[scribus-dev] could context menus digest Properties (without heartburn, heartache, or cardiac arrest)?

[a.l.e]

hi greg,

> >> What if we came up with a scheme to kill Properties altogether, and
> >> instead create something we might characterize as a "context menu
> >> on steroids"?
> >>
> >> Can we embed everything pertinent in Properties in a context menu?
> >> There might be some persistence that needs to be built-in to make
> >> this useful, but it seems a useful mental exercise to me.
> >
> > as i wrote, i would be interested in a way to edit relevant settings
> > without moving the mouse (and without learning tedious shortcuts),
> > but until now i've not seen any convincing proposals (well, if i
> > have to tell the truth, my proposals were not judged ok by other
> > people...). i like how mypaint (and martin) solved it for the color
> > picking... maybe there is a solution for DTP, too!
> >
> > but i don't think that we should kill the PP... they should probably
> > coexist...
> >
> > let's think about it!
> 
> I suggested this in a blatant attempt to be provocative. Another way
> of looking at it might be that Properties needs to defend its own
> existence by showing that this block of mostly static screen space
> makes some kind of utilitarian sense. The nice thing about the
> context menu is that it's only there when you need it, yet a single
> click away at all times.

no, it was not meant to be provocative at all.

to me the PP is a F2 and a mouse travel away from my work.
i exactly know where my mouse is traveling to (a reflex) and i'm very fast at it.
i also use the PP as a sort of board where i can check that everything is set up in the correct way.

and i'm really awaiting for the PP losing its tabs!



the problem with the context menus, is that they tend to change "each time" you open them. this is the expected behavior, but this also mean that you will have to look for the command you want to use.
you lose the reflex.

for that reason, in my eyes, context menus are good for actions you're likely to do in a specific context but you don't do it so often that a shortcut would be faster (in scribus a good example is adding a column to a table; a bad example is copy / paste (c/p may stick in there because many people expect to see them there)).


as i said, martin got it right with the "v" command in mypaint and i wonder if scribus could do something similar. i could think of such a toolbar for the advanced typographic features or for applying styles.


ciao
a.l.e