Space horizontal / vertical now considers key object

[bbrother]

6 hours ago, debraspicher said:

Subtlety is actually key to making this process as intuitive as possible.

Subtle is a dangerous word in the context of user interface design. What is subtle to you may not be subtle to another user and vice versa.
It's easy to cross boundaries one way or the other.

 

6 hours ago, debraspicher said:

So not a concrete list of complete functionality akin to the Status menu. Just a tooltip that subtlety hints to the user the tool itself asks you test certain modifiers to understand that this is key to using it more wisely.

You see, for me the status bar hints indicating modifier keys are good enough and I don't see the necessity to make some more subtle tooltip version focused only on node selection modifier keys, while you prefer something more subtle. The term subtle is too broad.

But I understand your point of view. The only thing I can think of is to use assistant tooltip to show the basic key modifiers for a given tool, while also showing a more detailed list in the status bar. Mandatory there should also be an option for the user to enable or disable those subtle hints in the assistant tooltip. Probably not every one would like it. But we all need to go for a compromise here or there .

This is the assistant tooltip where i would put those subtle hints↓

When it comes to the Align panel. I agree that it is poorly designed. Not intuitive to work with. It could be more compact (less dropdowns). Less restrictive (alow user chose the "Align To:" option before the alignment).

 

 

 

[bbrother]

@Ash you totally forgot about the scenario when a key object is selected and the user wants to distribute the remaining objects relative to the key object (which will remain in place) using any user-defined distance that can be set in the value field next to the "auto distribute" checkbox when the "auto distribute" option is unchecked.
Both the check box and the value box (distribution options) are grayed out and inactive.

So only distribute using auto calculated distance value is possible. And what about a user defined distance value?

When it comes to the Alignment panel, things start to get complicated and the changes are becoming more and more unintuitive.

[MEB]

Thanks @bbrother. I'm logging this to be evaluated.

[Ash]

Hi All,

Just wanted to say thanks for all your feedback regarding the alignment drop down. Obviously much of this is general feedback on that rather than specific to this new functionality, although certainly understand that this feature has put focus on some of the improvements to the drop down as a whole. We agree with a lot of what is being said, and will look to make some changes - but these will come in a future update...

Thanks,

Ash

[ttl]

On 1/29/2024 at 4:51 PM, bbrother said:

So only distribute using auto calculated distance value is possible. And what about a user defined distance value?

Yes. Just simple thing as having object A and below object B and wanting to adjust A's vertical postition to have my defined distance from object B is still impossible to achieve.

[Alfred]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:55 AM, ttl said:

Yes. Just simple thing as having object A and below [it] object B and wanting to adjust A's vertical postition to have my defined distance from object B is still impossible to achieve.

It’s by no means impossible in that simple scenario, since you can use the Transform panel (with one of the top anchors set) to determine the y-coordinate of the top of the lower object, copy and paste that value into the Y box for the upper object with one of the bottom anchors set, and then replace the Y value with, for example, -=15 for a gap of 15 units. However, in other scenarios it may well be less straightforward.