On 10/12/06, Jakub Steiner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Hi Phillip,
The two major use cases when this would be a more efficient interface is
for us GIMPers who already know what functionality they want and don't
need to go three levels deep, but also for novice users for who it will
perhaps be easier to search for 'replace color' instead of browsing
through the menu tree. If filters and functions have some additional
metadata, providing for example name of the same functionality in
competing graphic packages, things would become easier to discover for
novices.
I agree that the commands should be searchable by many terms. But I
think all terms should be part of the description, not be metadata.
Auxiliary terms could appear in parentheses and an understated color.
Thus the user would be able to see *why* a particular command matches
his search. Otherwise it would feel a bit magical, kind of like the
current mechanism of invoking commands using a single keystroke. If
the auxiliay terms appear in the description, the user would also
learn what the given operation is called in Gimp. (And it's easier to
implement than metadata.)
Additionally this interface would allow to provide not only a brief name
of the function, but also a small graphic demonstrating the function
where applicable. I envisioned using a tile-based interface for this not
unlike the beagle-search tool* but never gotten to mock things up. Feel
like speccing things up? ;)
[rearranged]
* http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Beagle-search.png
A graphic would be great if this proves not to slow down the display
of matches. I think it is imperative that the commands appear as fast
as possible, and certainly in no more than 1 second.
What do you mean by demonstration -- a thumbnail of the image that has
been transformed with the command? Or performing the command on the
whole image before the Enter key is hit? This may make it slow to
navigate to the desired entry using the keys.
Why do you think a tiled arrangement is better than a vertical list?
I envisioned it like the Gmail address interface.
I would love to make the description more formal, if someone tells me
how. Is that what you mean by "spec things up"?
This would be a nice summer of code project for next year.
Agreed. Is anyone familiar with the process of creating a GSoC project?
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