Joshua A. Andler wrote:
Stathis Sideris wrote:
The on-canvas gradient editing is great, but I think as a GUI it fails to address complex situations and it lacks transparency-related functionality. A while ago, I proposed a design for the gradient dialog, hoping that someone would like it enough to implement it (see attachments for a reminder of my proposed design).
It does have transparency related functionality... when you have a gradient stop selected on-canvas you use the same Opacity spinbutton in the statusbar (the same one that you use for objects/selection). I can agree that in some complex situations an editor could still be beneficial.
Well, I think I need to explain what I mean a bit more explicitely: I do realise that all functionality is already accessible through the on-canvas editing, but I think that the widget that I'm proposing has the advantage of showing you the entire gradient in a neutral state (i.e. not in the context of the drawing where the colour can affected by the background or overlaid gradients etc). Also, I think such an approach has the advantage of providing a very clear overview of the makeup of the whole gradient at a glance (with or without the checkerboard background), by presenting the colour and transparency of all stops explicitely and allowing their editing with minimal effort to switch between them.
It's true what the transparency can be changed through the on-canvas editing, but it's a two-step process as it is: the user has to switch between stops to modify each of them, and they would also have to cycle through them to see how the transparency changes in the gradient.
I think it's hard to turn down a new contributor. I do know that for this to even be considered you would have to not only be willing to do your coding, but also be willing to maintain it. In addition to that, know that people will probably have a number of suggestions or requirements as well.
And Mental just chimed in with some thoughts I had too... with our docking dialogs, the upper portion of the dialog that is the real guts of your idea rocks, but some of the old parts are outdated and will be redundant.
Agreed and agreed, I do realise that contributing to an open source project is not a "fire and forget" situation, and I do know that one needs to document and maintain their efforts, and I will do my best :-)
Stathis