UI: Adjust menu sorting order in Preferences #107817

Pablo Vazquez · 2023-05-10T19:05:42+02:00

Pablo Vazquez commented

2023-05-10 19:05:42 +02:00

The Problem

Currently, Blender menus are what is called "directional", where menu items are sorted frop top-bottom or bottom-top based on the direction the menu open.

While this can be handy at times it also gets on the way of muscle memory, as users mention in this proposal. There has been already a preference for this for a while but it wasn't exposed to the user.

Another issue is that even though most menus follow the opening direction, not all do. For example when the menu has categories/columns, such as the Editors or Modifiers list.

The Solution

This PR does the following:

Expose setting in the Menu panel under Interface
Rename to "Directional Menus"
Rewrite tooltip description to be shorter and hopefully clearer

Demo video: consistent-menu-sorting.mkv

With Directional Menus disabled, sorting of items is fixed regardless of the menu opening position.

Default Sorting

I propose to leave menu sorting it as is for Blender 3.6, asking users to try out the setting and based on that feedback change it (or not) by default in Blender 4.0, since it's a muscle memory breaking change.

## The Problem Currently, Blender menus are what is called "directional", where menu items are sorted frop top-bottom or bottom-top based on the direction the menu open. While this can be handy at times it also gets on the way of muscle memory, as users mention in [this proposal](https://blender.community/c/rightclickselect/14vo/?sorting=hot). There has been already a preference for this for a while but it wasn't exposed to the user. Another issue is that even though most menus follow the opening direction, not all do. For example when the menu has categories/columns, such as the Editors or Modifiers list. ## The Solution This PR does the following: * Expose setting in the Menu panel under Interface * Rename to "Directional Menus" * Rewrite tooltip description to be shorter and hopefully clearer Demo video: [consistent-menu-sorting.mkv](/attachments/50162093-f3ca-464f-91c4-42054c4994dd) With Directional Menus disabled, sorting of items is fixed regardless of the menu opening position. ![consistent-menu-sorting_top.png](/attachments/f97794ea-a63f-40c8-b99e-77b58cfd03c0) ![consistent-menu-sorting_bottom.png](/attachments/a378fc68-0a58-4227-934d-bd525c05ec3e) ## Default Sorting I propose to leave menu sorting it as is for Blender 3.6, asking users to try out the setting and based on that feedback change it (or not) by default in Blender 4.0, since it's a muscle memory breaking change.

consistent-menu-sorting.mkv

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consistent-menu-sorting_top.png

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consistent-menu-sorting_bottom.png

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Pablo Vazquez added 1 commit 2023-05-10 19:05:53 +02:00

a8d8c7fb26 UI: Expose directional menus in Preferences

* Expose (existing) setting in the Menu panel under Interface
* Rename "Contents Follow Opening Direction" to "Directional Menus"
* Rewrite tooltip description to be shorter and hopefully clearer

Pablo Vazquez added the

Module

User Interface

label 2023-05-10 19:10:24 +02:00

Harley Acheson commented

2023-05-10 19:57:17 +02:00

First I should say that I am entirely and enthusiastically in favor of all content keeping the same vertical direction regardless of where it is spawned. I have proposed this many times in the past without success.

But I'm not certain of using this preference as a means to move toward that. I think we should consider just biting the bullet and make this change without a user preference for 4.0.

If we (re)introduce this preference, make it off by default now then on by default later, we will be stuck with this preference forever. But whether on or off the description of this preference will never make sense because of how inconsistent we are with changing the direction of various items. With "Directional" turned off then all dropdown and popup content will always have the same order.

But now consider that "Directional" preference when off. Turning it ON will then mean that SOME content in some circumstances will reverse. So the 3D Viewport, in Object Mode, if you move the header to the bottom, of the four items in the center, just one of them - Transform Pivot Point - will reverse direction. Not sure how to explain that as an option.

Another reason is that we can consider changing the order of menu items if we have one direction rather than two. The change to consistent order makes relatively small changes except for the Timeline menus. For those menus everyone is used to a particular order because that editor is generally at the bottom. If we change to consistent ordering then we could also consider changing the Timeline menus item order.

