Proposal for changing a bit the Tools Palette

[Mag]

After the LiveCode's toolbar http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28147 I tried to redesign also the Tools Palette trying to make it easier to understand for new users (maybe)... it's just a try so please let me know what do you think, any comment and suggestion will be very welcome....

Edit: I update this image as they arrive comments and observations.

PS
Sorry I posted this topic in the wrong forum, if some moderator see it, please move it to the right section of the forums, thank you.

[livecodeali]

Hi Mag,

That looks really great! I would love the tools palette to look like that. Some of your improvements are things we have intended to get done for a while, but I love the general design.

[jacque]

I agree, this is excellent. Using toggle widgets instead of the gear menu is much more convenient and intuitive. The entire look is clean and professional.

[Mag]

Thank you so much!

I made a new version where the widgets have a lighter look. Please keep in mind that I'm not a graphic designer (I work in the usability field), I'm sure LiveCode's graphic designer will do a much better job.

[jacque]

I like the lighter widgets very much. The current ones are so dark they overpower the palette. My eye goes there immediately and gets stuck.

You could be a graphic designer if you wanted to be, I think.

[Mag]

I tried to do a new version with the widget icons a bit less wide, perhaps it helps to give a more balanced look. Also the saved space is useful for implement a scrollbar. I updated the image in the first post.

[Jeanne DeVoto]

Can I put in a request:

I would like a "mini-mode" that toggles the tools palette between full and just browse/pointer. (Most of the time I'm switching between these two, and the larger palette can get in the way—especially with the widgets section. At the same time, I want the whole thing accessible if I need to use it.)

Any chance of this?

[Mag]

I Jeanne, interesting point. Of course, yours is a request to make to the LiveCode team (I'm a simple user like you, not involved in any way in the development).

Maybe you already know this but, if you use the popup menu with a gear icon of the palette, you can remove the sections you don't use (but you lose "the whole thing" accessible if you need to use it).

pal.png (10.77 KiB) Viewed 54297 times

Also, as an user switched often from the Browser mode and the Edit mode, It could be useful to associate a keyboard key, like in Photoshop palette... but obviously it would not work when you are inside a text field. Actually this can be done with a handler in a button set as backScript like this (not tested):

Code: Select all

on preOpenStack -- in the stack
   insert the script of button "BackScriptLibrary" of card "myCard" of stack "myStack" into back
end preOpenStack

on keyDown theKey -- in the "BackScriptLibrary" button
   if the environment is "development" then -- in development only
      if theKey is "1" then -- switch to browser tool
         choose browse tool
      else if theKey is "2" then -- switch to pointer tool
         choose pointer tool
      end if
   end if

   pass keyDown
end keyDown

[Jeanne DeVoto]

Removing each section and then re-adding all of them when I need the whole thing is a bit... painful. ;-)

There actually is a keyboard shortcut for Browse and Pointer tools (look in the Tools menu), but this doesn't give me the on-screen indication of which tool is active.

[Mag]

Removing each section and then re-adding all of them when I need the whole thing is a bit... painful.

There actually is a keyboard shortcut for Browse and Pointer tools (look in the Tools menu), but this doesn't give me the on-screen indication of which tool is active.

Hi Jeanne, I'm aware of the shortcut, my tip is to just use a key (1 and 2) to switch from edit and browse tool. It's very handy and you do't use two hands (and you see easily the state by watching directly the pointer).

Anyway, I know that it's not what you would like to. Maybe a possible way could be to move the "pointer chooser" from the tools palette (which actually it's not only a collection of tools, for examples includes also libraries) to the main Toolbar. But in this case you lost the possibility to move the pointer switcher where you would like to find it on the screen. Just a brainstorming...

[dunbarx]

Mag.

I just now saw this effort and this forum pane. Thanks for doing all this. I am so turned off by the sinister-looking and clunky tools palette in v8. It shouldn't matter so much, but it does.

Craig Newman

[mwieder]

I obviously don't spend much time here on the web forum, so I'm just coming back into this discussion. For my taste, I think the tools palette can easily take up too much space, especially as we get more extensions. The design of PowerTools is based on separation of functionality, so there are three tabs for Objects (buttons, fields, etc); Graphics (paint and graphic tools); and Widgets (widgets and library extensions).

Some of my design goals:

• Controls on the Objects panel are native-platform objects rather than cartoon images.
• Controls dragged to a stack are named uniquely: "button_1", button_2", etc.

  

• Graphic tools persist their properties, so the rectangle tool can have different color setting than the oval tool, etc.
• You can paint using patterns and gradients
• Graphics and Paint tool properties have a separate visual area rather than a disclosure triangle

  

• Double-clicking above the tab panel minimizes the tool palette to the upper corner of the screen to minimize screen real estate
• You can place extensions into folders to organize them

  

[[-hh]]

... There are three tabs for Objects, Graphics and Widgets.
... You can place extensions into folders to organize them.

Yes, I like your solution. Alone the above makes working so much easier.

LC's target are 1000 widgets. Where else should they go to than into a well-organized structure?

[richmond62]

LC's target are 1000 widgets.

Nothing like a bit of over exaggeration . . .

[[-hh]]

a bit of over exaggeration

A bit or 100 Bytes?