Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-26 Thread Fredrik Alströmer
First off, sorry for the top post, but I thought this is isn't
directly related to the question what to do with the right mouse
button / context menu. It was, however, something that hit me while I
was thinking about it. When I read this list, I normally just read the
emails consider some different approaches to the problems, and then
shut up anyway, since there are a lot more intelligent people here
anyway so I don't need to pollute the list.

I don't know if this has been discussed before (although I have been
around for a couple of years now, I forget stuff), so if it's been
discussed and thrown out before, just ignore me and I'll crawl back
underneath that rock again.

Anyway, back to the right mouse button / context menu. The entire
point of having the right mouse button map to a secondary tool, for me
anyway, would be speed. At first, I though, well we have that,
although they're predefined (ctrl/alt/shift/etc will sometimes switch
to different tools), we could have another key do the secondary tool
thing. Someone suggested space, but I've got to agree, space for
moving around is *awesome*. I really miss that when I'm working with
Photoshop, so please don't change that. :) So, speed. Blender has a
different approach, where different keys bring up different menu's
around the mouse, and although it takes a while to learn, once you
have, it's fairly easy and fast to switch back and fourth between a
bunch of modes. Then again, I don't think we want that kind of steep
learning curve for GIMP. So my mind wandered a bit and I got to
thinking about the UI in some computer games I've seen which could be
really cool. The toolbox is usually far away, and each tool is a
fairly small button (which aren't on the edge of the screen, which
would make them fairly large, in UI design terms), how about we move
them in closer? Consider a button/key which you press, which brings up
a circle of tools around the mouse pointer, perhaps an inch or two in
diameter (keeping it animated improves visual coherence, or so I've
been told, perhaps have them zoom out from under the cursor), move
your mouse to your tool (which could expand a little to make it a
bigger target) and let go of the button/key to choose it.
Sub-tools/variants could be a bit farther away (perhaps a bit smaller,
and a bit transparent), in the same direction.

Computer games do have a knack of finding UIs which are fast and easy
to learn. The only thing they're not is 'conforming' to standard UI
elements (not that they'd want to).

I'm not saying the right mouse button is the best use for such a
feature (I actually think it wouldn't be, I prefer the keyboard), but
it might be a good option. I'd be willing to work on such a feature.

Greetings,
Fredrik.

On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 19:35, peter sikking pe...@mmiworks.net wrote:
 Bill Skaggs wrote:

 The global popup menu is certainly useful; I have used it very
 often.  The context
 menu for the text tool was introduced as part of on-canvas text
 editing.  It was
 introduced because on-canvas editing could not work without it --
 there was no
 reasonable way to access text versions of Copy and Paste and other
 essential
 commands except by using a context menu.

 hoho, when that was discussed I was there and I made it very clear
 that the
 only acceptable way to do copy/paste in the text tool is via the
 standard
 commands in the Edit menu, with their standard command keys.

 Let me also give general guidance on what a right click menu is for,
 what
 its place is in desktop UI systems.

 The right click menu is a _secondary_ way to get things done. First of
 a primary way has to be UI designed to do something: like an item in
 the menu bar (see copy/paste), a tool options item, an on screen widget
 (text editing toolbar, a control node on a curve), widgets in dialogs.

 Only after the primary way is designed and implemented, is it time to
 think what could be in the right click menu. It is an 'acceleration'
 mechanism (although I consider it slow and finicky) like command keys,
 although more locally targeted. So the choice to make becomes 'what
 are the limited number of items that are so important they need to
 be also here in this menu?'

 One last note to those users who find right click menus incredibly
 useful and even perceive using them as fast (note, perceive):
 I do not have the numbers whether 30, 40 or an unbelievable
 60 percent of users are like you, but it is certainly not more.
 So the rest of us is not enjoying using right click menus so much.

 And the right attitude towards right click menus is always to try
 to solve it in a better way first (see above). SO for instance our
 full-screen mode and the menu bar. I am asking myself: could we not
 show the menu bar when the mouse sprite is moved against the top
 of the screen (after a short, 0.5s, timeout)? fading or sliding
 in would be nice...

