i am tending toward the macromedia palettes at the moment . . .
their palettes can be dragged and dropped into any configuration of 'master' palettes. once 'docked' to each other, those not required can be closed to minimise screen space whilst readily available when needed. i, too, would like to see the ability to put selections of palettes together customised to my way of working: but being able to have some of the lesser used palettes minimised and ready for action on a double click!
what i don't like about the macromedia palettes is that the content really doesn't lend itself to a floating palette. archiCAD on the other hand has an easily modularised palette content that could work very well if well planned and executed.
i did also download the new adobe illustrator CS try-out the other day and although i haven't used it much yet, it does seem as though the CS suite has improved palette control over older program versions. i can't seem to work out how to get my groups of palettes un-snapped from each other though - i'm still dragging each palette in a group out of the whole one by one and then reassembling them to form the original floating palette . . . and it took me a while to suss out that double clicking the active palette name would minimise the whole group . . .
i think that i'm a bit anal about my palette positions, so to feed that neurosis i am agreeing wholeheartedly with matthew: let ME control their positions, shapes and content and remember it from session to session. i don't want MS style palettes rearranging themselves in the hope that they are somehow contributing to my workflow.
i am just about handling the archiCAD tool dialogue settings resizing themselves (on a mac they jump - there is no preference to use "scroll effects for dialogue box..."), and as a consequence, the eye has to pause and readjust to where everything is now before carrying on. this is
a couple of months ago somebody demo'ed the autocad 2004 fly-out settings dialogue and it struck me that this would be a very good way of getting the info box off of my screen - having a combination of it and the tool settings dialogue fly out on 'roll-over' the tool. has anybody had any experience using this?
i think in general though, what we are talking about here is a little short-sighted. the development of the pet-palette is what's required! the words "user-centric" are going to describe the UIs of the future and it is to this that graphisoft should be aiming in the long term. unfortunately, i haven't followed this through yet - i'm not sure how and when this would work.
i feel that i have rambled on a bit here. sorry.
i would like to hear other peoples views on this: is everybody out there as neurotic as me with their palette positions? or do you just take it as it comes . . . ?
~/archiben
their palettes can be dragged and dropped into any configuration of 'master' palettes. once 'docked' to each other, those not required can be closed to minimise screen space whilst readily available when needed. i, too, would like to see the ability to put selections of palettes together customised to my way of working: but being able to have some of the lesser used palettes minimised and ready for action on a double click!
what i don't like about the macromedia palettes is that the content really doesn't lend itself to a floating palette. archiCAD on the other hand has an easily modularised palette content that could work very well if well planned and executed.
i did also download the new adobe illustrator CS try-out the other day and although i haven't used it much yet, it does seem as though the CS suite has improved palette control over older program versions. i can't seem to work out how to get my groups of palettes un-snapped from each other though - i'm still dragging each palette in a group out of the whole one by one and then reassembling them to form the original floating palette . . . and it took me a while to suss out that double clicking the active palette name would minimise the whole group . . .
i think that i'm a bit anal about my palette positions, so to feed that neurosis i am agreeing wholeheartedly with matthew: let ME control their positions, shapes and content and remember it from session to session. i don't want MS style palettes rearranging themselves in the hope that they are somehow contributing to my workflow.
i am just about handling the archiCAD tool dialogue settings resizing themselves (on a mac they jump - there is no preference to use "scroll effects for dialogue box..."), and as a consequence, the eye has to pause and readjust to where everything is now before carrying on. this is
a couple of months ago somebody demo'ed the autocad 2004 fly-out settings dialogue and it struck me that this would be a very good way of getting the info box off of my screen - having a combination of it and the tool settings dialogue fly out on 'roll-over' the tool. has anybody had any experience using this?
i think in general though, what we are talking about here is a little short-sighted. the development of the pet-palette is what's required! the words "user-centric" are going to describe the UIs of the future and it is to this that graphisoft should be aiming in the long term. unfortunately, i haven't followed this through yet - i'm not sure how and when this would work.
i feel that i have rambled on a bit here. sorry.
i would like to hear other peoples views on this: is everybody out there as neurotic as me with their palette positions? or do you just take it as it comes . . . ?
~/archiben
Aussie wrote:docking, magnetic and hidden!
...for a minimum start pallettes need max min buttons.
maybe a toggle key to hide/show favourite pallettes
or function keys for sets of favourite pallettes and locations
...easy access is crucial I like the nav & nav preview buttons at the bottom of the screen...more palettes could be added there as well...
Aussie wrote:I agree that there are many subtle and not so subtle improvements that could be made. I do think that GS has done a creditable job of keeping it pretty clean overall. I think that perhaps the faults stand out by contrast to the generally high quality of the work.
I think more than dockable pallettes the whole thing need rethinking. (either that or I need a 30" monitor)
BTW, the 23" Apple Cinema Display is really quite adequate (f___ing incredibly great is really more like it), especially with Exposé. I pity the poor Windows (only) users who don't have this incredible productivity (and totally cool) feature. Maybe in Longhorn, someday, I guess in late 2005 if it doesn't get delayed again.
for a minimum start pallettes need max min buttons.The min/max idea sounds good, but how about having the info palette automatically expand to the size needed for the tool when you roll over it? (And maybe scroll automatically if the screen is too small.)
having to drag a corner of the info pallette to see all of the items is a major bore - especially when another tool then suddenly leaves blank space. The max button would need to reflect the number of items in the pallette
maybe a toggle key to hide/show favourite pallettesI like this idea. Especially the possibility of actually being able to use the function keys on the Mac.
or function keys for sets of favourite pallettes and locations
I presently simulate this with the Find & Select and Solid Element Operations palettes by assigning Command/Control + F and Command/Control + 0 (zero) respectively
Still looking?
