[scribus-dev] Separation of the Align & Distribute buttons

[Drew Vogel]

In the 1.3.3 branch, the Align & Distribute window was not tabbed[1]. In
1.3.5 the A&D window was split into two tabs and it remains split in
1.3.9[2]. I don't know why this was done. I was unable to find any
discussion of it in the mailing list archives. I suspect that users were
confused by the similarity of the buttons, so the interface was split to
avoid displaying so many similar icons at the same time. Making the
interface easier to understand and less error prone for users is a great
goal.

I have users who are still using the 1.3.3 branch primarily because the
lion's share of their work consists of selecting items, aligning in one
dimension and distributing in the other dimension. For these users, the same
task requires 50% more clicks in 1.3.9 than it does in 1.3.3. I would favor
(and be willing to work on) moving the align and distribute tabs into
separate windows so that they can be displayed on the screen at the same
time, but not by default. I would also be satisfied with the tabs being
detachable like GIMP or Photoshop, but I don't have the time for such an
ambitious project.

[1] 1.3.3 Align & Distribute: http://i.imgur.com/7Cgkv.jpg
[2] 1.3.9 Align & Distribute: http://imgur.com/j2YtF.jpg

Drew Vogel
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.scribus.net/pipermail/scribus-dev/attachments/20101206/301b113f/attachment.htm>