     --ps

         founder + principal interaction architect
             man + machine interface works

Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-26 Thread Alexia Death
2010/7/26 Fredrik Alströmer r...@excu.se:
 Consider a button/key which you press, which brings up
 a circle of tools around the mouse pointer, perhaps an inch or two in
 diameter (keeping it animated improves visual coherence, or so I've
 been told, perhaps have them zoom out from under the cursor), move
 your mouse to your tool (which could expand a little to make it a
 bigger target) and let go of the button/key to choose it.
 Sub-tools/variants could be a bit farther away (perhaps a bit smaller,
 and a bit transparent), in the same direction.

I personally quite like the idea but GIMP currently lacks the
infrastructure to have such feature.  Computer games have a slight
advantage of not having to deal with window managers  and toolkit
limitations as a rule. The whole UI is custom rendered anyway. There
seems to be a consensus that on canvas widgets are needed however.
There is GSoC project slightly related, but I dont know how that
progresses. Guiguru has final word on these things usually, so
discussing this in depth with him might be good, if you plan to have a
go at it.

-- 
--Alexia
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-26 Thread Vincent Beers
 The space bar is invaluable as a way to move the image withing
 its window. Why do you want to confiscate existing possibilties,
 instead of unused keyboard and mouse combinations?

This is why I said *tapping* the space bar. Since moving around the
image is strictly a hold button action, the space bar could still have
the secondary action of showing the menu when it's tapped. Not the
best idea, perhaps, but certainly accessible.

 I would suggest you to propose new combinations for interesting,
 new capabilities, but not try to remove somewhat which has existed
 from the first version of GIMP, simply because you don't use it.

But the thing is, I did not expect that many people actually *are*
using it. Sure, I have a personal perspective, but general imporoved
usability for everyone is what I'd think about first. And about this
point itself, in the suggestion this was a reply to, none of the
original functionality *was* actually removed. I suggested to have the
context menu with the original options (File, ...) below the
context-sensitive options.

At this point, I think a context-sensitive context menu would work
better than my initial suggestion about having a secondary tool,
because a context menu certainly is more useful. But I also think it
would be useful if there was a way to save your current tool/color
settings and then load them later, for a quick switch between them.
But that's a different suggestion now.

 we could have another key do the secondary tool thing.

Yeah, that would work nicely.

I'm glad there is a discussion going on about the context menu now,
because such a feature could definitely come in useful (as long as
it's executed right).

2010/7/26 Alexia Death alexiade...@gmail.com:
 2010/7/26 Fredrik Alströmer r...@excu.se:
 Consider a button/key which you press, which brings up
 a circle of tools around the mouse pointer, perhaps an inch or two in
 diameter (keeping it animated improves visual coherence, or so I've
 been told, perhaps have them zoom out from under the cursor), move
 your mouse to your tool (which could expand a little to make it a
 bigger target) and let go of the button/key to choose it.
 Sub-tools/variants could be a bit farther away (perhaps a bit smaller,
 and a bit transparent), in the same direction.

 I personally quite like the idea but GIMP currently lacks the
 infrastructure to have such feature.  Computer games have a slight
 advantage of not having to deal with window managers  and toolkit
 limitations as a rule. The whole UI is custom rendered anyway. There
 seems to be a consensus that on canvas widgets are needed however.
 There is GSoC project slightly related, but I dont know how that
 progresses. Guiguru has final word on these things usually, so
 discussing this in depth with him might be good, if you plan to have a
 go at it.

 --
 --Alexia
 ___
 Gimp-developer mailing list
 Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
 https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer




-- 

http://davince.tengudev.com/
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Olivier
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Vincent Beers vincentbe...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hi, I have a feature/enhancement request.

 Currently, the GIMP shows the program's menu when right-clicking within the
 drawing area. However, this seems superfluous as the menu is already
 displayed
 at all times.


This is certainly false. You can hide the menu bar, as well in normal mode
as in full screen mode, and you can handle an image so large that the menu
bar is out of the screen. The menu bar available on a right click is
absolutely necessary, it is the only certainly available way to get the menu
bar.
-- 
Olivier Lecarme
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Olivier
On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 3:52 PM, Vincent Beers vincentbe...@gmail.comwrote:

 While you have a point about being able to hide the menu bar, doesn't
 the main window never get larger than the screen size, meaning that
 your window title and everything in it will always be visible?


