Object Selection Handles

[Richard Gaskin]

Ali Lloyd wrote:

 > The code hit-detects as if the handles were square, so the
 > hit-detection area is actually bigger than it used to be.

And there's the difference between engineering and user experience:

It may be bigger, but if it's visually ambiguous user's won't be able to 
know that.

A rectangle is an unambiguous representation of the hit rect, which may 
be why so many other tools (and even LC for most of its life) uses them.


But there's more:

If we examine the interaction even more closely, there's a related 
issue, perhaps with the hitPoint of the cursor.  I can move the arrow 
pointer inside the visible handle circle, but it doesn't change to the 
direction arrow (nice touch) until I'm within just a pixel or two of the 
centerpoint.

If the hit rect is indeed bigger, it not only feels smaller by virtue of 
being virtualized in non-rendered corners around the circular handle 
shape, but appears to the eye and hand to be visibly smaller when 
attempting to click on the handle, since I now need to get much closer 
to the center than I recall having to do before.

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