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

[martin pichlmair]

hi,

now i also need to add my grain of salt to this thread.

>>> 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" ?
>>
>
> Fisheye view: the centre of the patch looks bigger than the  
> periphery...
> And by centre I mean centre of attention, which the user gets to pick.

the problem with fisheye view: it never works. basically you can try  
it out in the dock. the reason why it does not work lies in the fact  
that the area that gets bigger _always_ moves away from the curser  
when it does so. thus, the user clicks at the icon beside the  
highlighted. try it out. it sucks.

>> well, i abolished scrollbars in my PD GUI, as documented at http:// 
>> whats-your.name/pd/
>>
>
> I see. You are replacing them by exclusive usage of the scrollwheel?

one more solution would be to implement a "hand" as in quark xpress.  
i like scrollbars more.


>> so i guess user-settable pref is on order here..
>>
>
> Right.

user settable prefs are shifting the responsibility to the user. most  
users will not set them thus a reasonable default has to be chosen.  
they are an addition more than a solution.


lg
martin