This limitation does not exist.  Suppose I have an image 4000x6000 and I
want to look at it at 100%, or an image 400x600 and I want to look at it at
800%. If I shrink wrap it (Ctrl+E with version 2.6, or Ctrl+J with version
2.8), certainly the window will be larger than my screen. Since I can easily
move it using some key combination and the mouse, I can look at various
parts of the image, and be not limited by my screen size.


 Actually, I have encountered no other image manipulation suite that
 would obscure the menu bar like this other than the GIMP. I'm not
 saying that it is a bad thing, just that it removes the chance to do
 anything else with said button. For a mouse button, which is one of
 the buttons that is easily and quickly clickable, opening a menu might
 not be the most desired action to give it.


I cannot count how many times I have been happy to be able to reach almost
everything from a simple right-click.  If other image manipulation
applications cannot offer this possibility, too bad for them.


 If accessing the menu is absolutely necessary in this way, why not map
 it to another common key (like tapping the space bar) and leave an
 extra mouse button to added editing power? Or perhaps use the context
 menu button on the keyboard to good use.


The space bar is invaluable as a way to move the image withing its window.
Why do you want to confiscate existing possibilties, instead of unused
keyboard and mouse combinations?


 If you really can't go without the right-click-menu thing, how about
 making it more context sensitive, then? Show appropriate options when
 you right-click a selection or a text box for example, with the
 original menus shown below the context sensitive options.

 Same remark as above. I would suggest you to propose new combinations for
interesting, new capabilities, but not try to remove somewhat which has
existed from the first version of GIMP, simply because you don't use it.

Vincent Beers

 On 25 July 2010 15:15, Olivier oleca...@gmail.com wrote:
  On Sun, Jul 25, 2010 at 3:04 PM, Vincent Beers vincentbe...@gmail.com
  wrote:
 
  Hi, I have a feature/enhancement request.
 
  Currently, the GIMP shows the program's menu when right-clicking within
  the
  drawing area. However, this seems superfluous as the menu is already
  displayed
  at all times.
 
  This is certainly false. You can hide the menu bar, as well in normal
 mode
  as in full screen mode, and you can handle an image so large that the
 menu
  bar is out of the screen. The menu bar available on a right click is
  absolutely necessary, it is the only certainly available way to get the
 menu
  bar.
  --
  Olivier Lecarme
 




-- 
Olivier Lecarme
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Alexandre Prokoudine
On 7/25/10, Olivier wrote:

 I cannot count how many times I have been happy to be able to reach almost
 everything from a simple right-click.  If other image manipulation
 applications cannot offer this possibility, too bad for them.

Don't use 2.7 and above then, 'cause Text tool now has its own
right-click menu and its *useful*.

GIMP has three ways to access menu currently: menu bar, top-left
button where ruler's origin is and right-click menu. This is bloat.

Besides, as already mentioned, some tools can make a much better use
of right-click menu then simply duplicating contents of the whole
app's menu. Consistence in UI is a number one priority.

 interesting, new capabilities, but not try to remove somewhat which has
 existed from the first version of GIMP, simply because you don't use it.

Dear Olivier, the because we always did so kind of argumentation is
an utter nonsense. Please never use it. It's wrong and causes holy
wars, cancer, premature bald spots and heart attacks. Also, god kills
a kitten every time you say that.

The history of GIMP has proved that some things that were understood
as right turned out to be completely wrong.

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Bill Skaggs
Let me respond to the points that have been made in this thread.  The first
thing
to say is that there are solid arguments in both directions, and any
decision is a
trade-off, so there is no need to insult one side or the other.

The global popup menu is certainly useful; I have used it very often.  The
context
menu for the text tool was introduced as part of on-canvas text editing.  It
was
introduced because on-canvas editing could not work without it -- there was
no
reasonable way to access text versions of Copy and Paste and other essential
commands except by using a context menu.  Mitch has been working on a set
of canvas widgets that may do the job, but they were not available when
on-canvas
text editing was developed.  Once they work well, it might be possible to
get rid of
the text tool context menu.

