Difference between revisions of "Rethink"

Revision as of 23:42, 4 December 2016

Main Scope

Swap a "fixed number" of colours used in each session, via a toggle shortcut key.

Current possibilities

• Swap between FG/BG Colour via keyboard shortcut → screenshot Configure Keyboard Shortcuts.

Configuring the current keyboard shortcut to swap the FG/BG colours.

• Scrolling between the swatches of the current palette via Keyboard Shortucuts.

The 'context-foreground-palette-...' and 'context-background-palette-...' to scroll the all swatches of a palette.
But to use these shortcuts is necessary to have the Palette Swatches and the Palette Editor opened or dockable.
For more details see the report on bugzilla about these shortcuts → Context actions on Palette dialogs.

Comments [Massimo Valentini]

Configuring the current keyboard shortcut scrolling the swatches in a palette (thanks to Massimo Valentini).

• Swatches* of colours used and or stored by the user → image of GIMP picker and current Palette dialog on GIMP 2.9.

History Colours in the FG/BG Colour and Change Foreground Colour Dialogs.

(*) The swatches (two rows) could be understood as a palette built, on-the-fly, during the work sessions by the user in three ways:
1) via button '>' to add current colour on FG to palette or;
2) via drag and drop colour in each swatch or;
3) via picker colour, but is added only after the colour is used on canvas. Each new colour is placed, always, in the first slot (left-side of first row), and the displacement of colours happening versus right-side direction to each new colour that is added.

Improvement Reasons

Enhancing the General Usability → [1] to have a fast way to access the history colours used in each work sessions; [2] to avoid excessive use of steps, via mouse mainly, between paint tools tasks (repetitive stress), see test below; [3] Swapping color without necessity to use the traditional dialogs... the session task is more focused and simple.

Comments

Scenario | Float full or Dockable | Single Window

Basically is the same thing, because we need move cursor around the window/docks and make clicks to select colours in the different dialogs.

Example: Fill a Mondrian Grid

Example to find the amount of the steps to pick colours in the current release.

a) Rectangle Tool Selection → select a rectangle;
b) Bucket fill tool;
c) Choose colour;
c1) Click on FG Colour on Toolbox → Open Change Foreground Colour → Move cursor on Dialog → Choice steps (minimal 1 step, 2 steps if need to close dialog);
or c2) Move cursor until FG/BG Colour Dialog → Choice steps (2 steps);
d) Fill the selected rectangle.

To choose colours is necessary minimal 2 steps and maximum 3 steps (cursor movements and clicks).

The sample has 6*6=36 rectangles, only to select colours for all rectangles, we must crossing or move the cursor and do clicks at amount of a minimal 72 and a maximum of 108 times.

Proposal Swap History Colours

 +-----------------------+     
 | A | B | C | D | E | F |  
 +-----------------------+ 
   |   |   |
   |   |   +--Next Colour (C) --------> (3) Hit key again → is selected this swatch.
   |   |
   |   +----> Next Colour (B) --------> (2) Raise finger from key → is selected this swatch, previous of the last colour used.
   |                
   +--------> Last colour used (A) ---> (1) Hit key Shortcut Open Popup with swatches.
        
canvas                           

• History colour pop-up, for instance, with the last 6 colours stored in history of the FG/BG Colours dialogue. This pop-up is enabled when hit the key shortcut action.
• Each time that raise finger from key and hit again, the selection colour goes to next colour, for instance, from A to B, and successively until F and in a closed cycle. The principle is the same of the short-cut to swap colours between FG/BG, but in this case we have 6 colours.
• Each time that the key short-cut is held down, the colour remains stopped in the slot, for example A.
• The cycle is stopped naturally after a lapse time between hit key and raise finger of key.
• Have on GIMP preferences the possibility to choose the amount of colours to use in this pop-up, for example, minimal 6 and maximum 12 colours.

Note: is possible to think the sequence from F going to A, where F is the last colour used by user, E the previous and successively.

References

Short video showing general behaviour.