UI: Reorganize 'Select' menus in editors #121337

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Pablo Vazquez merged 5 commits from nickberckley/blender:select-menus into main 2024-05-13 16:27:35 +02:00

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Nika Kutsniashvili commented 2024-05-02 13:00:14 +02:00

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This PR reorganizes (and in some cases adds missing operators to) all 'Select' menus in Blender editors (except 3D Viewport).
Goal of this change is to make menus as consistent as possible, and to group & sort items according to a certain logic, which will be easy to remember and users can always expect certain items to be always at same place in every editor.

Selection operators that are universal to all editors, and users are expecting to work everywhere are grouped together at the top of the menus, things such as All/None/Invert, gesture selections, More/Less and etc.

Options are separated in groups like this

Editor or mode specific operators always come after general selection tools.

Changes include:

UV Editor:

1. Added missing "Lasso Select" operators
2. Expose "Select Similar" operator options in the menu, similar to 3D viewport
3. "Select Pinned" operator was named "Selected Pinned", corrected it.

Before	After

---

Node Editors:

1. Replaced (De)select toggle operator with two separate All and None operators and moved at top alongside Invert
2. Expose "Select Grouped" operator options in the menu, similar to 3D viewport
   (note that last two operators in the images are from Node Wrangler addon)

Before	After

---

VSE:

1. Rename "Grouped" and "Linked" to "Select Grouped" and "Select Linked" to match other editors
2. Take Select More & Less operators out of "Select Linked" menu to match other editors
3. Remove "Select Linked" menu, as it only contains one item now, and expose that one operator directly

Before	After

---

Movie Clip Editor:

1. Replaced (De)select toggle operator with two separate All and None operators and moved at top alongside Invert
2. Select menu is shown even if there is no clip loaded, but everything is greyed out. This is more consistent with other editors
3. Added "Select" menu in Clip Editor's "Graph" mode wih available options (Box Select is available in here, but operator seems broken, so it's not added in the menu)

Before	After

---

Anim Editors (Dope Sheet & Graph Editor):

1. Changed order of items to match general logic
2. Renamed "Select More" and "Select Less" to just "More" and "Less" to match other editors

Before	After

---

File Browser:

1. Rename "Inverse" to "Invert" for consistency

This PR reorganizes (and in some cases adds missing operators to) all 'Select' menus in Blender editors (except 3D Viewport). Goal of this change is to make menus as consistent as possible, and to group & sort items according to a certain logic, which will be easy to remember and users can always expect certain items to be always at same place in every editor. Selection operators that are universal to all editors, and users are expecting to work everywhere are grouped together at the top of the menus, things such as All/None/Invert, gesture selections, More/Less and etc. Options are separated in groups like this  Editor or mode specific operators always come after general selection tools. Changes include: ------ **UV Editor:** 1. Added missing "Lasso Select" operators 2. Expose "Select Similar" operator options in the menu, similar to 3D viewport 3. "Select Pinned" operator was named "Selected Pinned", corrected it. | Before | After | | -------- | -------- | |  |  | --- **Node Editors:** 1. Replaced (De)select toggle operator with two separate All and None operators and moved at top alongside Invert 2. Expose "Select Grouped" operator options in the menu, similar to 3D viewport (note that last two operators in the images are from Node Wrangler addon) | Before | After | | -------- | -------- | |  |  | --- **VSE:** 1. Rename "Grouped" and "Linked" to "Select Grouped" and "Select Linked" to match other editors 2. Take Select More & Less operators out of "Select Linked" menu to match other editors 3. Remove "Select Linked" menu, as it only contains one item now, and expose that one operator directly | Before | After | | -------- | -------- | |  |  | --- **Movie Clip Editor:** 1. Replaced (De)select toggle operator with two separate All and None operators and moved at top alongside Invert 2. Select menu is shown even if there is no clip loaded, but everything is greyed out. This is more consistent with other editors 3. Added "Select" menu in Clip Editor's "Graph" mode wih available options (Box Select is available in here, but operator seems broken, so it's not added in the menu) | Before | After | | -------- | -------- | |  |  |  --- **Anim Editors (Dope Sheet & Graph Editor):** 1. Changed order of items to match general logic 2. Renamed "Select More" and "Select Less" to just "More" and "Less" to match other editors | Before | After | | -------- | -------- | |  |  | --- **File Browser:** 1. Rename "Inverse" to "Invert" for consistency

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❤️ 3

Nika Kutsniashvili added 1 commit 2024-05-02 13:00:24 +02:00

Reorganize Select menus in editors 8c0b2f18d9

Iliya Katushenock added this to the User Interface project 2024-05-02 14:31:47 +02:00

Pablo Vazquez requested changes 2024-05-02 16:40:43 +02:00

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Pablo Vazquez left a comment

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First of all, love this. Thanks for working on it! We definitely need to add a similar graphic to the Human Interface Guidelines so we can refer to it for future additions/new editors/add-ons developers.

