Possible Change in Format of Draw Freely Controls?

[joleenf]

I was working with the drawing controls and I wonder if there might be a more intuitive way to display the style information. Right now, to adjust the style of the drawing text, click "style" under the drawing control widget. Under that heading, the controls for all the features are listed and they do not take affect until the next instance of adding text/front/line, etc. I wonder if it might be easier for the user if when they select their shape (line, front, box, text, whatever), only the options which can be adjusted for that type appear. The user could then select the line width, color, etc. and have all those options apply before the glyph is drawn. This would be similar to the Field Selector where once you select your data, you get the options for that type. I recently witnessed someone being very confused when they drew a front, decided to change the line width, drew another front, but the width was the same. This is because the "Front Scale" is what needs changing for this feature. In addition, they did not realize the squiggly line was what they wanted for a line, not the dashed line (trough). The other thing the user found confusing was that the color under the style tab is for "future color" not for glyphs already drawn.

If a user wants to change a color to a glyph already drawn, a user must select "Shapes" in the drawing widget, double click on the glyph name to bring up the "properties" and change the color in that location. Changing the color in the properties after a glyph has already been drawn makes sense to me, but I wonder if the initial choices could be clearer.

Thanks,
Joleen

[jayh]

Hi Joleen-

Thank you for the enhancement ideas. I've put this in inq. 738 for evaluation: http://mcidas.ssec.wisc.edu/inquiry-v/?inquiry=738

Thanks, Jay