[Scribus] Re: Two ideas from an earlier DTP app (Eilert)

[Helge Hielscher]

On Fri, 18 Feb 2005 19:44:57 +0100, el Sism?grafo, S.L. wrote:
>
>> 2. With a special key you could call a small input dialog, just 1 line
>> or so, for invoking special formatting codes.
> 
> This reminds me of a feature autocad has and which I find very nifty
> though I am not a CAD user.

I used Autocad starting with version 9 or 10. The text interface became
? say deprecated ? in version 13. I guess there are reasons why they
changed it:
* new users did not want to learn command line commands just to use a CAD
application (at that time Autosketch already looked like a real Windows
program that everyone could use without reading a manual, almost like qcad
now)
* the commands were translated to the native languages, with the reasons
that commands of the german version of ACAD did not work with the
international version; soon this became a problem since scripts did not
work and they invented the underscore command. E.g. "_line" was the same
as "Linie" in German  and "_line" worked in all language versions of ACAD
* the pointing device interface (mouse/graphic tablet) was also non
standard. E.g. the right mouse button did not bring a context menu, but
did cycle through different options (IIRC move,resize,rotate,zoom, you
needed to count the clicks or look at the command line to know about the
active mode (middle mouse button was used to access  various snap modes))

The command line in Autocad is/was also very powerful: you could enter a
distinct command with parameters if you knew the syntax or you could enter
the commands and the parameters that you knew and ACAD asked for what
it needed to finish the task. E.g. if you wanted to draw a circle it
asked you first about the construction method (middle point and radius,two
points, three points, etc.) and then you could enter the values with the
keyboard (absolut or relative) or with the mouse.

To summarize: I would really appreciate a command line interface, but
please take enough time to create both a powerful and easy to learn and
easy to use interface.

Regards,
Helge