On Wed, 2007-07-04 at 10:33 -0400, bulia byak wrote:
When I first open an effect dialog, I focus my attention on it and I just don't want to be distracted until I have figured out the meaning of the controls and want to see them in action. That's when I check on the "Live preview" box (this concept is familiar to most users, I'm sure, if only because it's used in Photoshop) and start playing with it. Next time when I use this effect, I already know its controls, so it's OK that the Live preview will be on from the start. But it definitely must be off _by default_, and I hope I explained why.
I would have to say that must have much more of an emotional attachment to your documents than I do :)
Another point to your side is that when adding the status, the check box really doesn't add that much more. Another 10 pixels that is likely to be otherwise wasted.
Now, about the "on by default." I guess, at least for me, I don't see any reason to turn it off. So I would want all effects to default to having the live effect enabled. I realize that first time users of Inkscape may be frustrated once, but I think they'd learn quickly to prefer having it on.
--Ted