Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 70373
New way for connecting curves and polylines
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:41:46 UTC
The command "connect" in the menu modify works worse. But I think it cannot be improved, because the whole idea is wrong. Therefore I suggest a new way to connect two paths, which is in some way similar to the way in CorelDRAW and Inkscape. I will attach a document, which tells in detail how I think it should work.
Created attachment 39707 [details] description how connecting paths should work
Reassigned.
Created attachment 39722 [details] improved description
Regina: an excellent Issue and spec, nice! BTW, should Issue 14154 now be marked as depending on this Issue? Cheers, Andrew
I found no description how the command "connect" should work and I don't know, if it is possible to repair it. But if this new way (or something like this) is implemented, then - I think - the old command is no longer needed. If you call that "depending", then it should be marked.
Excellent proposal! I would like to suggest a change to try and make the connect operation as simple as possible. If the user selects one head and one tail, then the direction of the resulting line after connecting is unambiguous. If the user wishes to join head-to-head or tail-to-tail, extra steps are required to select and reverse one line. This is likely to be a difficult task: many users are not aware that lines have a direction; likewise, they will not anticipate the need to reverse one line. They may be frustrated that the connect operation is not available. Once all those pre-requisites are met, it requires a mental exercise to determine which line has to be reversed to produce the desired result. In many cases, the direction of the line is irrelevant to the user, so that all this effort will be pure distraction from the task at hand. So I propose that when the user has selected two heads or two tails, that Draw should choose the resulting direction based on the order the points are selected in, or if the points were selected simultaneously, the order that the two lines were created in. This would be equivalent to the steps in the spec, where the direction of one line must be reversed by the user before the connection operation is allowed, except that Draw would apply the reversing operation automatically. If this is not practical, e.g. because there is no support for determining which point is selected first, then perhaps the spec could be written so as to be implemented in steps, with this behavior as the longer-term goal.
A separate comment on the proposal. Based on my experience, I believe that most users will expect that a connect operation and a "split curve" operation are reciprocal, i.e. that one operation "undoes" the other. Currently the "split curve" button operates on any number of points from one curve, including one, and cannot join or connect points. Could the proposed "connect" operation and the existing "split" operation either be coordinated in some way to support the naive user's mental model and expectations, or be distinguished somehow to make it clear that they are entirely different operations. This could also avoid the need to add more function buttons to an already complex toolbar.