Just a few notes.

1. Select None

such as All/None/Invert

What do you think of calling None → Deselect (or Deselect All)?

The concept of "selecting nothing" is a bit more abstract than deselecting all which is more descriptive. Also this way users don't have to search for None to find it.

2. Movie Clip

Movie Clip Editor:

After

Any particular reason to leave the Select... bit for Select Stabilization Tracks, instead of just Select → Stabilization Tracks?

3. Node Editor

Find Node should end in ellipsis .... Any operator that opens up a new dialog instead of executing directly, should end in ellipsis.
Note: I only noticed this one at a glance, haven't checked the case for all other menu entries.

---

Again, thanks for working on this. A general advice for future contributions:

Please take screenshots using Blender factory startup. You can make the UI scale larger so it's easier to see but don't use a custom theme or add-ons. It not only makes it hard to tell what's part of the patch and what's an extension to developers (or why this looks different on my setup than yours), but the main reason is that screenshots should look as close as every other user will experience.

It also prevents accidents for the patch author (e.g. you may add one separator too many because of items added by add-ons).

First of all, love this. Thanks for working on it! We definitely need to add a similar graphic to the [Human Interface Guidelines](https://developer.blender.org/docs/features/interface/human_interface_guidelines/) so we can refer to it for future additions/new editors/add-ons developers. Just a few notes. ### 1. Select None > such as All/None/Invert What do you think of calling `None` → `Deselect` (or `Deselect All`)? The concept of "selecting nothing" is a bit more abstract than deselecting all which is more descriptive. Also this way users don't have to search for `None` to find it. ### 2. Movie Clip > **Movie Clip Editor:** > | After | > | -------- | > |  | Any particular reason to leave the `Select...` bit for `Select Stabilization Tracks`, instead of just `Select → Stabilization Tracks`? ### 3. Node Editor `Find Node` should end in ellipsis `...`. Any operator that opens up a new dialog instead of executing directly, should end in ellipsis. Note: I only noticed this one at a glance, haven't checked the case for all other menu entries. ---- Again, thanks for working on this. A general advice for future contributions: Please take screenshots using Blender factory startup. You can make the UI scale larger so it's easier to see but don't use a custom theme or add-ons. It not only makes it hard to tell what's part of the patch and what's an extension to developers (or why this looks different on my setup than yours), but the main reason is that screenshots should look as close as every other user will experience. It also prevents accidents for the patch author (e.g. you may add one separator too many because of items added by add-ons).

👍 3

Andy Cuccaro commented 2024-05-02 17:11:09 +02:00

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A general advice for future contributions:

Please take screenshots using Blender factory startup. You can make the UI scale larger so it's easier to see but don't use a custom theme or add-ons. It not only makes it hard to tell what's part of the patch and what's an extension to developers (or why this looks different on my setup than yours), but the main reason is that screenshots should look as close as every other user will experience.

It also prevents accidents for the patch author (e.g. you may add one separator too many because of items added by add-ons).

Could this be/is this somewhere in contributors guidelines? Sorry, I don't mean to derrail the conversation around this PR, just thought this was worth mentioning.

---

Regarding this PR: IIRC (I might be mistaken), the VSE module removed the verb "Select" from the menus because of the redundancy caused by having the title being already "Select" (e.g.: Select -> Linked already reads as Select Linked, was the reasoning).

I don't agree nor disagree with the reasoning, but for consistency, to me, it seems that Select, as a verb, it should be in every operator's name under the Select menu, or be removed from every operator under the Select menu.

> A general advice for future contributions: > > Please take screenshots using Blender factory startup. You can make the UI scale larger so it's easier to see but don't use a custom theme or add-ons. It not only makes it hard to tell what's part of the patch and what's an extension to developers (or why this looks different on my setup than yours), but the main reason is that screenshots should look as close as every other user will experience. > > It also prevents accidents for the patch author (e.g. you may add one separator too many because of items added by add-ons). Could this be/is this somewhere in contributors guidelines? Sorry, I don't mean to derrail the conversation around this PR, just thought this was worth mentioning. --- Regarding this PR: IIRC (I might be mistaken), the VSE module removed the verb "Select" from the menus because of the redundancy caused by having the title being already "Select" (e.g.: Select -> Linked already reads as Select Linked, was the reasoning). I don't agree nor disagree with the reasoning, but for consistency, to me, it seems that Select, as a verb, it should be in every operator's name under the Select menu, or be removed from every operator under the Select menu.

