On Mon, Aug 30, 2010 at 8:38 AM, Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@...123...> wrote:
Hi!
I had another look at the dialog.
Inkscape defaults to shifting the clones by 100% width of the selected object for columns and 100% height for rows. So the parameters on the Shift page are actually about the deviation from that, but the interface doesn’t make that clear at all.
Well, it only makes sense to say that base shift is 100% for P1. If the shift is accompanied by various rotations and flips, it's not clear how to count percentages and whether they make sense at all. The best formulation is: these values move clones from the position they would have after the symmetry transform, in the units of the tile's width/height. This is why I'm against displaying 105% instead of 5% there, because that 105 would be a sum of unsummable values: the 100% move is different from the 5% move (except when we're using P1).
Shift and Scale only take %, but should allow absolute values with a unit of the user’s choice.
Yes, this just needs to be coded.
"Rows, columns" wouldn’t make sense for radial arrangements that should also be possible.
Agreed, we need some kind of shortcut for radial placement, which would disable irrelevant values.
"Width, height": it could be made clearer that this option will fill the specified area and in what directions (original defines top left).
Feel free to edit the tooltip or label!
Use saved size and position of the tile checkbox: what is the use case for this option?
You made a tiling, then scaled the tile, and want to repeat or slightly change the tiling, but without scaling it - leaving it the same frequency (even if with overlapping or gaps). Feel free to edit the tooltip to make it clearer.
The Exponent parameter on the Shift and Scale pages depends on the tool-tip to explain that it defines whether rows will be spaced evenly (1), converge (1).
You can suggest a way to make this clear without a tooltip?
Trace page: Well, non of my tests produced anything sensible or useful.
So what were you tracing?
The Symmetry page only contains a pop-up list (what GTK+ erroneously calls a combo box) full of mysterious items:
The empty space below is reserved for explanatory illustrations, which would make this a lot less mysterious.
Here’s an attempt at creating the most simple schematics, leaving out points of rotation and mirror axes to just depict orientation. The place taken by the selected object is darkened: http://thorwil.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/wallpaper_groups.png?w=176&h=...
Nice start, but I think they can be made even more clear. Why the skew? How will this fill a larger space, not just the first bunch of tiles?
These could be added to the descriptions given now.
Definitely yes.