Objects/Layers/Sets dialogs
I've got a few questions about the Objects, Layers, and Sets dialogs:
* Does the Layers dialog have any functionality that isn't supported by the Objects dialog?
* Can the Layers dialog be removed (or merged with Objects dialog)?
* Does anybody understand why the Objects dialog slows down Inkscape (bug 1431274)?
* What is the purpose of the "domino" like icon in the Objects dialog? Is it just to open the color dialog? Is there an easy way to close the color dialog once open? Is it really useful to be able to open the color dialog from this dialog?
* In the Sets dialog, what is the purpose of "Items"? It seems like an unnecessary layer between the set name and the objects in the set.
Thanks,
Tav
Tavmjong Bah wrote
- Can the Layers dialog be removed (or merged with Objects dialog)?
I had never noticed the presence of the "Objects" dialog, so thanks for pointing it out. I couldn't immediately figure out what its usefulness is but I think that there must be a reason for it being there so I'll try to find a bit of time to study it.
FWIS, whenever you click on an object, the Objects dialog expands the corresponding layer showing all the objects present in it (which can be quite a lot in complex drawings) and highlights the selected one. This can be quite annoying if you only need to work with layers. I see there's a "collapse all" button (with broken icon in Windows XP, by the way) but I suppose I'd have to click it every time I need to work with layers, which is not convenient.
Luca
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On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Tavmjong Bahwrote:
I've got a few questions about the Objects, Layers, and Sets dialogs:
- Does the Layers dialog have any functionality that isn't supported by
the Objects dialog?
It doesn't list objects and provides no blending options for objects.
- Can the Layers dialog be removed (or merged with Objects dialog)?
Adobe Illustrator has this merged into a single Layers dialog. So that's doable from UI/UX point of view :)
Alex
How Illustrator manage selections on a deep level in his layer/object dialog? To me the feature most important in the layer dialog is the ease to use it so if merged we need a very good UI/UX design, As idea, a tabbed widget with layers, objets and maybe XML? Also another tab as SVG source code?
Regards, Jabier.
El 2015-06-16 16:55, Alexandre Prokoudine escribió:
On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 2:18 PM, Tavmjong Bahwrote:
I've got a few questions about the Objects, Layers, and Sets dialogs:
- Does the Layers dialog have any functionality that isn't supported
by the Objects dialog?
It doesn't list objects and provides no blending options for objects.
- Can the Layers dialog be removed (or merged with Objects dialog)?
Adobe Illustrator has this merged into a single Layers dialog. So that's doable from UI/UX point of view :)
Alex
Inkscape-devel mailing list Inkscape-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/inkscape-devel
On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 6:16 PM, Jabier Arraiza wrote:
How Illustrator manage selections on a deep level in his layer/object dialog?
Could you please be a little more specific?
For reference, here's UI:
http://vectorboom.com/TUTORIALS/Effective4/7.jpg
When you select multiple objects, on canvas, multiple obects will be selected in the layers dialog -- only if you expanded the list of objects.
Illustrator also has color codes for layers, so when you select multiple objects from different layers, bounding box of each object on canvas gets a colored square in a cornner. Scribus has this feature too, and so does InDesign.
To me the feature most important in the layer dialog is the ease to use it so if merged we need a very good UI/UX design, As idea, a tabbed widget with layers, objets and maybe XML? Also another tab as SVG source code?
Please forget you ever asked that question :)
XML editor's dialog is *huge*. You *absolutely* don't want the layers dialog with the XML editor in another tab *and* docked to the sidebar :)
Alex
Hi Alex:
El mar, 16-06-2015 a las 18:49 +0300, Alexandre Prokoudine escribió:
On Tue, Jun 16, 2015 at 6:16 PM, Jabier Arraiza wrote:
How Illustrator manage selections on a deep level in his layer/object dialog?
Could you please be a little more specific?
For reference, here's UI:
http://vectorboom.com/TUTORIALS/Effective4/7.jpg
When you select multiple objects, on canvas, multiple obects will be selected in the layers dialog -- only if you expanded the list of objects.
Ok now i see it is a good way i think, a question, Illustrator groups can be expanded in this list like, i think, sublayers?
Illustrator also has color codes for layers, so when you select multiple objects from different layers, bounding box of each object on canvas gets a colored square in a cornner. Scribus has this feature too, and so does InDesign.
Good, currently the object dialog color for each element is only for paths, so maybe is better and works on shapes. Also with the pointer tool not only with the node tool.
Maybe is a good idea diferent style on widget to layers than others, for example removing the color changer from no layer objects.
I think is a good idea a close button for the color dialog also i see hard to find the need to change opacity from 0 to change the colors, it seems to me, till i ask to Liam, a bugy feature.
