Don't forget that GTK programmers have the option to manipulate widgets
within dialogs as well as perform actions based on selections in the
dialog before the user clicks "Close". This may make the "undo" option's
utility vary depending on how the application is written to behave.
On Tue, 2008-05-27 at 18:41 +0100, Matthew Paul Thomas wrote:
> Calum Benson wrote on 27/05/08 13:31:
> >...
> > See, this is where the argument went round in circles last time :)
> > Some others on the usability team at the time also suggested this
> > approach, but personally I don't think Undo is necessarily appropriate
> > for dialogs-- it's rare to make more than one or two changes in a
> > dialog at a time, in which case it's usually just overkill.
>
> I think it would be appropriate for Preferences windows to have an Edit
> menu containing Undo and Redo/Repeat items, as well as standard text
> editing functions (Cut, Copy, Paste, Delete, Select All, Check Spelling).
>
> For many controls -- checkboxes, radio buttons, sliders, and text fields
> -- undo and redo/repeat wouldn't even require any support from the
> application; it could be done entirely in GTK. But application support
> would be needed for things like adding and removing items from a list,
> where a list item almost always represents something more complex than
> the text it shows.
>
> > And when
> > you do make multiple changes, they're often quite independent of each
> > other, so you don't necessarily want to have to undo your last N
> > changes to undo the first one you made. (Although, sometimes, you
> > might.)
>
> This reminds me of Photoshop, which has accumulated multiple
> partly-independent Undo/Redo/Repeat functions for different types of
> action. As far as I can tell without actually having a copy: :-)
> * "Edit" > "Undo {whatever}" undoes/redoes the most recent action;
> * "Edit" > "Step Forward" and "Step Backward" act like "Redo" and
> "Undo" do in normal programs;
> * "Edit" > "Fade..." alters the opacity of the most recent action
> (something which only really makes sense for a bitmap editor);
> * "Select" > "Deselect" and "Reselect" undoes and redoes the most
> recent selection;
> * "Filter" > "Last Filter" repeats the most recent filter on the
> current selection.
>
> > Then there's the question of whether a 'Reset to Defaults' button
> > would be useful too... probably 'yes', in some cases, but things would
> > start getting awfully cluttered if you add a Defaults and a Revert/
> > Undo to every Preferences dialog...
> >...
>
> "Undo", "Revert", "restore from backup", and "Reset to Defaults" (where
> relevant) are steps on a continuum that really should be simplified someday.
>
> Cheers
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