Hi Mathieu! Hi Jamie! Hi Andy! Hi List!
Another idea I just had, is to have Ctrl+Return do like Return does (finish the object), plus creating a dangling wire that will auto-connect to whichever object is created next. The Escape key could delete the dangling wire.
I think the ctrl + 1 (2, 3...) shortcut not so good way. And I don't see any reason not to make inserting objects (or text in objects) more intuitive, usable, ergonomic. Not only this is an unpleasant two-fingered combination, but also you have to be careful both with typing and clicking at one time. How about using F-keys (if any)? or num block?
Enter functioning when typing text into object - seriously, I make lots of mistakes when typing. Also selecting with mouse is weird for me. I never know in the first moment if I have to click and drag later or I can just drag straight away. I'm not an usability guru (yet), but something with keyboard shortcuts is not OK. Mouse selecting is not such major thing. In other (non-visual) languages there is rarely such convention, and what-thing-does is a result of syntax, not the font colour. So maybe a kind of auto-recognition? or a "toolbox" to drag'n'drop or click what you need? eg. under RMB or mouse wheel (but there is no mouse wheel in some laptops, even produced now, like trackpoint-only ThinkPad X series or with TouchPad only, without special drivers and time to set it up when working under Linux) Just an observation plus an idea. Making paths with touchpad is slow torture right now. Penance.
How about coloring inlet/outlet on hover? Sometimes it is not obvious, which one is selected (short name, many inlets/outlets) And automatically creating the wire from inlet when creating object - one can always click an empty space to get rid of it :)
... and hit Ctrl+Return we get the outlets of the message boxes connected to the left inlet of [f ].
Nice idea. I just don't know how it would be connecting this things. What connect to what. So maybe this schema:
- Selecting some "source" objects
- Alt-click (or several alt-clicks, or with shift, ctrl, space bar,
whatever) on target object (or particular object's inlet). The wires should be visualized when pressing the key, I think. And you have your connections. Hope you get it.
And something else: Is there a possibility to have this things configurable with menu (not in config files or when compiling): Font (typeface/size) Colours Keyboard shortcuts Rounded corners :D
Also the menu to open a path under Linux is very not OK. Just try to use it. It always opens at user's home dir and always shows hundreds of hidden objects. Esp. when you have lot of software or desktop envs. And every time I'm punished with clicking, finding, clicking, finding...
In fact I like oldschool, CPU-efficient style of PD's GUI, just not in any aspect/moment. There are just some strange actions making me dizzy and tired very fast. 90% of GUI is a gorgeous temptation. 10% is a penance.
Put-Object->Clipboard (I guess this is like Volker describes. It's does not persist when the application is closed. It is very easy to copy things to the clipboard just using CTRL-C which is aliased to "copy to clipboard slot 1", but there are also other slots. Not sure how to manage these elegantly, but maybe you only need 10 quick access slots.)
Isn't it an idea of trweakable keyboard shortcuts?
Cheers, Luke
BTW - the rounded corners - there is a 100% vector-based desktop for Linux, it's Twindy and I've just removed it :D