There are other tools that also would benefit greatly from either a context
menu
or an on-canvas control.  The clearest is the paths tool -- for example, it
would
be very valuable to be able to mark a path vertex as smooth, by
constraining the
two handles to always point in opposite directions.  That would be easy to
implement,
but there is currently no good way to give the user access to it.  It is
easy to come
up with other examples.

In summary, popup context menus and popup global menus are both useful; the
only question is which one is more important.

  -- Bill
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Daniel Hornung
On Sunday 25 July 2010 18:37:09 Bill Skaggs wrote:
 the only question is which one is more important.

Or how they can be combined in a clever way ;)  UI designers to the rescue, 
but I'm certain that restricting the future to either possibility is not the 
optimum.

Daniel


signature.asc
Description: This is a digitally signed message part.
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Alexandre Prokoudine
On 7/25/10, Bill Skaggs wrote:

 The global popup menu is certainly useful; I have used it very often.  The
 context menu for the text tool was introduced as part of on-canvas text
 editing.  It was introduced because on-canvas editing could not work
 without it -- there was no reasonable way to access text versions of
 Copy and Paste and other essential commands except by using a context
 menu.  Mitch has been working on a set of canvas widgets that may do
 the job, but they were not available when on-canvas text editing was
 developed.  Once they work well, it might be possible to get rid of
 the text tool context menu.

Well, if you try it right now you will also see commands like Load
text or Text along path. I'm not entirely sure that it's going to
look good on canvas. Anyway the whole set of new features regarding
Text tool from 2.7.1 hasn't gone though usability meat-grinder yet,
afaik.

 There are other tools that also would benefit greatly from either a context
 menu or an on-canvas control.  The clearest is the paths tool -- for example,
 it would be very valuable to be able to mark a path vertex as smooth, by
 constraining the two handles to always point in opposite directions.

I'm not sure about that one. Pippin's abandoned test tool for GEGL had
a much simpler on-canvas implementation.

 In summary, popup context menus and popup global menus are both useful; the
 only question is which one is more important.

I agree about trade-offs, the only thing I disagree with is the we
always did so/had it argument. There are better ways to evaluate
usefulness of a feature than that.

Another thing is that with all those ipads and other similar devices
coming and taking over the market usefulness of right-click menu per
se is becoming questionable.

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread peter sikking
Bill Skaggs wrote:

 The global popup menu is certainly useful; I have used it very  
 often.  The context
 menu for the text tool was introduced as part of on-canvas text  
 editing.  It was
 introduced because on-canvas editing could not work without it --  
 there was no
 reasonable way to access text versions of Copy and Paste and other  
 essential
 commands except by using a context menu.

hoho, when that was discussed I was there and I made it very clear  
that the
only acceptable way to do copy/paste in the text tool is via the  
standard
commands in the Edit menu, with their standard command keys.

Let me also give general guidance on what a right click menu is for,  
what
its place is in desktop UI systems.

The right click menu is a _secondary_ way to get things done. First of
a primary way has to be UI designed to do something: like an item in
the menu bar (see copy/paste), a tool options item, an on screen widget
(text editing toolbar, a control node on a curve), widgets in dialogs.

Only after the primary way is designed and implemented, is it time to
think what could be in the right click menu. It is an 'acceleration'
mechanism (although I consider it slow and finicky) like command keys,
although more locally targeted. So the choice to make becomes 'what
are the limited number of items that are so important they need to
be also here in this menu?'

One last note to those users who find right click menus incredibly
useful and even perceive using them as fast (note, perceive):
I do not have the numbers whether 30, 40 or an unbelievable
60 percent of users are like you, but it is certainly not more.
So the rest of us is not enjoying using right click menus so much.

And the right attitude towards right click menus is always to try
to solve it in a better way first (see above). SO for instance our
full-screen mode and the menu bar. I am asking myself: could we not
show the menu bar when the mouse sprite is moved against the top
of the screen (after a short, 0.5s, timeout)? fading or sliding
in would be nice...

 --ps

 founder + principal interaction architect
 man + machine interface works

 http://mmiworks.net/blog : on interaction architecture



___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread saulgoode
Quoting Alexandre Prokoudine alexandre.prokoud...@gmail.com:

 On 7/25/10, Olivier wrote:

 I cannot count how many times I have been happy to be able to reach almost
 everything from a simple right-click.  If other image manipulation
 applications cannot offer this possibility, too bad for them.

