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tcrouse
33 Posts |
 Posted - 23 Dec 2006 : 12:50:20
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Part of my work is designing user interfaces and as I am working through the demo and explorering the application functions I wrote up my hit list, aren't you guys lucky :)
I have Yet another suggestion and question set
Suggestion / Request 1a
It would be nice if when you were adding schematic connections
and drawing tracks that the left mouse click pins the track at the direction turns during the routing
and a right click would perform the last connection point and cancel out of the drawing mode. Hitting "finish here" to complete is a bit distracting
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Suggestion / Request 1b
Initiate a redraw immediatly after a schematic connection or track has been drawn. My screen always seems to have dark lines from where the cursor was placed throughout the drawing task.
Not in every place but there seems to be one or two spots that
need to be cleaned up.
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Suggestion / Request 2
When in schematic connection or track draw mode it would be nice if the cursor snapped to the grid. The line being drawn stays snapped to the grid but the cursor is allowed to travel off the grid.
I seem to have to be zoomed in a bit to ensure things are connecting where they're suppose to.
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Suggestion / Request 3
Don't allow a schematic connection or pcb track to start or end from a non valid connection point. Another nice option would be to allow the user to start the drawing task then if they started from a non valid starting point have a dialog popup that forced them to select a valid connection point (i.e. a ground node on schematic point that links between two schemtics, or a node list with alias names could popup / and apply the same logic to the end connection point
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Suggestion / Request 4
Incorporte board fill as a option check box, have the special layering take place behind the scenes if the user wants the board filled.
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Suggestion / Request 5
Allow the user to select Esc as a valid keyboard key for deselect.
The "Cancel and Deselect" operations although are performing different opperations, they are in most users eye perfming the same function. In keeping with the user documentation about following Microsoft convention I think the word deselct should be replaced with cancel and the escape key should be allowed to iniate both operations.
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Suggestions / Request 6
Add the following to the Right Click Menu and icon replacements for tool bars
Redraw, and change toolbar button from refresh to redraw
redraw is more of a cad standard term
Zoom Window or Zoom Frame, I like window better :)
Zoom All or Zoom Fit, Magnifying glass with a rectangle inside the glass with an arrow pointing to teh center of the rectangle
Zoom Previous, Magnifying glass with arrow pointing outwards
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Suggestion / Request 7a
(mentioned before)
Adjust zoom and pan factors
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Suggestion / Request 7b
Allow the Zoom and Pan function to start from where it is initiated on the screen. Do not immediately center the operation on the display. It happens so fast that it adds confusion because the user has to refocus.
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Suggestion / Request 8
Get rid of Frame Select short cut menu option
And allow the selection frame to behave in two modes
Inside mode and crossing mode
If the user drags the window across the screen one way it is in inside mode and the frame is a solid line, anything fully inside the window is selected
If the user drags the frame in the oppisite direction the window is a dashed frame and everything inside the frame and every object that is crossed during the selection drag is also part of the slection group
Once a group is selected the user then applies a commed or action to the group
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Suggestion / Request 9
Add a pick box to the center of the cross hair cursor so the user sees the pickbox touch an object that is about to be selected
it would provide some clarity as to what object is going to be selected when the cursor is close to multiple objects
And allow the used to set the pickbox size in an option setting
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Suggestion / Request 10
Allow the user to set the cursor color
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Suggestion / Request 11
Allow the mouse cursor to showup on the drawing area when a menu is active, even though if a user clicks off the menu it cancels the menu. It adds some confusion when the cursor just dissapears. This is in keeping with the microsoft user interface standards
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Suggestion / Request 12
Icon Replacement
View All is using a standard Move function Icon, a more appropriate icon is the magnafying glass with the four direction arrow in the middle
Display Icon - The rainbow simply takes away from th eprofessionalisum of the app
Refresh - is using a properties icon, Would change this to redraw
and use a pencil on a display of sheet type icon
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Suggestion / Request 13
Add a layer quick select drop down selection pick list
I may have missed it in the app or missed the concept of how to draw on layers, still working through the demo at this point
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Suggestion / Request 16
Add a right click menu slection for editing a selected component
and allowing the user to then add it to a lib once it is complete
It would be nice if these options were all on the short cut menu
Edit Symbol - allows editing of symbol, footprint, or component
Add to Lib
Best Regards
Tim C. |
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Tedgo
United Kingdom
11 Posts |
Posted - 20 Jan 2007 : 11:45:21
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Suggestion 1a/1b
The left button does and the process finishes when you get to the end connection. A double left click finishes a stub.
A redraw would waste time particularly with slower processors.
Suggestion 2
Locking the cursor to the grid is silly, the line locks to the grid and the cursor is then ready to go to the next turning point or final connection.
Suggestion 3 is a none starter.
If your schematic extends to several sheets then it is necessary to name all the connection points on each sheet with the net-name. Better still is to draw a short stub line on each connection point and add the net name to that, its more obvious and less error prone.
What would be useful in this regard is an 'add net-name button' on the appropriate tool bar so that one could click on the stub or full connection track and enter the net-name and display it at the click point.
I have used several PCB packages but still find Easy Pc the most user friendly and intuitive.
You really need to use a package in the real world before redesigning it. |
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Peter Johnson
United Kingdom
498 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2007 : 06:07:42
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Suggestion 1a - The right click menu is too important, so a double click is used instead.
Suggestion 1b - <Ctrl+R> does a screen refresh. Doing this automatically is a bad idea because of big designs and slower processors.
