Yet Another Interface Discussion
I origianally posted this at Elysiun under the following thread:
http://www.elysiun.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12310
I am currently working on some changes to this post according to the feedback that I have recieved from various members of the community but here is the original post....
First lets get some things out of they way...
1. Blenders interface is by far more productive than any other interface I have ever used.
2. Modifications to the interface of any application for the benefit of a newbie should be avoided if productivity is to be sacrificed in the long run (i.e. unnecessary outlandish graphical layouts with high resolution 3D shapes for buttons that absorb system resources like a sponge…. you all know what programs I am talking about
).Now, before I begin I would like to emphasize how much this simple little attribute would not only enhance Blender’s interface cosmetically, but more importantly how it would influence the learning curve of Blender’s “buttons window”.
Theory of Operation:
How does it work?
The first and most important adjustment would be to the icons currently associated with the buttons window. They would be arranged as tabs rather than a row of buttons. The applicable selected tab would be displayed as being on top or in front of the un-selected tabs and the icons of the un-selected tabs would be subdued (in grayscale). As you mouse over each tab, in addition to the buttons title popping up as it does now, its icon would highlight by changing from grayscale to color for as long as the cursor remained over it (as shown below through the use of the lamp button’s icon). Which brings me to my second adjustment…all icons that are currently in color would be grayscale until moused over as discussed above. This would ultimately streamline the interface making it look much less cluttered.
Click image below for larger version (to scale).
Explanation and Conclusion:
Why is this necessary?
As seen in the screen shot above this obviously looks a lot better, however, the fact is that this reason alone isn’t good enough for volunteer programmers to spend their spare time implementing such a feature. My whole reasoning behind this was to hopefully aid others in what I had difficulty with when first starting out. All of the various options and buttons throughout Blender’s interface currently look very similar to one another. There is no observable indication as to what are the “main controls” or settings pertinent to the workspace. One thing I have always admired about a good solid application is its ability to speak for itself. When one loads up Adobe Photoshop for the first time, he or she may not necessarily be able to “hit the ground running”, but they sure as hell can identify the tool box without having to read the manual and that is what I hope to address. The buttons of the buttons window (lamp, material, etc.) are different areas containing information critical to that of a 3D artist and it is imperative that this information be handled a bit differently, in terms of visual organization, than the rest of the buttons throughout the interface. While it is obvious how important continuity is in any application (especially one used primarily by artists
), although, I do not feel that aspect of the interface would be hindered by a modification such as this what so ever, in fact, as simple as this feature may seem I am positive that this would result in increased productivity for novices as well as please the eyes of the experienced user. Cheers,
Landis
candy buttons are cool, 
thats why there so popular, just had to get that out...