[josm-dev] JOSM and 0.5 (was: Does potlatch make it too easy for people to unintentionally screw things up?)

[Frederik Ramm]

Hi,

> 1. Only infer a drag if the mouse button is held down longer than a
> threshold time.

A *configurable* threshold... ;-)?

> 2. Only infer a drag if the pointer has been moved by more than a
> set amount from the point of origin (let's call this higher "object
> inertia"). Could be used alongside option 1.

Makes it really difficult though to move something a small amount if
you want - I know that from other software: select something, drag it
away quite far so taht move mode triggers, then slowly return it to
almost where it was...

> 1. Delete is still a mode, even though for most normal use it
> doesn't need to be. I would suggest a context-sensitive delete tool
> that works as follows:

Agree that this should change. Not 100% sure if your suggestion is
intuitive though. Maybe just have "delete mode" and a, different,
"delete command"?

> 2. Deleting ways still leaves otherwise untagged and unconnected
> nodes
> behind. My suggestion to change this (at least under the default
> option set) is fairly new, but you can see how troublesome this
> behaviour is because of...

Use the alt modifier when deleting a way, this will delete all
contained nodes unless they are tagged or used by something else.

> 3. Pressing delete when nodes within ways are selected will delete
> those nodes and modify the way accordingly. Now, although I myself
> suggested a version of this behaviour, this behaviour is actually
> quite dangerous because:
>
> * it violates Policy Of Least Astonishment: a common way of cleaning
> up remnant nodes (as in [2] above) is to drag a marquee around them
> and exploit the fact that any way dependency nodes will be
> delete-protected.

Yes, this is something where the behaviour has changed drastically.
Now any selected node will be removed from its respective way, while
before, this automatism applied only to individual nodes clicked in
"delete mode", not to nodes that were selected at the time when delete
mode was activated.

> * Require modifier key before deleting "structurally-important"
>   nodes
> (specifically, nodes belonging to ways where the ways themselves are
> not also being deleted). This is my favoured option.
>
> * Only allow deletion of a single "structural" node at a time -
> multiple such nodes would be delete-protected (or would require a
> modifier key)

I think I slightly favour the second.

> * Only allow deletion of structural nodes within delete mode, not as
> a delete action (this will in effect enforce one-at-a-time deletion).

Also good (could offer various delete actions from a menu - normal
delete, force delete even if structural, force delete with everything
that depends on it - the current ctrl modifier).

Bye
Frederik

-- 
Frederik Ramm  ##  eMail frederik at remote.org  ##  N49°00.09' E008°23.33'