Nika Kutsniashvili commented 2024-05-02 17:26:47 +02:00

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@pablovazquez I agree with you on everything. But on "Deselect", to counter I think idea behind naming "All, None, Invert, More, Less" is to be read with menu name, "Select All, Select More, Select Less".

"Select Deselect" might break that rule. I'm fine with either tho.

@pablovazquez I agree with you on everything. But on "Deselect", to counter I think idea behind naming "All, None, Invert, More, Less" is to be read with menu name, "Select All, Select More, Select Less". "Select Deselect" might break that rule. I'm fine with either tho.

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Pablo Vazquez commented 2024-05-03 18:30:06 +02:00

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@pablovazquez I agree with you on everything. But on "Deselect", to counter I think idea behind naming "All, None, Invert, More, Less" is to be read with menu name, "Select All, Select More, Select Less".

"Select Deselect" might break that rule. I'm fine with either tho.

I think that this would be a good time to change it. It's already used in multiple places.

• Easier to search for Deselect than None
• It allows for more deselect operators in the same menu, like Deselect Pinned (instead of Select None Pinned?)
• Many operators already use it as property:
  
  
  ...or as the operator name in the API .deselect_all:
  
• It's not uncommon. Many software also use that terminology.

The only open question is for it to be Deselect or Deselect All, I'm fine with either. How would it look in the menu?

> @pablovazquez I agree with you on everything. But on "Deselect", to counter I think idea behind naming "All, None, Invert, More, Less" is to be read with menu name, "Select All, Select More, Select Less". > > "Select Deselect" might break that rule. I'm fine with either tho. I think that this would be a good time to change it. It's already used in multiple places. * Easier to search for `Deselect` than `None` * It allows for more deselect operators in the same menu, like `Deselect Pinned` (instead of `Select None Pinned`?) * Many operators already use it as property:   ...or as the operator name in the API `.deselect_all`:  * It's not uncommon. Many software also use that terminology. The only open question is for it to be `Deselect` or `Deselect All`, I'm fine with either. How would it look in the menu?

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Nika Kutsniashvili added 2 commits 2024-05-03 18:43:26 +02:00

review changes 8aea28bba4

Rename None to Deselect ac5a253087

Nika Kutsniashvili commented 2024-05-03 18:44:54 +02:00

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@pablovazquez I've updated everything you mentioned. Deselect looks better, it keeps all names single words, and also "All" and "Deselect All" looks weird, in that case it should be "Select All", and that is even worse.

@pablovazquez I've updated everything you mentioned. Deselect looks better, it keeps all names single words, and also "All" and "Deselect All" looks weird, in that case it should be "Select All", and that is even worse.

Pablo Vazquez commented 2024-05-03 19:14:05 +02:00

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Thanks! I understand it's a struggle to take new screenshots to update the PR description, so I took some here:

Thanks! I understand it's a struggle to take new screenshots to update the PR description, so I took some here:     

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Pablo Vazquez approved these changes 2024-05-03 19:14:40 +02:00

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Pablo Vazquez commented 2024-05-06 11:20:53 +02:00

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Just for the record. The plan is to land this together with a PR tackling the last remaining editor, the 3D Viewport.

Just for the record. The plan is to land this together with a PR tackling the last remaining editor, the 3D Viewport.

Pablo Vazquez added the

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label 2024-05-06 11:21:07 +02:00

Nika Kutsniashvili referenced this pull request 2024-05-07 15:07:18 +02:00

UI: Reorganize 'Select' menus in 3D Viewport #121521

Nika Kutsniashvili added 1 commit 2024-05-08 15:49:04 +02:00

Revert "Rename None to Deselect" ... f666e2eb5e

This reverts commit ac5a253087.

Nika Kutsniashvili added 1 commit 2024-05-08 15:50:42 +02:00

Remove word "Select" from two operators names 3b344d81f3

Nika Kutsniashvili commented 2024-05-08 15:53:01 +02:00

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Updated PR to rename from "Deselect" back to "None" as agreed in UI module meeting.

Updated PR to rename from "Deselect" back to "None" as agreed in UI module meeting.

Pablo Vazquez approved these changes 2024-05-08 16:03:24 +02:00

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Thanks for the update!

Thanks for the update!

Pablo Vazquez referenced this issue from a commit 2024-05-13 16:27:35 +02:00

UI: Reorganize 'Select' menus in editors

Pablo Vazquez merged commit ede675705e into main 2024-05-13 16:27:35 +02:00

Pablo Vazquez deleted branch select-menus 2024-05-13 16:27:38 +02:00

Pablo Vazquez referenced this issue from a commit 2024-05-13 16:29:30 +02:00

UI: Reorganize 'Select' menus in 3D Viewport

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Reference: blender/blender#121337

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