| Description | Tsoots, this is independent of your current work on the style editor. It's more like a look at how line styles might look in the future, so please don't be angry :) I'll try to explain what I intend to achieve in this case.
The dialog consists of three tabs. Number three is the current one for shortcuts, which is why I didn't re-create it here. Number two would be a dialog to edit arrowheads, but I'm not sure how far Scribus should go in this case, so I left it open. However, I think there should be an option to edit existing arrowheads _and_ to import arrows in OO.o's *.soe format.
This leaves tab one open, called "Line". The left group box contains most of the current line style settings. "Line Type" would contain the currently available preset line "styles". There are also three new checkboxes: "Synchronise Arrows" would make sure that start and end arrow are always the same. Then we have "Sticky" and "Print" for lines that are only drawn as non-rectangular guides. This requires some new code, of course.
The "Preview" group box is almost self explaining: It will display a preview of the new line. One would also have the opportunity to add the line "style" as a regular line to the user's Scribus directory, and to send the line to the scrapbook.
More important and probably a lot more work for the coders would be group box three, "Edit Line". I'm sure it'd require some major enhancements to the current code, but I think the efforts are worth it :) "Edit Line" is separated into two parts, "Horizontal" and "Vertical".
Given that probably most people in the world are used to draw lines horizontally, I assigned the properties accordingly. "Number of Segments" would allow to split the line into separate segments (which means separate lines within the boundaries set by "Width" in "General"). "Edit Segment" lets the users choose which segment to edit. "Value" would set the size of the segment (in percent?!) in the line. Next we have radio buttons for the choice between a solid colour, a gradient, and a "Fill Style" (which has to be defined separately, see RFE 4609). Whatever the choice may be, the user will then be able to select from a combo box.
"Vertical" would provide a way for detailed configuration of dashes and dots in a _segment_. "Number Of Elements" is intended to define the number of elements within a line/segment, e.g. dot, short dash, long dash. The combo box "Edit Element" would serve to choose the part of the line/segment to be edited. "Size" means the horizontal size ("length") of the line element, and "Spacing" the space _behind_ the element. This is IMHO extremely flexible and intuitive, provided the preview works.
Any thoughts? |
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