Actually I just showed it that way because having two menus together like that is a bit problematic. Right now if we move that 3D view menu to the top it looks horrible because then you get two menus that look so similar against each other, one global then one that is local. But there is no reason the info window can’t be cleaned up but still allow flipping top to bottom for all other windows. It is just that option on the info window itself that is silly.
Sorry?!? LOL. Your opinion is all that matters and is nothing to feel sorry for. This thread was specifically made to ask for opinions. I love hearing “that sucks!” as long as it comes with a thought-out reason as well.
That’s crazy. I actually hadn’t noticed because I never give it that much room. I don’t I could either as it would leave very little room to view the mesh I’m unwrapping.
Shouldn’t a header just gain extra rows if necessary to fit everything? So on my machine the UV editor header would be two rows all the time. No more problem with the properties buttons not all fitting. You could choose to put the timeline in a much smaller area.
Ok… For the sake of just arguing
I’d say that the layout switcher is still a function worthy of the ‘title bar’, much more so than the stats. The stats would serve better informing what scene you’re in, a button to start the game engine and maybe a render button or two.
I still don’t get why the timeline is a part of the startup, as I’m sure most people don’t start off doing enough animating to warrent this.
Maybe the play buttons and the animation length also should be a part of the stats/info bar?
Perhaps even merge the timeline editor and the graph editor to some sort of hybrid?
I’m all for making the startup more simplistic, giving noobs a chance to acclimate before getting dosed with the thousands of functions available. It’s enough that all the shelves seem to be out of order and that it looks like a word jumble with some of them opened and some closed. I say they should be all closed from the start. Anyone who’s learned to use the interface will probably make their own startup anyway.
I agree with the notion that the 3D view header looks better on the bottom, as two headers next to each other just looks busy.
While we’re on the topic of outlandish suggestions, I’d say it would serve nicely to be able to hide shelves too.
That’s what this for. Tell me I’m an idiot and also bring on your own (dumb) ideas!
The idea with was that the current “Window” menu would have a “Layout” sub-menu. Seems to make sense to me since it is the layout of the windows. So the “Layout” menu would contain the list of layouts and have some (?!?) way of adding and deleting. An exercise left to someone else…smarter… LOL
I cleared up so much room on that info window that I’m sure we could use the rest for shortcut buttons like “render”, “play”, etc.
Note how blender now carries the filename in the window title. Much like all other programs on the mac. (Nope I’m wrong, blender already does that. derp)
And a “Help” menu that points straight to the blender 2.6 wiki manual.
They’re really small things, but I think it’d help newcomers and old users alike. Unfortunately, it is kinda mac-specific.
Edit and View aren’t really used in this example. But Edit could become home to stuff like the Copy/Paste functions, and View could control stuff like Zoom and toolbars.
Moving the “Layout” under “Window” could work too.
Okay, so here is the same idea, but with the 1 pixel gap back in between windows. With the 3D editor header (and timeline) on the bottom. I added some shortcut icons to the menu bar. And also some items to the Windows “quick access toolbar” just for fun.
Ok, Mr… I’m not going to say you’re an idiot, because that’s against my religious principles. I would state that you’ve gotten some kind of OCD with the stats after having spent so much time fiddling with it (this is my kind of humor)…
My point was that it’s local information (only useful in some parts of the program) and therefore should be striken from the info bar.
No, I’m just really anal about most things. I hate it when things don’t make sense, don’t line up, etc. Even being out by one pixel can drive me crazy. So yes, an idiot.
You don’t get away that easily. Where should they go then? An (optional) second row for the 3D Editor window? A floating window? A new window to itself? A footer at the bottom of the app? Or a popup only on demand?
Well, crazy with some valid ideas
I laughed when I verified that the gradient patch’s core functionality was almost exact to Harley’s original patch (too bad it took 2 years to actually make it in). And personally I liked the icons for selection.
Are you saying that the window title doesn’t include the document name on Mac? I just assumed that it did, like it does on Windows. Although on Windows I’ve always disliked how it is shown in square brackets, as it should just be separated from “Blender” with a dash.
Is it because we don’t use OS-provided dialogs to open files? That used to be a problem on Windows as well as our “recent documents” list wasn’t being populated. I remember getting a patch in ages ago that informed the OS that we have opened a file for that very purpose (“SHAddToRecentDocs”). Perhaps there is something similar in the Mac OS we need to call?
Haha… Well… I’d say that it’s the sort of information that fits rather nicely in the properties panel under item. It could also be an extension of the outliner. Heck, it could even be in the properties editor somewhere. Doesn’t need to be just one place.
That way you could get a more detailed description of what’s going on and not just what fits snuggly in the info bar.
Together with the surface area of mesh, the volume and things like that. That way you could have the old switcheroo between tris and quads as buttons right there, instead of cluttering up the menu system (because quite frankly there’s a limit to how many options a menu system can have until it starts tripping you up work flow wise)…
Besides, the item shelf in the properties panel in the 3D view (phew, just refering to things takes a crapload of space) is dying for some attention. I mean, really? The name of item? That’s the extent of an entire shelf? You’d think that information like the properties of that item would fit rather nicely in a prepared space like that.
That way you could have a sort of ‘this space for rent’ in the info bar where the user could plant the info he/she wants. As a theme option or something. I would never go for a second row though… That just messes with the screen real-estate… But then again, it could be that the user wants it, so why not let them? But for a startup look, I’d slim it down.
The same goes for floaters… I hate them, especially on a mac… Mac is rubbish in dealing with windows like that, yet the whole system is designed around it.
@skywolfblue The filename doesn’t show up in your title bar? Weird… Mine does (and yes, just to make sure, I am using a mac )…
Slightly off-topic. Does anyone else prefer to have the headers at the top by default? If so, is there a way of always having them at the top, even when splitting or creating a new panel?
Whoops… That’s me not paying attention. I had only loaded up the default file, when you load other files it properly displays the name. /facepalm. Derp derp.
Happens to the best of us… It happened to me too… After your post I had to check for myself (because obviously my memory isn’t reliable enough)… At first I didn’t see a name either and almost blew a gasket and threw more fuel on the fires of my anti-mac sentiments… Then I thought I’d better load a file before going on a wild rant… After that I just quietly left the computer mumbling something about the bluetooth and wifi still sucking Attention blindness gets us all, especially when we forget to pay attention
(this is my kind of humor)…
Attention blindness gets us all, especially when we forget to pay attention 