poesel Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 First I want to say that I really like the spacebar menu. I would even like to use it more but I think it would benefit from some improvements. The ideas are mostly neither mine nor new. The CAD program I use introduced something similar a year ago (they copied it from someone else) and it really sped up my work because it reduced mouse travel so much. Here's the list: 1) Spacebar opens the menu so should another tap on the bar close it again. If you accidentally opened it you have the finger already in place. 2) If you open the menu in a place where there is not enough space to unfold it completely move the mouse pointer together with the menu to a spot with enough space. Move the pointer back after closing the menu. Reduces mouse travel. 3) Make the icons bigger. Its not obstructing the view of anything you want to look at at this time. The screen background could as well be black - wouldn't hurt. Bigger icons means less 'aiming' time and more ease of use. It has been mentioned by Steve that the UI currently does not scale with resolution. This may also cause this size problem. 4) Pressing the 'Pause' button should not close the menu. Usually you need to press it several times so you would need to reopen the menu every time. Very tedious, I doubt anyone uses it. Another option would be to unfold a third column with all possible times. 5) Mouse travel path is very inconvenient. Currently you may have to change directions two or three times and move over menu-free areas. The reason is that the second column is always aligned to the top. One solution would be to align the second column to the height of the first option you choose. This way the movement would at least always be right and down. Another solution (which I would prefer) is to have a circular menu. With a circular menu the mouse always travels in one direction. This gets very soon saved in muscle memory and is really convenient (at least my experience from the CAD program). I tried to draw a mockup but my artist skills are limited. I hope I can convey what I mean. The buttons would obviously all need colour and text. The shapes could also be thinner in radial direction. I play with my left hand on the keyboard for camera controls and the right on the touchpad. I tried mapping the various commands to the keyboard but then I have to move the right hand away from the trackpad. Opening the menu with the right thumb and choosing the command with a flick of a finger would be terrific. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
c3k Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Interesting idea. Your analysis of the mouse movement requirements is spot on. For the record, my left hand is only used for the spacebar and my mouse does all the camera/command work. Ken 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steiner14 Posted August 13, 2012 Share Posted August 13, 2012 Good analysis. +1 for your conclusions. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fenris Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 Good post. -F 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
permanent666 Posted August 14, 2012 Share Posted August 14, 2012 i do not want to hijack this thread but i have one more suggestion for the space bar menu - please make it possible to tie the command to the middle mouse button 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Bump. Current implementation is meh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardObserver Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I play with my left hand on the keyboard for camera controls and the right on the touchpad. I tried mapping the various commands to the keyboard but then I have to move the right hand away from the trackpad. Opening the menu with the right thumb and choosing the command with a flick of a finger would be terrific. Bump and this would be terrific for me as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I want Emacs style prefix keys. Yes I'm serious, it's the only way to do hotkeys properly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForwardObserver Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 I want Emacs style prefix keys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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