[Libreoffice-ux-advise] Re-sizing handles ...

[Christoph Noack]

Hi all,

I feel free to add some more info ...

Am Montag, den 31.10.2011, 19:38 +0000 schrieb Michael Meeks:
> Hi Cor,
> 
> On Mon, 2011-10-31 at 19:57 +0100, Cor Nouws wrote:
> > Thorsten Behrens wrote (31-10-11 18:50)
> > > At some point in time, one platform wanted larger handles, while the
> > > other kept smaller ones. The rest, as they say, is history.

To me, the handle size is rather important from a usability (better:
ergonomic) point-of-view. The higher the resolution (dpi) of computer
screens, the smaller the handles, the more complicated to "handle" them.
Thus, the "pixel size" of the handles needs to consider the different
screens ... to me, it would be highly beneficial to decide on the basis
of dpi and/or accessibility settings (like e.g. menu font size).

By the way, the default size of the handles has been changed not so long
ago (in the "Renaissance Impress Better Defaults" activity" from
"normal" to "large".

Concerning the two different themes - personally, I think that its fine
to keep only one set. It doesn't make sense to let the user decide in a
toolbar how the handles look - if that is required, then this setting
(better: the handle bitmaps) should be part of the Tools - Options -
View (Symbols) selection.

> > Wat do you mean with ' The rest, as they say, is history. ' ?
> > I remember from reading in some Draw guide, that there are various 
> > selection modes, represented by different handles.
> > And of course, rotation mode exists too, ...
> 
> 	Sure - but that is all orthogonal, we have essentially two themes for
> the same handles (with the same size - but one lot look more '3D') and a
> setting "simple handles" exposed in the UI to change this.
> 
> 	That setting should go it seems ;-)

Since we discuss the handles (although just the visual representation),
I'd like to point out the already prepared spec by the OOo UX team,
addressing numerous object handle issues:
http://specs.openoffice.org/renaissance/object_selection_positioning_and_modification.odt

Something suitable for deriving EasyHacks?

Additionally, an overview covering the use of handles in different
applications:
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance:Impress:Ideation#Object_Handles

Cheers,
Christoph