>
> 2009/9/29 bulia byak <buliabyak@...>:
>
> > On 9/29/09, Alexandre Prokoudine <alexandre.prokoudine@...> wrote:
> >> Ahem. Distributing guides via align'n'distribute dialog actually makes
> >> a perfect sense.
> >
> > Not quite, because it will work for horizontal/vertical only, not
> > slanted, and because it has so much stuff that is irrelevant to guides
> > and is therefore quite confusing. Also, I think no one would want to
> > create a bunch of guides and then distribute them. What we need
> > instead is an addition to guide creation dialog, saying "Create N
> > multiple guides spaced by X px".
>
Hi, all.
Sorry for joining the discussion this late.
My suggestion is somewhat different from what's discussed and may really be
more suited for Inkscape 0.50 or later.
Suggestion: *STOP* treating guides as a special UI case and *instead* treat
them the same way as all other objects in Inkscape. This enables reuse of
all the powerful, existing tools for selecting, multi-selecting, moving,
distributing, rotating, resizing (yes, resizing), deleting, skewing, setting
specific x or y positions, moving guides between layers, and aligning guides
to existing objects. Entering and exiting the guide editing mode could be as
quick as double-clicking on a guide to start editing and double-clicking
outside any guides to stop (similar to how entering/exiting a group works
today). Even if there was a shortcut key for entering and exiting the guide
editor mode, it would still mean a lot less shortcuts to memorize. (Adding
curves by dragging them from the rulers could of course still work as today,
the two interaction patterns do not conflict)
Like Alexandre pointed out, aligning and distributing guides makes perfect
sense. I've used this myself on multiple occasions, most recently while
making game tiles for a children's board game but it's also commonly used to
define layout grids for websites and the like. (And distributing slanted
guides could work just as well as long as Inkscape imagines that they have
finite length).
I.e.: Imagine being able to, for example, scale down the size of a large
part of a design to 50% (including selected guides and all) just by using
the transform dialog combined with the guide edit mode.
The current approach has provided quick progress in this area but, as we can
see, we're painting ourselves into a corner by not reusing tools and by not
utilizing different modes of editing, thereby hampering further progress.
Furthermore, reusing tools means more development focus on the existing
tools, further streamlining the UI for them rather than distributing and
diffusing development on more and more types of virtually identical
interaction mechanics. ( one UI for moving and managing objects, another UI
for moving and managing guides and so on )
In my mind, a common approach to almost all editing of on canvas objects in
Inkscape would mean a reusable interaction pattern that's very familiar,
powerful and intuitive for all users. The same interaction pattern can also
be reused when some new kind of feature (like slicing of web graphics) is
introduced.
I'm quite happy creating a draft blueprint detailing the unified interaction
pattern but I think it'll be 3-4 weeks before I have time.
Any feedback is greatly appreciated,
Until then,
Happy Inkscaping!
Jimmy Volatile
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