Tabs and tabs...

Hi!

Just a couple wishes about UI.

I wonder if it'd be hard work to implement multi-tabs canvas, like excel or processing? Has the idea been around?

Would it be possible to display icons instead of text in the toolbar tabs to reduce width (just like Rh5)? The horizontal scroll is a bit troublesome.

By the way, back then the receiver component had a very keen Go To feature. I'd love to see it again.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Fred Becquelin on March 11, 2013 at 6:16am

Chris, that's what I meant by troublesome. So I'm not the only one it bothers...

David, yes they would communicate. I understand your confusion. Let's say they would be "cropped views" for now.

It's more about book keeping inside a single document. For example: first tab would be UI, second would be formatting, others would be different modules of my script. I have to push stuff around all the time and even with groups or alt-drag it takes a while.

In Excel a sheet is a very large 2d array, but you can add a third dimension by adding sheets and access them with =Sheet2!A1 (3 coordinates : Sheet2 , A , 1)

So sheet are just 2d slices in a 3d array for visualization.

Processing is not such a good example, it's just pages in your code that are executed one after another, but still it's good for clarity : one tab with "setup", one with "draw", one with functions, one with classes etc

Since you're an architect, think of my tabs as the storeys of a building. there are horizontal as well as vertical wires.

I figured you could add a "vertical wire" that could eventually act as a cluster in/outputs for export etc

Just an idea anyway

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on March 11, 2013 at 8:04am

One of the big UI paradigms I've been thinking about on and off for the past few years are layers. By putting components on different layers you could temporarily hide them. Wires would just puncture layers when the components are on different ones.

One major benefit of layers over tabs is that you can show more than one layer at the same time:

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Daniel Hambleton on March 11, 2013 at 9:22am

That's pretty cool!

What about being able to navigate "vertically" through layers? They could fade in and out with a bit of perspective as you mouse drag/scroll + some key combo...Not sure if transparency is an option on GH components, though...

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on March 11, 2013 at 9:49am

They could fade in and out with a bit of perspective as you mouse drag/scroll + some key combo...Not sure if transparency is an option on GH components, though...

That would definitely require me switching to some other graphics API like DirectX or something. I don't think GDI+ will be able to handle that in full-screen.

David Rutten

david@mcneel.com

Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Mateusz Zwierzycki on March 11, 2013 at 9:57am

What if hidden components would appear when certain key is pressed without fading (blurred or with some transparency), and then user could switch to other layer with scroll?

Permalink Reply by Rémy Maurcot on March 11, 2013 at 9:57am

Whaouh Verry Cool.

Is it possible one day ?

Thanks for your idea verry constructive

Permalink Reply by phillip on March 11, 2013 at 10:36am

+1 on Fred´s idea of sheets or layers. With bigger definitions I started clustering everything, but still it would be convenient to organise the clusters more than just by colored groups (Input - Conversion - Geometry - Preview- Baking-...)

So your idea of layers seems to be very interesting, David.

How would you see where these layers are connected to, like a mouse over message or a component fade in? Do you imagine a separate Layer-window alla PS or RH?

Would you sort the connections (list of in- and outputs) in between layers and if yes, how?

I can imagine if I change a layer, the benefit of it would be I can avoid having a large canvas. But if the connections just come in and out of the canvas as shown - which is pretty cool though - I still have to spread my groups in differnt areas of the canvas so I do not get confused of underlaying pinch-throughs.

Permalink Reply by Fred Becquelin on March 13, 2013 at 7:51am

I've been thinking about this, and I don't see layers as an advantage. I don't need to display different layers at the same time. With a couple hidden layers I wouldn't even know if I have to "make room". Then I turn them on and it's a mess even worse. I don't think it helps for book keeping. In my view layers are useful if you want to add a bunch of properties like color etc. If it's just Hide and Disable I still think tabs are better.

You may want a label at the puncture location to say which TAB ;) it's going to.

Permalink Reply by Fred Becquelin on March 13, 2013 at 11:47am

I realize that maybe layers can be useful. I that case I'd just need an option to show only the current layer.

Permalink Reply by Fred Becquelin on March 14, 2013 at 7:35am

nice!