[PD-dev] Re: pure devil (fwd)

[ix at replic.net]

> > I'm not sold on the Zoomer idea. If anyone has used eyeweb what they

> removing the subpatch concept, and I don't think that the zooming stuff 
> implies any of that, nor that its main use would even be to make larger 

like creating a duplicate view of a canvas, shrinking it to a fraction of the original size, locking 'zoom to fit' and using it as an overview. or zooming the selected objects (associated with data-structs) for instant timestretch. or displaying a subpatch/abstraction as GOP but mouseover + press the 'tab' key, and it zooms to fill the window, obliterating the need for a window manager entirely..

"Zoom"...dont knock it till youve tried it..

> 1. When the pointer device you are using is imprecise, you can't even hit
>    an inlet 90% of the time. For example, ever tried patching on a
>    touchscreen?

or a trackpoint, ball mouse, vnc/rdesktop. do you have any suggestions... auto-zoom the objects on mouseover, a la the MacOSX "Dock" ?

> more feature of PureData gets used. It's like consumer society: we have a
> duty to eat bread in order to justify the baking of the bread.

eh..you mean starvin would 'really show that consumer society' ? 

> So I think we should abolish scrollbars. Or should we? (I'm kidding, but
> just because I am doesn't mean I'm not making a point.)

well, i abolished scrollbars in my PD GUI, as documented at http://whats-your.name/pd/

> IIRC, Carmen advocates the abolition of the Run/Edit mode. I say that if 
> this becomes a reality, then other things have to change. There prolly 
> aren't enough keyboard shortcuts and key modifiers that we can rely on 
> being available all of the time (laptop keyboards are small)... and then, 
> dragging a numberbox without holding modifiers should do what exactly? The 
> same as current Run-Mode, or the same as current Edit-Mode ?

gave in and added a 'performance mode' toggle (Esc key), but for objects that just interpret a single input type (say button-1) it shouldnt be necessary. which is what, all of the originals+iemgui? id maybe prefer 'normally click moves, unless the object interprets mouse input' but that would be inconsistent: hold shift to move a slider, but don't when moving an objbox or rect..so i guess user-settable pref is on order here..

> 
> I suggested other things, like adding a different, more accessible 
> shortcut for Edit/Run toggling -- e.g. Escape or even CapsLock. The Ctrl+E 
> powerchord is more complex for the hand and doing too quick often leads to 
> Ctrl+W instead (been there done that).

yep, my PD GUI uses Esc... but i should stop calling it a PD GUI, since it can only be used via netsend right now (HINT HINT!! ;)
c