I think I managed to send a draft email a few hours ago. Very embarrassing, Jasper and everyone, if you have received a strange e-mail with broken sentences... I beg a pardon... An edited and (hopefully) more sane sounding version would be:
Personally I had been thinking about perhaps extending the gradient tool
to become a "color" tool (or shading tool, or whatever general name we'd like to use). Currently we can already create either a linear or a radial gradient on canvas, but why not also a flat color or a pattern? Then we could simply have a single color picker to modify the color of whatever is selected. (Note that currently this sort of works with gradient handles, but is a little awkward as we don't really have a single dedicated color picker.)
...
If I understand you correctly, that sounds like a very consistent thinking about the color. And it would add a good deal of creative possibilities, without adding any extra elements to the UI. Yes, to me that sounds good. An elegant way to apply color, I must say. :)
Just an idea... it could even lead to a possibility of simplifying the UI by fusing Flat and Gradient controls: A 'gradient' with only one color can only be a flat color! :) Adding more colors would create standard gradients. ... wow, this triggers so many possibilities, for instance (maybe overly hypothetical): - 2 stop (?) gradient that starts with a pattern and blends into a color. - or even a multi stop gradient that allows bitmaps, patterns and flat color to be inserted. - but for later... I am going too far here :)
Bring it on :)
I feel a little uncomfortable 'hijacking' this mailing list thread with it.
:) Being fresh here, and all... Can I start a separate thread for it? I will try to prepare the ideas and send it.
Cheers
Alex