mailing-list for TeXmacs Users

[Henri Lesourd <address@hidden>]

> On Mittwoch 09 November 2005 10:09, Henri Lesourd wrote:
>  
>
> > Currently, the idea is to add a feature that you could use to
> > set the visual grid on and off. If we decide to do more (i.e.,
> > the edit grid is invisible in the Postscript output), then it
> > raises the question of what to do in the opposite cases, when
> > you want the grid to be printed.
> >
> > As far as interface is concerned, a boolean toggle would
> > probably be a good approach (something like "Visual grid
> > appears on printout [Y/N]").
> >    
>
> That would suit my need.
>  
OK.

> > > - Graphics box sizing
> > >
> > > When I draw something in Xfig, the resulting .eps automatically
> > > shrink-wraps around what I have drawn. Thus, centering this graphics box
> > > is really easy.
> > >      
> > I don't understand what you mean : if the resulting .eps automatically
> > shrink wraps, there is no need (and no way) to center the graphics at
> > all...
> >    
>
> I meant exactly centering the graphics on the page within TeXmacs. Sorry for 
> being unclear. Even more precisely: If the graphics box shrink-wraps 
> automatically, then centering that box will also exactly center the graphics. 
> Right now, I usually count the squares and enter a half-centimeter-accurate 
> estimate into the width and height fields.
>  
OK, in fact, you want the graphics box shrink wrap around
the extremal elements of the drawing. This could probably
be done without too much headache.

> > > Ideally, I would like the built-in graphics mode to emulate that behavior,
> > > at least as an option. I know that I can set the size of the graphics box
> > > by hand and translate the content around inside, but I find that quite
> > > cumbersome.
> > >      
> > I don't see clearly what you mean, here.
> >
> > One thing I did some time ago was to adjust the size of the page
> > in order to output a document that contains exactly the graphics,
> > thus the document is in fact an image (and then this image was
> > used in a LaTeX document). Do you mean something like this ?
> >    
>
> That would be one part of it: If I could avoid manually shrinking the graphics 
> box to match my drawing, that would already help. If that could be done 
> automatically in some way as soon as I stop editing the drawing, then that 
> would be even better (but it raises a few UI questions, such as what to do if 
> the drawing is left empty).
>  
In this latter case, we would have a minimal size for
the graphics (let's say 1cm x 1cm). No problem.

> > This comment has been done already. So perhaps should
> > we think about providing a double-sided editing interface,
> > the current one, and another one that would be closer to
> > the usual standard, then.
> >    
>
> Having two different drawing capture standards sounds like it would be even 
> more confusing for the casual user.
>  
The problem is that the usual way sets a limit to
the reachable speed for the experienced user (and
the kind of things that the editor can do being
rather simple, after all, users become experienced
quite fast).

So I don't know.

> > But is it that you have trouble using it because you
> > are very much used to the usual standard, or it is
> > because there are design problems with this kind of
> > interface (i.e., things difficult to do).
> >    
>
> It's a bit of both. I find myself clicking the wrong buttons all the time, 
> just because of what I'm used to. And then, on top of that, moving, resizing 
> and rotating the way it's usually done is just much quicker since it doesn't 
> require me to move my mouse to the toolbar and back.
That's a problem, in effect.

> Btw, is there a way to 
> scale anisotropically (i.e. different scale factor in x and y?)
>  
Not yet, but it could be done, for sure.

> > > - Default graph settings
> > >
> > > I would like to have a place where I can set a few defaults that I will
> > > find in any drawing that I start, pertaining to grid size, properties and
> > > such.
> > >      
> > To be looked at, then. In effect, having some kind of "default context"
> > available in the interface for new stuff is an interesting feature.
> > Indeed, it could appear to be more general need than something that
> > is only related to graphics.
> >    
>
> Sure, but graphics is the only place where I've actually really missed it.
>
> - Copying and pasting between drawings
>
> Copying one piece of one drawing and pasting it into another doesn't appear to 
> work for me. Is that supposed to be this way?
>
>  
Its not finished (one cannot copy from graphics to text,
nor from text to graphics). But you definitely can copy
from one graphics to another one, **provided that** the
editing mode in the target graphics is also one of the
five group modes (Change properties, Move, Zoom/Unzoom,
Rotate, Group/ungroup).

So it is a little bit confusing.

This is an interface issue, the shortcuts for pasting
should work in all the editing modes (but the way it
is done right now interferes badly with the editing
mode : if you are in point mode, what should be done
when pasting ? Either change the mode, or silently
insert the pasting. Some meditation is needed here).