Drop down boxes and scroll wheel

[tellurian]

Xtreme Pro 4

I've noticed that with some drop down boxes you can use the scroll wheel (click the text in the box so it is highlighted, then scroll), with others not. Is there any particular reason why you can't this with them all? It's much easier and faster to work with in most cases.

Rich

[tonylondon]

Xtreme Pro 4

I've noticed that with some drop down boxes you can use the scroll wheel (click the text in the box so it is highlighted, then scroll), with others not. Is there any particular reason why you can't this with them all? It's much easier and faster to work with in most cases.

Rich

So far as a can tell, after a quick check, is that all dropdown lists that you can click into will scroll with the exception of those that have more than one choice in a row. Were there any others that you have noticed?

[tellurian]

So far as a can tell, after a quick check, is that all dropdown lists that you can click into will scroll with the exception of those that have more than one choice in a row. Were there any others that you have noticed?

Not sure what you mean by "more than one choice in a row"?

I've made small video to illustrate what I mean. As you can see, the Zoom and Line Width boxes scroll fine, but the Bevel and Extrusion boxes won't.

[steve.ledger]

The obvious differences between the four list boxes you show are that the Line Width and Zoom factor are 'input fields' which while having default values already set allow you to enter your own values directly.
The other drop downs are 'selection' menus, you cannot enter any values here.

I see your point however. But at least the up/down arrow keys willl work for those where the mouse wheel doesn't.

[MarkMyWords]

It would be great if a modifier key could be used to toggle selection of an input field/dropdown, by that I mean; you would draw a line, for instance, press your modifier-key and with that depressed, the mouse wheel will scroll up or down the possible values of that dropdown. Quick and elegant. For multiple fields, using the tab while the modifier is pressed would move from one to another.

Anyplace where the software can give, as an alternative, a two-handed operation,- modifier key and mouse, instead of several mouse clicks and cursor movements, then productivity will be improved. It is little things like this which turn an 'easy to learn' program into a faster to use one.

I'm a hot-key fan, in case you hadn't guessed. I think the use of modifiers with tools and functions is definitely a way to give improved productivity without changing the 'surface' operation of the software. You can learn the hot-keys or not, as you choose. Photoshop has a massive number of hot-keys, but users only learn those that are useful to them.

Sorry if I strayed a little from the central topic of the thread.

[tonylondon]

Not sure what you mean by "more than one choice in a row"?

I've made small video to illustrate what I mean. As you can see, the Zoom and Line Width boxes scroll fine, but the Bevel and Extrusion boxes won't.

I was referring to the drop lists of brushes.

I hadn't got as far as checking the extrude tool; I see your point. Logically it should work the same way as fill type but it doesn't; instead I have to roll my ball. No big deal but inconsistent.

[tellurian]

The obvious differences between the four list boxes you show are that the Line Width and Zoom factor are 'input fields' which while having default values already set allow you to enter your own values directly.
The other drop downs are 'selection' menus, you cannot enter any values here.

Yes, but it should be easy to make them scrollable also so I wonder why they have chosen not to. In C# both types of boxes (technically they're called comboboxes) are scrollable by default, maybe it's different in C++. But it should be simple to add.

Rich

[tellurian]

I hadn't got as far as checking the extrude tool; I see your point. Logically it should work the same way as fill type but it doesn't; instead I have to roll my ball. No big deal but inconsistent.

Personally I find it much faster and easier if you want to try out all the different bevel or extrusion types to see which one suits you best. As it is now, this is quite troublesome as you have to close the box and reopen it for each new one you want to try.

Rich

[tonylondon]

It would certainly be convenient if the bevel type changed automatically as the mouse pointer travelled down the list. As Xhris has pointed out in another thread, there are cases with dialog boxes, such as repel text extra distance, where this would also be useful.