[GRASS-dev] new profiling tool and other gis.m updates

[Michael Barton]

The hot-keys can be pretty much anything. For me at least, i,o,p,m,q/? are
easy to remember for in, out, pan, measure, and query.

These are not all physically adjacent to be used like arrow keys or typing
words, of course. 

I still am unable to imagine a GIS application in which someone needs to
switch in fast succession between zooming, panning, measuring, querying, and
back. I can imagine needing to zoom in and out, and maybe to pan...but the
rest? Nevertheless, whichever hot-keys make most sense to people can be
implemented. 

I'm trying to make the zoom tools switch function when you hold down the
shift key (in to out and out to in). I don't find needing to use 2 hands to
zoom necessarily convenient. Still, this seems helpful to people at some
time, and adds flexibility to display management tools. It would be nice if
we could get cursors that change appearance to indicate such switching
functions. Trevor is working on this.

Michael
__________________________________________
Michael Barton, Professor of Anthropology
School of Human Evolution & Social Change
Center for Social Dynamics & Complexity
Arizona State University

phone: 480-965-6213
fax: 480-965-7671
www: http://www.public.asu.edu/~cmbarton



> From: Maciek Sieczka <werchowyna at epf.pl>
> Date: Sat, 20 May 2006 19:57:34 +0200
> To: Trevor Wiens <twiens at interbaun.com>
> Cc: <michael.barton at asu.edu>, <grass-dev at grass.itc.it>
> Subject: Re: [GRASS-dev] new profiling tool and other gis.m updates
> 
> On Sat, 20 May 2006 09:42:40 -0600
> Trevor Wiens <twiens at interbaun.com> wrote:
> 
>> On Sat, 20 May 2006 13:10:57 +0200
>> Maciek Sieczka <werchowyna at epf.pl> wrote:
> 
>>> Nice, but why not something easy to handle with one hand? Current
>>> key set isn't good for right handed nor for left handed. Maybe:
>>> 
>>>      Zoom-in: s or k
>>>      Zoom-out: x or m
>>>      Pan: a or l
>>>      Query: c or n
>>>      Measure: q or o
>>> 
>> 
>> Ideally I would like to have them user configurable
> 
> True. But possible now?
> 
>> , but
>> 
>> the left hand is
>> I for zoom In
>> T for zoom ouT
>> A for pAn
>> Q for Query
>> D for Distance (Measure)
>> X for pointer
> 
> Do you really think it is practical?
> 
>> That is in my opinion a perfectly functional one hand configuration
>> unless you use a non Qwerty keyboard.
>> 
>> For the right it is less functional because of ? for Query, but rather
>> obvious.
> 
> Key mappings for map browsing+query are firstly supposed to be rapid in
> use (faster than doing all with mouse). Otherwise they don't make
> much sense at all. They are not necessarily supposed to be intuitive.
> Once you learn them (ie. read the manual, or the bubble help hints in
> the GUI) you benefit from the quick map browsing, which is the point.
> These are _only_ five key to get used to.
> 
> Your key settings are not rapid nor comfortable in use. See how your
> hand jumps over the whole keyboard with the key setting you propose,
> while it remains in one place and lets the 3 fingers do the job without
> moving your palm, in the case I propose. *Both* for *right* (sxacq) and
> *left* (kmlno) handed people. Accidental touching the touchpad on
> laptops should be avoided BTW. And IMHO the pointer doens't need a key
> mapping at all.
> 
>> Possibly U would work better or allow ? or U to work.
>> 
>> Personally, I would prefer to integrate zoom and pan into a single
>> tool and pointer and query together too, but for new users, this kind
>> of functionality is often missed. Thus the conflict; we want our own
>> GUI (rather and QGIS) in part because GRASS is not for GIS newbies,
>> but at the same time we want to keep the learning curve as gentle as
>> possible.
> 
> My proposition conforms.
> 
>> Perhaps multi-functionality could be built into the zoom in and
>> pointer tools (using Ctrl and Shift) and reduce the keystrokes to
>> switching between zoom and pointer only.
> 
> That could be good as well. But not doable now (or is it?).
> 
> Maciek
> 
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