Ned,

Can't help you on this but here's something to think about:

http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~inkpen/Papers/TR20_DD/tr20.html
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~inkpen/Papers/TR17_DD/drag.html
http://www.acm.org/pubs/citations/journals/tochi/2001-8-1/p1-inkpen/

Cheers,
  - Andreas

> -----Original Message-----
> From: squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org 
> [mailto:squeak-dev-admin at lists.squeakfoundation.org] On 
> Behalf Of Ned Konz
> Sent: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 7:02 PM
> To: squeak-dev at lists.squeakfoundation.org
> Subject: Proper UI idioms for Connectors?
> 
> 
> I'm about to release version 1.0 of Connectors.
> 
> I'm trying to make a good "out of the box" experience, though. Using 
> Connectors to make drawings entails (at least for me):
> * putting Morphs on a PasteUpMorph (probably the World, but 
> perhaps a GeeMail 
> or Stack)
> * connecting them using Connectors.
> 
> I've been experimenting with different idioms for both of 
> these operations.
> 
> For the first (placing morphs), I've tried two approaches:
> 
> * drag morphs out of PartsBins (perhaps in flaps); releasing 
> the red button 
> causes morph to be dropped.
> 
> * click on a button that attaches a new Morph to the Hand; 
> click again to 
> place the Morph
> 
> For the second (wiring morphs together), I have also tried 
> two approaches:
> 
> * drag connectors out of PartsBins (perhaps in flaps); 
> release the red button 
> so that one end or the other is above a Morph and you connect 
> that end to the 
> Morph. Or drop it somewhere and then drag/drop each end onto 
> its respective 
> Morph. This is consistent with PartsBin behavior but very clunky and 
> time/click consuming.
> 
> * click on a button that changes the Hand's cursor to a +, 
> start drag on the 
> first Morph to be connected, end drag on the second Morph. 
> This has proven to 
> be much easier.
> 
> I have also come up with three ways to provide these Morphs 
> and Connectors:
> * from the Objects tool (though the IconicButtons that end up 
> in this tool 
> only support dragging)
> * from a flap (where I could have either behavior for both Morphs and 
> Connectors)
> * from my button bars (which support the click attach/click 
> drop behavior for 
> Morphs and the click start/drag to wire behavior for Connectors)
> 
> What I'm wondering is this: which behavior should I present 
> out of the box? 
> What would be the most comfortable for you? I've gotten used 
> to my Button 
> Bars, but I could see building that behavior into a flap that 
> could be 
> retracted when not needed.
> 
> I also see it as important that users can customize their own 
> Connectors 
> pallettes; both the Flap and the Button Bar approaches 
> support this with 
> direct manipulation.
> 
> -- 
> Ned Konz
> currently: Stanwood, WA
> email:     ned at bike-nomad.com
> homepage:  http://bike-nomad.com
> 
>