[scribus-dev] Preparations for GSoC

[Elvis Stansvik]

2011/5/17 a.l.e <ale.comp_06 at xox.ch>:
> hi elvis,
>
>>> == General Design ==
>>> As was outlined briefly in my project proposal, the tables in Scribus
>>> will be implemented as a new page item. Handling of cell content will
>>> be delegated to text frames.
>>> i tend to prefere this approach to the inline items we've heard of...
>>
>> Yes, from an implementation point of view I think it will be simpler,
>> though inline tables is for sure a valid use case. But hopefully we
>> can work that out later. And as Craig said, there's nothing about the
>> basic functionality of the tables that should have to change in inline
>> vs. non-inline mode.
>
> we should be able to copy paste any type of item into a text frame and use
> it as an inline object...

Yes, that would be the best. I suspect that is quite a non-trivial
task though. And text selections across both text and inline items
containing items, such as nested text frames and tables, will also be
quite hairy. But that's for the future then.

>
> so, defining tables as "real" items just opens up new chances :-)
> (and i hope that most people will want to create tables as real items!)

Good.

>>>> Another thing which I think
>>>> will naturally be different in Scribus is that in Scribus, editing of
>>>> item properties is mostly done through the Properties palette, and not
>>>> so much through dialogs that pop up (thankfully! because table editing
>>>> in Indesign seems to be very dialog-intense). I guess we will have a
>>>> new tab on the PP called "Table" that will be disabled unless a table
>>>> is selected, similar to how it works for images?
>>>
>>> the PP will  lose its tabs and will become content sensitive... but it
>>> does
>>> not change much to the fact that it's probably a good idea to implement
>>> the
>>> table settings as a PP tab.
>>
>> Alright, good to know about these plans though.
>
> this is the best you can currently read about the scribus-oif project:
>
> http://ospublish.constantvzw.org/news/scribus-re-loaded

Yep, I believe I've read that news item once. Exciting stuff.

>
> a part of the PP redesign is to get it as a single panel window (but split
> in frame and content properties)

Sounds good.

> part of it is already in 1.5svn. part of it is in the 1.5 oif branch

Okay. Do you think this is something that is going to be finished
during the course of the summer, or is it further into the future? I'm
just thinking, if it's just around the corner, I should hold off those
UI parts of my project until it has landed in it's entirety. But
perhaps it will be a trivial refactor and I shouldn't worry.

> ...
>
> in my mind 1 and 2 were mostly merged... but i didn't spend much to make my
> mind :-)

Yes, I think we all seem to be mostly on the same page now; 2 modes.
The details can be hopefully be worked out as the project progresses.

> ...
>
> alt for moving windows should be deprecated!
> the window key is much better for it.

That's true I guess ;) And I have no problem with switching to Meta for that.

>
> you have to switch them also for inkscape...

Right.

> ...
>
> me? not grow.
>
> if somebody wants autogrowing tables, he should do them in oo/lo and then
> have a way to import in a native scribus table.
>
> just like he's dong with text.
>
> DTP is about control... or not?

Okay, so a bit of conflicting minds about this. Perhaps I could skip
the growing for an initial version, and if I add them later on make it
an optional feature. I'll await Craig's opinion on this tonight too.

> ...
>
> if we can find a way to edit all the properties with only two modes, i'd
> prefere that.

Yes, me too.

>
>>> the question is how to find the context in the modal editing... imo we
>>> could
>>> have both in the PP (table / cell)
>>
>> Yes, I think so too. Having both table and cell properties up when
>> inside a cell makes sense.
>>
>> This context sensitive PP you talk of, has it been made public yet?
>> Will it be merged to my GSoC git repo?
>
> jean ghali is working onn it
>
> the idea is public, but not much publicity has been made about it, yet
> (beside of the talk by jean and pierre last week at the lgm... which will be
> online at some time in the future...)

Okay.

Regards,
Elvis