 Don't use 2.7 and above then, 'cause Text tool now has its own
 right-click menu and its *useful*.

However, the Text tool's contextual menu is only presented when the  
right-click occurs within the text frame; right-clicking outside of  
the frame still provides access to main menu.

 GIMP has three ways to access menu currently: menu bar, top-left
 button where ruler's origin is and right-click menu. This is bloat.

The first two methods are not always available.

 Besides, as already mentioned, some tools can make a much better use
 of right-click menu then simply duplicating contents of the whole
 app's menu. Consistence in UI is a number one priority.

While not a sufficient reason for rejection, it should be noted that  
such a change (so that tools could have their own right- and/or  
middle-click functions) would require modifying the code of all the  
tools (currently all mouse click events are treated by tools as  
left-clicks since right- and middle-clicks would have already been  
intercepted).

Consistence in UI would seem to me an argument FOR the current  
behavior, especially if one considers that other types of input  
devices (pads, pens, touchscreens, etc) commonly share only a single  
type of triggering click. Imposing a left-click-only constraint on  
tools is certainly limiting, but it simplifies the task of learning  
the interface (not to mention coding to it, maintaining it, and  
documenting it).

 interesting, new capabilities, but not try to remove somewhat which has
 existed from the first version of GIMP, simply because you don't use it.

 Dear Olivier, the because we always did so kind of argumentation is
 an utter nonsense. Please never use it. It's wrong and causes holy
 wars, cancer, premature bald spots and heart attacks. Also, god kills
 a kitten every time you say that.

Far from being utter nonsense, consistency over time is a valid  
engineering consideration in any assessment of trade-offs of proposed  
product changes. This is especially true of user interface changes  
which have significant downstream impact upon other developers,  
document teams, and language translators (edit: I almost forgot, and  
users).

 The history of GIMP has proved that some things that were understood
 as right turned out to be completely wrong.

Undoubtedly true. Nonetheless, the vast majority of the approaches  
taken by GIMP in the past were the result of sober appraisal and sound  
reasoning at the time. Certainly circumstances may change and  
opportunities arise to improve things; but decisions made previously  
by GIMP developers should not be dismissed lightly, and especially not  
without reasonable consideration of the original reasons behind them.

I have no real objection to modifying the image window context menu  
behavior. I will say that I often use windows which have neither  
rulers nor menubar displayed and it is absolutely critical that a way  
of accessing the menu be available. I'd have no objection to an  
ALT+right-click option or somesuch; however, I should not be surprised  
if, after due consideration, the costs of allowing tools to respond to  
middle- or right-button mouse events are deemed not to outweigh the  
benefits.

___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Alexandre Prokoudine
On 7/25/10, peter sikking wrote:

 I am asking myself: could we not
 show the menu bar when the mouse sprite is moved against the top
 of the screen (after a short, 0.5s, timeout)? fading or sliding
 in would be nice...

It should be possible. Firefox rolls out button bar and tabs when you
hover mouse pointer at top of the full-screen window.

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread Alexandre Prokoudine
On 7/25/10, saulgoode wrote:

 GIMP has three ways to access menu currently: menu bar, top-left
 button where ruler's origin is and right-click menu. This is bloat.

 The first two methods are not always available.

As already mentioned above, menubar could simply roll out when needed.
Needless to say, menu accelerators weren't invented out of curiosity
:)

 Consistence in UI would seem to me an argument FOR the current
 behavior,

Funny you should say that, because the current way it *is*
inconsistent with the rest of UI. You see, the other word for right
click menu is context menu. Now let's have a look.

Layers dialog. Right-click displays items related only to layers. Check.
Channels dialog. Right-click displays items related only to channels. Check.
Paths dialog. Right-click displays items related only to paths. Check.
Brushes dialog. Right-click displays items related only to brushes. Check.

And the list goes on.

Presumably right-click for canvas would display things related to
objects on canvas. Does it? No.

See? :)

 especially if one considers that other types of input
 devices (pads, pens, touchscreens, etc) commonly share only a single
 type of triggering click.

