[noob again]objects and properties and messages

[Ken Ray]

On 3/28/05 9:15 AM, "Mikey" <mikeythek at gmail.com> wrote:

>> If you are coming from HyperCard or SuperCard, I agree, backgrounds can be
>> frustrating, but only if you think of them as "backgrounds". If you rather
>> think of them as shared groups (much like sharedText is for fields), then it
>> is conceptually easier. I understand why in many cases Rev uses "background"
>> and "group" interchangeably, but it can certainly be confusing for people
>> used to traditional backgrounds.
> I think I understand the way groups operate, but the vocabulary is
> not, IMHO descriptive.  If you look at the buttons - Group, Edit
> Group, and Select Grouped, that isn't exactly what is meant, now is
> it?  In addition, the changes to the icons with color and bolding
> don't intuitively trigger anything, at least at first.  Now is bold
> when it's property is active or inactive?  Is the red background
> when...

I agree that the toolbar is confusing and should be redesigned. It has a
mixture of commands and states which begs for redesign. Here's the summary:

Group (Command): 
---------------------
Active when one or more objects are selected. Takes the currently selected
objects and groups them. Emboldens to show that the selection is grouped.
Click it again to ungroup (personally I think the button should change to
say "Ungroup" instead of remaining with the label "Group", but that's me).
[Implements the "group" and "ungroup" Transcript command.]

Edit Group (Command):
---------------------------
Active when a group is selected. Goes "into" a group, allowing you to modify
objects within a group. Emboldens to show that you are currently editing a
group. Click it again to go "out of" a group and return back to the normal
card editing environment (once again, I think this should say "Stop Editing
Group", or the equivalent). [Implements the "start editing" and "stop
editing" Transcript commands.]

Select Grouped (State):
---------------------------
Active at all times. When clicked, you can now use the pointer tool to
select objects inside of a group without having to go "into" the group. In
this state, the group itself cannot be selected. It is filled with red when
the pointer tool selects objects inside a group, and not filled with red
when the pointer tool selects the group, not its objects. [Implements the
"selectGroupedControls" Transcript global property.]

HTH,

Ken Ray
Sons of Thunder Software
Web site: http://www.sonsothunder.com/
Email: kray at sonsothunder.com