your background changes alone, because I don't want big white squares to disturb the appearance of ususally dark lines.

As you wish, I went through dozens of variations, and ended up finding the white boundaries offer optimal distinction.

 

So, maybe there is a solution? An easier way to integrate the feature into
preferences for release versions might be through a toggle vs variable
option. Would you be open to adding a small, medium, large handle size
option in preferences?

Currently I dont like the visual change you propose and so I dont even think it should be user configurable.

Given the explanation above, perhaps you will reconsider preventing users from having this option? It accelerates connecting objects, and snap points can be made invisible when not changing connections (ie when refining the visual presentation---most of the time) vs the functional connections phase.

If you know well enough where the connection points are you can turn off the snap point view all the time. Perhaps you are trying to make the connection points invisible and accessible at the same time by using small blue crosses (which also happen to not contrast well with black lines on my display).

Sincerely,

-George

--

George Georgalis, (415) 894-2710, http://www.galis.org/

Attachment: dia-big-handles.patch
Description: Text Data