So what you are saying is, in fact, that since other types of input
devices do not provide ability to do right-click, the current menu on
right-click is the right thing? Did I get that right? :)

Besides, I already mentioned that it is exactly the reason why
usefulness of right-click menus is becoming questionable. So where
exactly do we disagree and what are we arguing about? :)

 reasoning at the time. Certainly circumstances may change and
 opportunities arise to improve things; but decisions made previously
 by GIMP developers should not be dismissed lightly, and especially not
 without reasonable consideration of the original reasons behind them.

Which is exactly my point. Once again: what are we arguing about? :)

Alexandre Prokoudine
http://libregraphicsworld.org
___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer


Re: [Gimp-developer] Enhancement request: better utilization of mouse buttons

2010-07-25 Thread saulgoode
Quoting Alexandre Prokoudine alexandre.prokoud...@gmail.com:

 GIMP has three ways to access menu currently: menu bar, top-left
 button where ruler's origin is and right-click menu. This is bloat.

 The first two methods are not always available.

 As already mentioned above, menubar could simply roll out when needed.

That would only cover full-screen mode (and might create difficulty  
with GIMP deployments on operating systems where the Display Manager  
is already employing rollout menus for the system menus). It does not  
solve the problem created by windowed Views that don't have rulers or  
menubar; and it does not solve the problem of windows which are not  
wide enough to accommodate the menubar.

 Needless to say, menu accelerators weren't invented out of curiosity
 :)

I prefer not to use menu decelerators, and I do not think they  
constitute a discoverable interface when the menu is not accessible.  
Shouldn't we consider the case of view windows so small that the some  
of the Layer|Colors|Tools|Filters|Windows|Help menus aren't available?


 Consistence in UI would seem to me an argument FOR the current
 behavior,

 Funny you should say that, because the current way it *is*
 inconsistent with the rest of UI. You see, the other word for right
 click menu is context menu. Now let's have a look.

 Layers dialog. Right-click displays items related only to layers. Check.
 Channels dialog. Right-click displays items related only to channels. Check.
 Paths dialog. Right-click displays items related only to paths. Check.
 Brushes dialog. Right-click displays items related only to brushes. Check.

 And the list goes on.

 Presumably right-click for canvas would display things related to
 objects on canvas. Does it? No.

Actually, in all of those examples it is the particular tab's window  
menu which is displayed when right-clicking anywhere within the tree  
view -- entirely consistent with the image menu being displayed when  
right-clicking on the canvas. To my knowledge there is NO instance of  
right-clicking on an object in GIMP raising a context menu (unless you  
consider the treeview area or canvas area an object).

I see no reason this can't change, even in the Image window -- the  
Text and Paths tools have already been presented as providing useful  
examples. However, I do think that right-clicking on the image canvas  
raising the Image menu is important, and would propose that only Tool  
controls be treated as objects which can have their own context  
menus. Having particular graphical elements of the image itself  
(layers, text, paths) display a context menu seems misguided.

 especially if one considers that other types of input
 devices (pads, pens, touchscreens, etc) commonly share only a single
 type of triggering click.

 So what you are saying is, in fact, that since other types of input
 devices do not provide ability to do right-click, the current menu on
 right-click is the right thing? Did I get that right? :)

 Besides, I already mentioned that it is exactly the reason why
 usefulness of right-click menus is becoming questionable. So where
 exactly do we disagree and what are we arguing about? :)

I'm not sure to what extent we disagree, other than I see very little  
reason to eliminate the canvas context menus, some potential problems  
if they are removed, and a few reasons (ones important to me) to keep  
them.

I have been more and more moving away from using the main menu as I  
become more proficient at GIMP -- finding the use of tear-offs and the  
context menu quite beneficial to my workflow. The main menu is, to me,  
often just wasted screen space and I find the ability to hide  
worthwhile. I don't expect that GIMP should be catering to my own  
needs or expectations, but if functionality is being considered for  
removal from GIMP, I think it is appropriate for those who appreciate  
that functionality to say so.

My apologies if my post was too much of a knee-jerk reaction to the  
proposal.



___
Gimp-developer mailing list
Gimp-developer@lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gimp-developer