To me the feature most important in the layer dialog is the ease to use it so if merged we need a very good UI/UX design, As idea, a tabbed widget with layers, objets and maybe XML? Also another tab as SVG source code?
Please forget you ever asked that question :)
In the dark side :)
XML editor's dialog is *huge*. You *absolutely* don't want the layers dialog with the XML editor in another tab *and* docked to the sidebar :)
Alex
Regards.
Tavmjong Bah wrote
- Does anybody understand why the Objects dialog slows down Inkscape
(bug 1431274)?
Just an idea: maybe it's because every new object creation or existing object deletion must be reflected in the Objects list so there has to be a continuous synchronization between the canvas and the Objects dialog for every single operation; and maybe this synchronization is not optimally implemented.
Luca
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On 2015-06-16 13:18 (+0200), Tavmjong Bah wrote:
- What is the purpose of the "domino" like icon in the Objects dialog?
Is it just to open the color dialog? Is there an easy way to close the color dialog once open? Is it really useful to be able to open the color dialog from this dialog?
Quoting the description of the initial implementation (Ponyscape 0.3): “(…) You can also set a custom outline colour for any item by clicking on the fourth column and selecting a colour with an alpha > 0. If the outline is not set (alpha = 0), then it inherits from the parent group/layer. You can make this outline visible by toggling the last button on the toolbar when you are using the node tool (F2). (…)” http://ponyscape-vectors.deviantart.com/journal/Ponyscape-v0-3-346183955
Quoting from the submission in the bug tracker: “• I included the highlight color selector and the highlight/outline color rendering routines. I know originally each outline color in the node-edit tool held a specific meaning (red for path, green for clip, etc), but to be able to change the outline color might be a nice inclusion in Inkscape. Currently, to set the outline you must select a color which has an alpha value greater than 0. When the alpha is set to 0 the outline color is inherited from the parent. I'm working on creating a new color selection dialog which has a checkbox for setting or inheriting the color instead of using the alpha value. The highlight color is currently stored in the inkscape:highlight attribute as an unsigned integer, but this could easily be converted to a css/hex style color value.” https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/1157024
Below are the full descriptions about the Objects dialog as originally implemented in Ponyscape by Ted Janeczko (Liam P. White might know which details had been changed or omitted when ported back to Inkscape):
Ponyscape 0.3 ============= Screenshot: http://sta.sh/0zb66ec8hyk
Description: This is a dialog which can be accessed by going to the Object menu and selecting Objects, or by pressing ctrl-shift-o. It displays all of your layers, paths, and objects. You can show/hide, lock/unlock, and rename any item in the list. You can also set a custom outline colour for any item by clicking on the fourth column and selecting a colour with an alpha > 0. If the outline is not set (alpha = 0), then it inherits from the parent group/layer. You can make this outline visible by toggling the last button on the toolbar when you are using the node tool (F2). Additionally, you can turn groups into layers and vice-versa by clicking on the icon in the third column.
You can also select multiple items within this dialog, and drag-n-drop works, so you can move whole groups of items to a different layer. Page-Up/Down and Shift-Page-Up/Down also work within the dialog, as do the buttons at the bottom of the list. Additionally, you can set the blend mode, blur, and opacity for any selected object.
URL: http://ponyscape-vectors.deviantart.com/journal/Ponyscape-v0-3-346183955
Ponscape 0.4 ============ Screenshot: http://sta.sh/02unmnmvbiq
Description: Two new functions have been added to the objects dialog. First, you can change the insert order of new objects into a group or layer by clicking the up or down arrow. If the arrow is pointing up, new objects will be inserted above other objects. If it is pointing down, new objects will be inserted below. Secondly, there is a new column which shows which objects are clipped, inverse clipped, or masked. This is very useful for getting an idea which objects in your image are clipped. Additionally, the drop-down menu in the objects dialog has been updated so you can now group/clip/mask right from within it! This makes creating complex shaded vectors a whole lot easier.
URL: http://ponyscape-vectors.deviantart.com/journal/Ponyscape-v0-4-351369830
On 2015-06-16 13:18 (+0200), Tavmjong Bah wrote:
Is there an easy way to close the color dialog once open?
Using <Esc> works for me to close the dialog (the same way as with those opened e.g. in Document Properties for various colors (background, border, guides/grids)).
The dialog may also have regular window decorations, including a close button - this detail probably depends on the DE/WM though.
participants (6)
-
Alexandre Prokoudine -
Jabier Arraiza -
Jabiertxo Arraiza Cenoz -
LucaDC -
su_v -
Tavmjong Bah