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Re: [Gimp-developer] Search Action dialog feature

Hi,

On Thu, Jan 23, 2014 at 5:10 AM, peter sikking <peter mmiworks net> wrote:

Jehan,

let me first of all say this in general about the process we are
doing. at this moment I feel we are still working backwards, i.e.
you are answering to me what the code does.

we have to work forward, else there will be no progress.

this means we write down the goal/purpose/vision that you have
for TITo (sorry, internal code name still rocks for discussions).
you make the choices, I just make sure that what we end up with
1) makes sense in  GIMP context
2) is internally consistent
3) is short, sharp and complete

once we got this goal written down, it is possible to
review the spec to see what is missing and what is getting
in the way of the goal.


On Tue, Jan 21, 2014 at 12:47 PM, Michael Natterer <mitch gimp org> wrote:

On Tue, 2014-01-21 at 00:10 +0100, peter sikking wrote:


1) you say “action search tool.” is it not menu item search tool?
an _action_ search would search the toolbox tools, the layer
stack and all dockable dialogs too (the latter being super useful).

"action" is meant as technical term here. A menu item is a view
on an internal action, and they include:
- all menu items
- all tools
- all menu-invokable dialogs
- some esoteric stuff which we'd probably filter out to avoid confusion

Indeed.


if I read that right it still boils down to that you only want to
search menu items. this needs to be called that way for clarification.


No. As said above, actions are *not* just menu items. There are a wide
list of commands that Mitch listed above.


now if I am wrong, and you do want to be able to search more
like am the ‘actions’ in the dockable dialogs
(example: Brushes dialog->Create a new brush) then you need to
make that clear explicitly.


Well, yes. We made it clear by saying we search all actions. :-)




2) you say “natural language text,” the definition of which is
very wooly. similar as with ‘Text-based Intent driven Tool’ it
promises way too much (e.g. user types in “blown highlights” and
TITo responds with “burn tool”). you need to be very precise in
defining how sophisticated you want to be here (want to be, not
describing the actual bit you do right now).


Please let's forget about the name "TITO", it was a bad choice
to begin with.


Yes! Please all, stop saying "tito", especially if that confuses you.
TITO does not exist. This is an action search.


I am not confused.

you said “natural language text,” and I told you that is a huge
can of worms if you put that in you goal.

I think it is best to say “text search” for now. interim version:


“The "action search" tool allows to search for, and run, menu items via text search. It is for searching 
tools, plugins and filters in GIMP when one knows they exist but can't find anymore.”


it is better now to concentrate on _all_ the reasons you
want this to be useful for GIMP users.

now is the time for you to decide whether ‘when one knows they
exist but can't find anymore’ is the one and only reason TITo
is valuable/useful for GIMP users. if there is more, you have
to clarify that mow.


No it is not the "only" reason. This was more an example, thus an
error on my side to cite here. The real goal is «searching and
running» actions. And this by itself contains all the reasons I think
it is useful for. Now "searching" can imply a lot of sub-reasons. The
«I know this action exists (because I used it before, for instance)
and I want to find it again» would indeed be a typical one. Another
would be «I don't know GIMP by heart, but I know graphics editing, and
there are usually blur effects. So instead of going through endless
menus, I open the search and type "blur" and search through the 3/4
results I get».
It would contain any other reason why one would want to *search*
through available actions.

Thus, this is an "action search" tool. The goal is to *search and run*
through all available actions.

Jehan



thanks,

    --ps

        founder + principal interaction architect
            man + machine interface works

        http://blog.mmiworks.net: on interaction architecture
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