[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       koffice-devel
Subject:    Re: frame placement (in KWord)
From:       David Faure <david () mandrakesoft ! com>
Date:       2001-11-10 19:11:36
[Download RAW message or body]

> Anyway, I don't want to get into an endless discusion about this, and I would
> really like you to change this. But since you are coding it, you still are free
> to make your own decisions.
> [....]

Hmm.
When Laurent and I first discussed this change, we talked about the 
"make frame inline" functionality (at least I assume we were talking about that ;).
When you right-click a frame and asks for "please make it inline", there is NO CURSOR
anywhere, since the frame is selected, and in KWord you have no cursor when you're
selecting frames. So you're whole discussion is a bit... useless (sorry). 
You can't suggest to "position the inline frame where the cursor is", since there's
no cursor ;-)

The code used to try and do it automatically, by choosing the position of the closest
character (in frameset 0, but that should have been in the closest frame, and using 
z-order if necessary). The problem with that approach is that... it's quite hard
to move an inline frame that isn't where you want it. You have to cut and paste,
or drag and drop, both of which are more complex than what you need to do to
move a non-inline frame (click on it and drag it). 

That's why the idea of making it easier for the user, to select where he/she
wants the inline frame, sounded good to me. And the dialog box that tells
about the required action is not a bad workaround imho, it's a good help
("the nipple is the only intuitive interface, all the rest is learnt", I read 
somewhere - so don't try to hard to make something intuitive, simply teach
the user how to do what he wants, that's what the dialogbox is for).

Now I agree that "there is no cursor" isn't true when using the "create
inline frame" functionality, so my argument above doesn't apply. Still,
I think it's quite consistent that for _any_ kind of frame creation you are
asked where you want it. See: for non-inline frames one could create them
at the topleft position, but that wouldn't work for inline frames. For inline frames
one could create them at the cursor position, but that wouldn't work for non-inline
frames. And such autoplaced inline frames are hard to move.
Also, if you think in terms of huge objects (images, tables), having to move
them is a pain (all the rest around them flows differently, you might not see
all of it, etc.). So placing them at the right position from the beginning helps.
I'm talking about cases with a runaround set, of course. If everything was about
non-inline, small, without runaround frames, then autoplacing would make sense.
But we can have huge and ( inline or withrunaround ) frames, which are hard to move,
and I think autoplacement isn't good for those.

-- 
David FAURE, david@mandrakesoft.com, faure@kde.org
http://perso.mandrakesoft.com/~david/ , http://www.konqueror.org/
KDE 3.0: Konquering the Desktops
_______________________________________________
koffice-devel mailing list
koffice-devel@mail.kde.org
http://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/koffice-devel

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]