Dev talk:Ref/Proposals/UI/Tab-Interface
- user:piotao: 20140115 - added a question:
What about the nice feature we talked about during the BCon13 with Sebastian and the others, in which we would have also a possibility to unpin and detach a specified panel and make it floating somewhere on 3d view for later use?
The ability to (un)dock panels is one of the next things I wish to explore. I have talked with Campbell Barton about it. The next step is for me to finish my proposal on it and then do test development in a testing branch.
user:piotao: great! This functionality will absolutely rock! Thank you!
Screen Layouts becoming a tab bar goes against "lack of space" mentioned earlier. It dedicates a lot of space for something that is not used frequently (poor layout choices if you have to alternate them constantly, best create a new one for the task) and so far key controlable, that will scale less than the current menu and work poorly in non wide layouts (like a separate helper window). Same issues than mentioned in depth for the vertical case, plus dedicating big area for mostly static thing, as the hierachy should be screen layout > areas > tool tabs > panels. Of course, it means the feature is more visible for new users, but then everyone gets stuck with the cons. --Gsrb3d 00:41, 16 January 2014 (CET)
Icons making the tab smaller also makes it harder to hit with the mouse, basic principle of UI. No mention of keybased control so it must be assumed it will be the only way, and we have settled that it will be used more than other things and should be fast, reason for which it gets a full decicated column. Also readability is relative, too many cases of "what is this icon about" game, when in the end you get guided more for position. And in the same fashion that some request support for icons, others have been requesting a reduction of them to decrease visual clutter (but that is a more general thing about Blender UI). --Gsrb3d 00:41, 16 January 2014 (CET)
Proposal from 2010 by Vilem Novak
Hello, this is a proposal from 2010 which I wrote, with discussion, and I will be very thankfull if you read it, because it touches the work being done now very closely:
I proposed to introduce menus, instead of toolbar and several other changes. ( fixed panel order, remove UI list, move last operator section, e.t.c.) This was based on an in-depth analysis and more than 10 years of experience in 3d business.
Although, I am very, very, thankfull for any solution, since the situation of the UI is desperate,I am quite sad seeing a less space-effective solution being introduced in blender 4 years later. 2.4x blender was a "panning" application, but 2.5 made it a "scrolling"application.
Blender has hundreds of tools. Please, just try to read my proposal, then do an analysis and count how many tool buttons can you squeeze in with current solution until you have to scroll. Then count it if you would possibly combine your tabs+ menus.
This is much much about muscle and position memory of ui elements, which is very important if you are a professional and use tablet. Avoinding scrolling is of big importance. 2 clicks are always faster than scroll+click.
thank you for your work, anyway it ends, it can possibly be better then now.
I have 15 years of experience with blender, and currently I develop Blender CAM and also make my living with animation in blender.
About the Order of Tabs (by Gaia)
Hi; I have an issue regarding the order of tabs and the default tab:
In the different interaction modes we currently have these tabs:
OBJECT EDIT OTHER Create Grease Pencil Grease Pencil Basic Create Custom tabs Relations Basic Animation Options Physics Custom tabs Grease Pencil History Custom tabs
The top most Tab is opened by default.
Wouldn't it be better to have same tabs located at same positions (in same order at least) in different modes ?
I am also a bit unhappy about the default Tab (for object and edit).
Here is an alternative tab layout for the different order of tabs (gaps are only introduced for comparing the columns):
OBJECT EDIT OTHER Basic Basic Basic Options Options Options Grease Pencil Grease Pencil Grease Pencil Create Create Relations Animation Physics History Custom tabs Custom tabs Custom tabs
Remark: I prefer to have the Basic tab open by default because most of my time i am NOT adding new objects, but editing existing ones. So i like to have the "most likely used" tools right at hand which seems to be the "Basic" Tab...
As a sidenote... Couldn't "Grease Pencil" be abbreviated to "Pencil", "Marker", "Nerd Pen" or "Geek Pen" even ?
Possible Solution to Limited Tab Space
One of the Cons is this: Possible to run out of tab space (but should be plenty of room for default configuration and a few additional tabs)
This could be solved by pinning tabs to only show the icon (when that comes about) or fixing < and > scroller tabs at either end. Basically what the tabs in Firefox do. But styled for Blender.
Sparkwoodand21 08:52, 31 January 2014 (CET)
