>> > Using sliders for these things is wrong. You cannot specify >> > things precisely and they have a limited range. These should be >> > GtkSpinButtons with a *big* adjustment range instead. >> Though sliders are nice to adjust when things dont have a >> 'enumerated' nature like "tilt sensitivity" - it is hard to justify >> what a setting of "35" does, but having a slider is easier since you >> can visualize the range easier.. But I am not really sure what the >> ideal solution would be.. For percentage-type stuff (0-1 values) >> sliders are good (like for opacity) >I personally would prefer to use the slider to get an idea of where >I'm going then type a hexadecimal value from 0x00 to 0xFF to set the >opacity. However, I know that it is especially important to >accommodate normal humans who may not actually think in terms of >numerical values. Not everyone knows hexadecimal, so make that selectable where possible (0 - 1, 0 - 255, 0x00 - 0xFF, 0% - 100% could mean all the same). But the mix of slider and keyboard input (spinbutton or input box) is, IMHO, the way to go, because: - it has visual feedback - can be used in coarse way with mouse - can be used precissely with keyboard (input) / mouse (spin) >> Maybe the spinbutton would be ok after all, testing it in practice >> would give more ground to judge the stuff.. It's a lot about how you >> are used to doing different things and how long you have been using >> a feature.. >I know I'm repeating myself, but why not use _both_? In the case of >the opacity slider, the number is displayed right beside it. Making >this number a spinbutton would not take up very much more screen real >estate and it would allow everyone to work with the value in the >manner they prefer. And will make 50% a real 50% and not vary with the size of the slider making it 49.7 most of times (just an example, maybe typical is 49.9). >I'd like to see more slider/spinbox combinations in the GIMP. The >slider is great for figuring out the correct value but being able >to tune it by typing in a number is essential for precision work. Maybe right click slider to launch a dialog where you input precise numbers? by keyboard It also could show max and min values, or recommended values. The number is there in most of the sliders, so I see no serious problem about space: click number, dialog appears. Or convert number to input area. GSR
