From: Warren D. <wa...@de...> - 2004-12-20 19:03:46
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> >> I feel that slabbing is too complicated a function to be > controlled > >> by a simple mouse gesture. > > > > I used to think this way until I added scroll-wheel > slabbing into PyMOL... > > I tied the scroll-wheel to zoom. My view is that mouse controls should be user and script-redefinable. However, I've found that this massively complicates training, so having good defaults that don't need to be changed is priceless. Scroll zoom is great and it matches some existing products. Scroll + modifier-key would be a fine alternate way to control slabbing. > Why do professionals want a browser tool? Because they all need to publish content via the web, and helper applications aren't easily made interactive. > If they do, then I would love to talk to them. With Jmol 10.00, That is now surely inevitable ; ). > - I don't have any experience with OpenGL > - I am at the limits of my matrix math capabilities > - I don't have anybody to talk to about it > Another major reason is, I am not a chemist. So I fear that I > don't have the skills (nor the inclination) to build a > professional level tool. When I started PyMOL I had no OpenGL experience either. The matrix math can be picked up quickly. You have me (and others) to talk to. You don't have to do it all yourself. [Gosh, that last part does sound rather strange coming from me!] But as far as inclinations go, that's your perogative. But to my way of thinking, neither pro- nor edu- tools have yet to get visualization down just right (PyMOL and Jmol being no exceptions to this). We're all still figuring out how to create the best human interfaces based on trial, error, feedback, and experience. But I do think there are approaches out there that have shown to be more "right" than others, and the more "right" a tool is, the more useful it will be in both settings. The perception of pro- and edu- being mutually exclusive is a failure of pro-tools to be easy to use and of edu-tools to be sufficiently powerful. I think we can do both; we can make tools that are both easy to use and extremely powerful -- there's no real mutual exclusivity here. Cheers, Warren |