Re: [Fwbuilder-discussion] RFC: New GUI design
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From: Frank T. I. <pc...@my...> - 2004-06-04 17:07:58
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--- Vadim Kurland <va...@vk...> wrote: > > I think I like an idea of using "folding panels" > similar to the Visio > GUI design, as Ted suggested. I've put together a > little mock-up of the > GUI showing how would it look like if it used this > design (see picture > attached below). > > Here on the left instead of the tree we use "folding > panels". I am sure > everyone is familiar with this widget, but in case > someone is not, it > consists of a bunch of icon views which are > "stacked" on top of each > other. Each view can be opened by clicking its title > bar; other views > "fold" up or down at the same time. This is > definitely quicker than > navigating the tree because all views are right > there in front of you > and you don't have to scroll the tree to find the > branch you are > looking for. Another advantage is that icon views > have higher density, > that is, you can fit more objects in the same area > than in a tree. This > helps work with big groups of objects, too. > > Libraries would still be represented by a pull-down > list above icon > views and the background of the icon views would be > defined in the > corresponding library object. Switching between > libraries in the > pull-down would switch all views to that library, > just like the whole > tree is switched now. > > Each view is equivalent to a folder in the current > design. Objects will > be edited as today, in a separate editor dialog. > > Another idea I had for this design is that perhaps I > could make these > icon views detachable. You would somehow click on > the title bar to > create a standalone copy of the view in a separate > window. If you could > open several such windows with different object > types from different > libraries in them, this would solve the problem of > having to jump from > library to library and from one tree branch to > another because all > these objects would be right in front of you in > separate windows. Of > course you could drag any object from any window to > the policy or to > the group. > > Switching between libraries using pull-down list > would switch icon > views in the "folding panels", but whatever > standalone windows with > objects have been opened would stay and would not > change. This way you > can open several windows with objects that you use > most often and just > keep them around for quick access. > > Now, provided we all like this design, I am not sure > it makes sense to > implement it for 2.0. It seems to me I should > release 2.0 as is, and > then make this change and release it as 2.1 or 3.0. > I do not expect the > change itself to be very difficult, it should take > me only a day or > two, but QA is going to take some time and I do not > want to delay > release of 2.0 any further. > > what do you think ? > > --vk I like it. Much cleaner looking in my eyes, as long as drag and drp still finction properly. One thing that might be nice is if you drag an icon between "panels" it automatically expands the destination panel. > ATTACHMENT part 2 image/png x-mac-type=504E4766; x-unix-mode=0644; x-mac-creator=70727677; name=fwbgui.png ===== -------------------------------------------------------------- "Never memorize what you can look up." -Albert Einstein |