[instaviz-users] The final push

[Glen Low]

Daniel, Ryan

Interesting ideas all.

We're mostly in agreement. We both agree that it's hard for users to  
maintain a list of presets (especially in a space-constrained device  
like the iPhone)

However I'm most keen on implementing some sort of multiple select.  
Even default node attributes and edge attributes and presets can be a  
little too abstract -- more of the mental map a user has to square  
away in order to understand the program. As a designer, I used to  
religiously set up PageMaker templates and master pages but realized  
people got far more work done doing copy and paste. I think in lieu of  
direct manipulation i.e. clicking a button or sliding a slider to do  
something, the next best metaphor is the select-and-command, where  
it's clear and in front of you exactly what's going to happen. Or I  
could do some sort of graphical copy-and-paste.

That being said, I actually spent a good part of a day or two trying  
to implement the aforementioned default node and edge attributes,  
since they are already Graphviz features. I've found that the Graphviz  
defaulting system don't really work well in an interactive  
environment, probably due to certain design decisions inherent in  
Graphviz being a more batch processed language e.g. change one  
specific node color to blue, change default node color to green,  
change the particular node back to default and it ends up black   
instead of green (the global setting). There were also a couple of  
heisenbugs as well (i.e bugs I couldn't reproduce properly) so I  
decided to back out of that in order to make it for the 1 December  
deadline.


On 28/11/2008, at 5:06 AM, Daniel Grobe Sachs wrote:

> I've been meaning to send this for a few days, but things have been  
> kind of crazy and I haven't had much time to play with Instaviz.  
> It's looking pretty good, though.
>
> I was thinking along the lines of default and preset styles that  
> there should be a "recently used" style list on the style sheet.  
> That is, if I select and edit the style of a node, the style gets  
> added to "recently used" style list. This gets the user out of  
> having to maintain a "preset style" list.
>
> It also provides an implicit way to copy a style from one node to  
> another: open the style sheet of a node you want to copy *from*, and  
> then that style appears in the recently used style list at the top,  
> and can be used in one tap.
>
> I think that "global" would be a better word to describe the default  
> node style for a graph, and that it should all be set on the graph's  
> style sheet. It should also have the same "recently used" styles as  
> nodes.
>
> "Use global style" should also be an entry in the previously used  
> style list, so that one can de-customize a node and have it pick up  
> future changes in the global style.
>
> dan
>
> -- 
> | Daniel Grobe Sachs      <dgsachs at nekito.net> |
> | The time is gone, the song is over, thought  |
> |        I'd something more to say...          |
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Glen Low <glen.low at pixelglow.com>
> Date: Wednesday, Nov 26, 2008 5:40 pm
> Subject: Re: [instaviz-users] The final push
> To: instaviz-users at pixelglow.comReply-To: instaviz-users at pixelglow.com
>
> Ryan
>>
>> On 20/11/2008, at 1:39 PM, Ryan Schmidt wrote:
>>
>>> I'd want more options to edit for the nodes and edges. Colors,  
>>> change
>> node shapes. Maybe also a way to globally change attributes for all
>> nodes / edges.
>>
>> I want to do this, but not sure of the friendly title I should use.
>>
>> The first thing that came to my mind was:
>>
>> Default Node Settings
>> Default Edge Settings
>>
>> ... so that it's clear that the settings screen is the same as the  
>> one
>> for individual nodes/edges.
>>
>> However Default is pretty "technical", do you think any of the
>> following convey the right meaning?
>>
>> Global
>> Preset (Preset xxx Settings doesn't quite sound right.)
>> Common
>> Standard
>>
>> The basic idea is: if you set it in the Default Node Settings, all
>> your nodes get it, except those that you've customized individually
>> through their own Settings screen. The Defaults will hang off the
>> Graph Settings screen, and it will use the usual Graphviz prototypes
>> to do this.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Cheers, Glen Low
>>
>>
>> ---
>> pixelglow software | simply brilliant stuff
>> www.pixelglow.com
>> aim: pixglen
>>
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>
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Cheers, Glen Low


---
pixelglow software | simply brilliant stuff
www.pixelglow.com
aim: pixglen