Windows -> Image display actions potential improvement

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



Hello,

I just noticed a usability issue with the 'Windows' actions related to
image displays in SVN... They seem to be attached to specific
displays, rather than to the Nth display out of the current displays.

Currently, we can switch quickly between some active images by using
dynamic keyboard shortcuts and assigning keys (I like '234567' -- a
number key for each of 6 open images) to them as we open them. We can
also quickly switch between alternate views of an image
(eg 100% with selection, layer borders, guides and rulers visible; or
'final rendering size' (50%) without anything but the image visible.
This is quite powerful (try it out!).
However.. any keyboard shortcuts assigned only last until you close
that image -- because each display number only gets generated once
each GIMP session (they are generated sequentially starting from 1).
This is why the usage pattern above requires you to use Dynamic
Keyboard Shortcuts and assign shortcuts as images are loaded.

My proposal is to have these actions index the available image
displays sorted by their display ID -- this amounts to, if you have
keys 123456789 assigned as shortcuts for the 1st .. 9th display, and 9
displays open, pressing 1 will raise the oldest display, pressing 9
will raise the newest. If you close some, 8 or 7 could end up being
the shortcut for the newest display

I believe that both the current code and the proposed amendment are
somewhat surprising : the former because shortcut assignments get
'lost', the latter because shortcuts become assigned to different
images when an image is removed from the middle.
I am sure that my proposed amendment is both less surprising, and a
usability enhancement that anyone who works with more than a few
images at once will appreciate.

I plan to make a patch to try this within a week.


As for why I sent this here, I'm interested to know:

Is there a reason for the current behaviour?

Are there better approaches? (i'm thinking here of GIMP-GAP .. when
you're using it, display IDs get very high quickly, because
each time you switch frames, the display number is incremented. Thus,
my proposal could be a little more surprising to GAP users, because
changing the frame you're editing will bump an animation so it becomes
the 'newest' image.)


David
_______________________________________________
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer

[Index of Archives]     [Video For Linux]     [Photo]     [Yosemite News]     [gtk]     [GIMP for Windows]     [KDE]     [GEGL]     [Gimp's Home]     [Gimp on GUI]     [Gimp on Windows]     [Steve's Art]

  Powered by Linux