Suggestion 2 - Without releasing the mouse button, use the cursor keys - it snaps to grid.
Suggestion 3 - As mentioned by Tedgo, this has to be flexible, but you can add a net name from the right click menu in schematics. You can also right click on a cross and use [Add To Net] which connects the point and floats a net name next to it.
Suggestion 4 - The term 'board fill' is slightly ambiguous. You can specify any layer as a power plane from the layers dialogue, and [View], [Powerplane], [Show] will reveal it, but there's no clean up option possible for islands and copper shards. If you are referring to copper pour, you can certainly include the whole board area in this, but the computational power required to implement it means that it is unlikely ever to be automatic.
Suggestion 5 - The extended use of the <Esc> key has been forwarded as a user suggestion.
Suggestions 5+6 - There's an inherent problem here, in that redesignating menu entries and/or icons is likely to confuse existing users who are familiar with the current ones. I've logged a user request for configurable text and icons, but this is a relatively large amount of work for a minor improvement, so it may be some time before it is implemented.
Suggestion 7 - Both zoom resolution and auto pan speed are already the subject of user requests for enhancement. The auto centring has to happen, as it is a necessary requirement that a centre for the operation be provided, and the current cursor position is the logical choice for this. That mode of operation is consistent with most applications offering zoom and pan, so it is unlikely to be changed.
Suggestion 8 - From your comments here it would seem that you are probably unaware that the <Ctrl> key when held down during mouse selection allows the tailoring of the selected group manually. With this feature, the extra complexity you suggest for the frame select is unnecessary, and potentially confusing.
Suggestion 9 - This seems unnecessary with the version 10 option to display tool tips. Clearly the tooltip applies to the potentially active item under the cursor.
Suggestion 10 - This has been logged as a user request.
Suggestion 11 - This has been logged as a user request.
Suggestion 12 - See reply to suggestion 5/6.
Suggestion 13 - This is already available as a dockable bar. Selectable from [View], [Dockable Bars].
Suggestion 16 - This is available in Easy-PCs big brother, Pulsonix, but you wouldn't like the price tag!
Peter Johnson
Technical Support
Number One Systems |
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Tedgo
United Kingdom
11 Posts |
Posted - 22 Jan 2007 : 13:28:15
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The 2nd point I was making about suggestion 3 in schematics is that if one has dozens of connections to add net names to, there is a lot of right clicking.
If one right clicks on a pin and selects 'add to net', on completion the net name is displayed.
If one right clicks on a connection and selects 'change net name', on completion the net name is not displayed. One has to right click again to select 'display net name'. Its then displayed at one end or other of the connection.
It would be better (and safer) if the 'change net name' also defaulted to displaying the net name automatically, and better still put the name at the click point.
The ultimate would be an 'add net-name button' mode so that one could left click the connection, do the business, and move on to the next connection.
My designs run into may sheets and dozens of net names.
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Peter Johnson
United Kingdom
498 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2007 : 05:35:19
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You CAN add your personal shortcut key.
Go to [Settings], [Customise], and click on the 'Keyboard' tab. Select category 'Interaction' and scroll down to 'Display Net Name' in the 'Commands' box. Now click in 'Press New Shortcut' box, and press the relevant key, or key combination. If it's already in use, you'll see below the box.
Keep trying keys until you find a suitable free one, then click on [Assign] to implement it. If you click on [Assign] for a key that's already in use, it will be reassigned. Close the box when you've finished. Don't worry about any entries that weren't assigned - they're lost when the box is closed.
It's not a good idea to combine change net name with display net name, as there are many instances when this isn't appropriate, so it would just increase work elsewhere.
Peter Johnson
Technical Support
Number One Systems |
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Tedgo
United Kingdom
11 Posts |
Posted - 24 Jan 2007 : 13:24:53
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Perhaps a good compromise would be to add a tick box on the 'change net name' dialog asking whether or not to display the net name.
If the tick box remembered its last setting, that is when it was used previously rather than the current display state of the net name, then this would meet most requirements. |
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olga
United Kingdom
107 Posts |
Posted - 16 Sep 2008 : 11:23:36
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Sorry to bump this thread, but since I've started to use the schematic designer, I've run into this as well. I agree with tcrouse that having a tick box (which remembered its settings) to optionally display net name during a change-net operation would be a very good idea.
Best wishes,
Olga. |
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Peter Johnson
United Kingdom
498 Posts |
Posted - 19 Sep 2008 : 11:30:50
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| I've logged this for the programmers attention. |
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pedro444
United Kingdom
25 Posts |
Posted - 22 Sep 2008 : 13:14:05
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Yes my vote goes for a tick box to show the net name whenever a name is changed. I always want to show the name when it's not an automatically generated name. |
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Tedgo
United Kingdom
11 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2010 : 15:56:13
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Still no intelligent tick box to display the net name when using the change net name dialog.
Also when one right clicks at the end of a stub a third option should be added to the menu ie, change net name. With modern multi sheet designs this is essential. |
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Tedgo
United Kingdom
11 Posts |
Posted - 13 Aug 2010 : 16:08:44
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Sorry, as to the 2nd point above, I meant the right click following a double click to finish the stub.
Simply right clicking while drawing the stub allows one to change the net name but it does not finish the stub and can get messy. |
Edited by - Tedgo on 13 Aug 2010 16:10:17 |
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Topic |
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User interface questions / suggestions