First I should say that I am entirely and enthusiastically **in favor** of all content keeping the same vertical direction regardless of where it is spawned. I have proposed this many times in the past without success. But I'm not certain of using this preference as a means to move toward that. I think we should _consider_ just biting the bullet and make this change _without a user preference_ for 4.0. If we (re)introduce this preference, make it off by default now then on by default later, we will be stuck with this preference forever. But whether on or off the description of this preference will never make sense because of how inconsistent we are with changing the direction of various items. With "Directional" turned off then all dropdown and popup content will always have the same order. But now consider that "Directional" preference when off. Turning it ON will then mean that SOME content in some circumstances will reverse. So the 3D Viewport, in Object Mode, if you move the header to the bottom, of the four items in the center, just one of them - Transform Pivot Point - will reverse direction. Not sure how to explain that as an option. Another reason is that we can consider changing the order of menu items if we have one direction rather than two. The change to consistent order makes relatively small changes **except** for the Timeline menus. For those menus everyone is used to a particular order because that editor is generally at the bottom. If we change to consistent ordering then we could also consider changing the Timeline menus item order.

👍 1 ❤️ 3

Pablo Vazquez commented

2023-07-05 12:04:53 +02:00

Good points.

I think we should consider just biting the bullet and make this change without a user preference for 4.0.

It's so inconsistent now between regular menus, menus with categories, and popovers, that it's probably better to just go with it now that we're in bcon1 of a major release and get used to it.

@Harley Is this something you'd be interested in working on? I had a quick look and it seems a bit more involved than simply removing the RNA for use_directional_menus. Since it requires deprecating USER_MENUFIXEDORDER, and probably UI_BLOCK_NO_FLIP, UI_BLOCK_IS_FLIP too? Or at least removing the checks in interface_handlers.cc that control the direction of keyboard navigation and scrolling. Some of the definitions could be renamed and repurposed for a future right-to-left UI.

Good points. > I think we should _consider_ just biting the bullet and make this change _without a user preference_ for 4.0. It's so inconsistent now between regular menus, menus with categories, and popovers, that it's probably better to just go with it now that we're in bcon1 of a major release and get used to it. @Harley Is this something you'd be interested in working on? I had a quick look and it seems a bit more involved than simply removing the RNA for `use_directional_menus`. Since it requires deprecating `USER_MENUFIXEDORDER`, and probably `UI_BLOCK_NO_FLIP`, `UI_BLOCK_IS_FLIP` too? Or at least removing the checks in `interface_handlers.cc` that control the direction of keyboard navigation and scrolling. Some of the definitions could be renamed and repurposed for a future right-to-left UI.

Harley Acheson commented

2023-07-05 21:24:58 +02:00

@Harley Is this something you'd be interested in working on? I had a quick look and it seems a bit more involved than simply removing the RNA for use_directional_menus. Since it requires deprecating USER_MENUFIXEDORDER, and probably UI_BLOCK_NO_FLIP, UI_BLOCK_IS_FLIP too? Or at least removing the checks in interface_handlers.cc that control the direction of keyboard navigation and scrolling. Some of the definitions could be renamed and repurposed for a future right-to-left UI.

I am very much interested in working on this. Do you think there is much agreement here? When I have proposed this in the past I was met with many arguments involving "muscle memory" and "mouse travel distance" that was not able to get past.

> @Harley Is this something you'd be interested in working on? I had a quick look and it seems a bit more involved than simply removing the RNA for `use_directional_menus`. Since it requires deprecating `USER_MENUFIXEDORDER`, and probably `UI_BLOCK_NO_FLIP`, `UI_BLOCK_IS_FLIP` too? Or at least removing the checks in `interface_handlers.cc` that control the direction of keyboard navigation and scrolling. Some of the definitions could be renamed and repurposed for a future right-to-left UI. I am **very much** interested in working on this. Do you think there is much agreement here? When I have proposed this in the past I was met with many arguments involving "muscle memory" and "mouse travel distance" that was not able to get past.

Harley Acheson commented

2023-07-06 22:37:18 +02:00

#109798

https://projects.blender.org/blender/blender/pulls/109798

Pablo Vazquez commented

2023-07-25 18:26:53 +02:00

Closing this in favor of #109798

Pablo Vazquez closed this pull request

2023-07-25 18:26:55 +02:00

Pablo Vazquez deleted branch temp-ui-menu-sorting

2023-08-30 19:49:21 +02:00

Pull request closed

This pull request cannot be reopened because the branch was deleted.

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UI: Adjust menu sorting order in Preferences #107817

The Problem

The Solution

Default Sorting

Pull request closed