Sun Oct 16 16:28:15 WEST 2005 Malcolm.Wallace@cs.york.ac.uk
* add usage info and to do list
{
hunk ./index.html 14
+<center><img src="blobs.png" alt="the Blobs editor"></center>
+<hr>
+
hunk ./index.html 27
-<center><img src="blobs.png" alt="the Blobs editor"></center>
hunk ./index.html 120
+
+<p>
+<b>Usage instructions</b>
+<p>
+<ul>
+<li> Right click on the canvas, nodes, and edges for context menus.
+<li> To create a node, shift click on some blank canvas.
+<li> To create an edge, select (click) the source node then shift-click
+ the target node.
+<li> To delete a node or edge, select it and press backspace.
+<li> To rearrange the diagram, click and drag nodes to where you want them.
+<li> To make an edge look tidier, add a control-point from its context menu,
+ and drag the point to where you want it.
+</ul>
hunk ./index.html 151
+
+<p>
+<b>To Do list</b>
+<p>
+<ul>
+<li> <b>More than one analysis method.</b> Currently, there is a <tt>class
+ Analysis</tt> with the methods <tt>analysis</tt> and
+ <tt>revert</tt>. But this means there can only ever be one
+ implementation of analysis for a given graph type. The class
+ should be replaced with a concrete datatype containing a lookup
+ table of analysis methods. Then the Edit menu can show as many or
+ as few analyses as are available.
+<li> <b>Multiple selection.</b> The ability to group multiple nodes
+ together, by selecting a rectangular area of the diagram. They can
+ then be dragged or deleted together. (Should also select any edge
+ control-points within the area.)
+<li> <b>Positioning guides.</b> Apple Keynote has the best diagram
+ layout editor I have ever come across. When one object lines up
+ horizontally or vertically with any other object on the diagram a
+ yellow line appears connecting up their centres. (It disappears
+ again once you drop the object). This simple idea makes it
+ incredibly easy to get things looking just right, without any need
+ for absolute coords or grids etc. I think the objects also "snap"
+ to the line when the mouse is within one or two pixels of the
+ alignment.
+<li> <b>Visible palette.</b> At the moment, if you load a palette from file,
+ you get the palette on the right-click context menu of nodes. But this
+ is a bit nasty, because (a) you have to create the node first, then
+ change its shape; (b) you can't see pictures of the palette. So
+ there should be a separate window with a table of all the node
+ shapes in the palette. Selecting a shape from the palette will make
+ that the default shape for all subsequent node-creation until another
+ shape is selected from the palette.
+<li> <b>Palette editor.</b> How do you create a palette? At the moment,
+ by hand in a text editor. Much better to have a graphical way of
+ creating shapes, cutting-n-pasting shapes into palette sets, etc.
+<li> <b>Edge palette.</b> Do we need a palette of different edge shapes
+ as well as node shapes?
+
+</ul>
}