>  * New users found it hard to locate rotate handles, slow clicking not
> expected. Some would use the transform dialog instead.

I think this action should stay, since it is convenient and a core
feature since almost forever, but there could be an additional way to
switch between the modes which is more discoverable (e.g. right click?
toolbar button?). The message in the status box does say that clicking
will toggle between scale and rotate handles, but maybe it's not
visible enough.

Another option is to go the route other apps have gone. One is like how Krita does it where if you hover the line between control handles it shows a skew cursor, and just out past the corner handles the cursor changes to show rotation... if I'm not mistaken, this is how AI does (or at least did it with rotation). There's also the SVG-edit or Autodesk products method which just adds one more handle for rotation. See here https://autocad360.desk.com/customer/portal/articles/1154467 or to try yourself check svg-edit, create an object and then go to the Selector tool to see how it works. http://svg-edit.googlecode.com/svn/branches/2.6/editor/svg-editor.html


I think this extra handle for rotation is the right way to go. I've long been frustrated (as a more-or-less experienced Inkscape user) by the slow click action -- the delay is bothersome, and the chance of accidentally double-clicking makes it doubly so.

Also (if you have your settings set to preserve transforms), it can be a useful indicator that an element already has a rotation transform applied (because, as per svg-editor above, the handle appears vertical relative to the rotated object, not relative to the canvas).

I personally use shear very infrequently, so I'm less bothered by the shear handles. Would be nice, IMHO, to eliminate the slow click altogether, though.

 - Bryan