On Mon, 7 Mar 2005 20:26:45 +0000, john cliff <john.cliff@...400...> wrote:
From a detached hypothetical point of view, if you had just drawn the vector but had the wrong type selected, bearing in mind the way we do the rest of our ui, what would you expect the behaviour to be?
The same as when I accidentally draw a star instead of a spiral: Switch and draw again. Is it that much of a problem?
What you propose would break the clean separation between the New and Change parts of the toolbar. And, unlike shape tools, there are gradient controls which _cannot_ be both. So we'll end up with one part being New, the other switching between New and Change, and yet another Change only. It's a mess. The only way to work around that is to try and cramp _all_ controls into the New/Change switching category. I'm not sure it's feasible, but you can try for yourself. Here's the list of all controls (both present and planned), please describe in detail what each of them will display and do in the New and Change modes:
linear/radial switch
fill/stroke switch
gradient definition drop-down
Duplicate button
Edit... button
Rename... button
pad/reflect/repeat switch (using toggle buttons)
2 spinbuttons for X/Y of the selected handle, and a unit selector
color indicator of the selected handle (just a color swatch)
If you manage to plan a new toolbar with all these controls, and if it will be as logical (or more logical) than the current one, and if the sum of inconsistencies in its behavior will be less than the single inconsistency of not being able to switch linear/radial for the existing gradient, then I will implement it.