LC 8 Property Inspector

[Richard Gaskin]

Scott Rossi wrote:
> Instead of a scrolling accordion list with grouped sets of properties,
> allow me to get radical and suggest a fixed index list on the left or
> along the top of the palette.  You'd get one-click access to any category,
> and no need to expand/collapse panes.  With an accordion control, you'll
> likely suffer the same issues found in the current Project Browser: to
> much vertical scrolling required to get to what you want, and no constant
> reference for all property categories since they can be scrolled out of
> view.
>
> I may be voicing dissent here, but as you say "Let 1000 flowers bloom." :-)

At the risk of sounding boring, I think we're talking about the same thing.

If we took the existing Inspector and replaced the icons at the top with 
horizontal labels we'd have something like (where "*this*" indicated 
hilited item):

----------------
| Colors       |
----------------
|*Size*        |
----------------
| Behavior     |
----------------
| Other        |
----------------
| Favorites    |
----------------
|  List of     |
|  name-value  |
|  properties  |
|  for item    |
|  hilited     |
|  above       |
|  goes        |
|  here        |
----------------


An accordion style would keep all the labels visible, simply putting the 
scrolling list field of name-value property pairs immediately below the 
selection, taking the same amount of room but just making the header 
more readily associated with the list it delivers:

----------------
| Colors       |
----------------
|*Size*        |
----------------
| List of      |
| name-value   |
| properties   |
| for item     |
| hilited      |
| above        |
| goes         |
| here         |
----------------
| Behavior     |
----------------
| Other        |
----------------
| Favorites    |
----------------



-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Systems
  Software Design and Development for the Desktop, Mobile, and the Web
  ____________________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com                http://www.FourthWorld.com