[Kdenlive-devel] Drag Value

[Simon Eugster]

2011/2/3 Gabriel Gazzán <gabcorreo at gmail.com>:
> 2011/2/3 Simon Eugster <simon.eu at gmail.com>
>> But couldn't we optimize the Effect Stack widget as well? Take a look
>> at the screenshot above; Half of the space is empty.
>> I did a quick sketch, which took about 100 times as long as it should
>> have because of the packed unintuitivity in GIMP:
>> http://granjow.net/uploads/kdenlive/kdenlive-effect-stack.png
>> * Effect Stack list moved to the top, taking only as much room as required
>> * Arrow indicating which effect is applied first
>> * Reset icon and Radiobuttons removed
>> * Parameters can flow side-by-side
>
> I'm all for saving space (used by controls) on every place we can.
> I see a problem though with the arrange of the effect stack and the selected
> effect parameters seen in kdenlive-effect-stack.png:
> - the effect stack area would tend to require big horizontal room to be
> comfortable used/understood.

http://granjow.net/uploads/kdenlive/kdenlive-effect-stack-2line.png

I want to highlight that it is also possible to make controls _too_
small. They just _do_ require space. Video Editing tends to use more
space than other applications, like for example a web browser, this is
just a fact. You won't get anywhere with 800x600, for example.
Let's not make the error to minimize controls until they cannot be
controlled anymore. Simplify yes, but not on the costs of comfort.

> - the selected effect parameters area would adapt well to this wide
> proportion, no doubt, BUT
> - where do we place the panel then? Now, placed behind the Project Tree and
> beside the monitor panel, the space we have for that panel is usually more
> taller than wide, not the opposite. I don't think devoting more horizontal
> space to the effects stack/parameters is a good thing.

On my screen I've got plenty of space :P
http://kdenlive.org/sites/default/files/images/kdenlive-layout-editing.png

> To me After Effects effects stack has the answer for this as well.
> http://www.rtraction.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/vine-2.gif

Collapsible parameters and scroll bars, death of fluent working.

> This image shows two effects (named Stroke and Stroke 2), each one showing
> its parameters.
> The effect has a control in the form of a little triangle to the left of
> each effect name (but could be + - signs of course) to expand/collapse the
> effect parameter visibility.
> This way, we could not only get rid of the current two column arrangement
> [effects | parameters of selected effect], but also be able to do something
> we cannot currently do: tweak at the same time parameters of several
> (expanded) effects!

I agree that changing multiple parameters at the same time can be useful.

2011/2/8 Gabriel Gazzán <gabcorreo at gmail.com>:
> To be honest, I still find it distracting and visually heavy.
> Perhaps if the background colored slider part only appeared when a user is
> dragging it'd be much more easy on the eye and still retain functionality.
> If you are to leave it as it is, then I definitely would invert the colors,
> making darker all other values but the shown in timeline one.

If you mean that there would be no visual clue anymore, except for the
value number, when not in mouse-over, then I'm completely against it.
I cannot stand controls which disappear as soon as the mouse leaves.

But could perhaps all value fields set to the same width? Atm the
Offset values are wider than the others (perhaps due to the range);
having them all aligned would make the interface look a little more
tidy.

> Also I don't find it neccessary to give the value numbers a different
> background. This contributes to the heaviness of the interface look as there
> are usually lots of parameters on display.

Here I agree :)

> I think if we want to indicate the user that these values accept input, we
> could just change the color of the value (text, not its background) when the
> mouse pointer is hovering it. This should be enough for telling him/her that
> "something happens" with that value.
>
> Regarding the "show in timeline" option, I'm thinking that it'd be useful to
> also have a faster way of setting it, besides the right click menu. Perhaps
> Ctrl + click, Shift + click, Alt + click (or any combination) over the
> parameter to make it the shown one.

Or just click on the number? This would as well not change the value.

Looks pretty cool, please commit as soon as possible, jb :)

Simon