[cap-talk] Drag & "Attenuated" Drop?

[Brian Warner]

> On Mon, Dec 8, 2008 at 11:17 PM, Rob Meijer <capibara at xs4all.nl>
> wrote:
> > There seem to be 3 alternatives possible, all seem sub optimal:
> >
> > 1) Show an attenuation dialog box on each drop.
> > 2) By default let drag+drop be a deep read only attenuation, use
> > something like CTRL drag-drop to show an attenuation dialog box on
> > drop. 3) By default let drag and drop be unatenuated, use something
> > like CTRL drag+drop to show an attenuation dialog box.

Perhaps a radial menu (aka "pie menu")[1] ? That would give the user a choice
on each drop, but would keep their eyes near the target of the drop: instead
of surprising them with a new dialog box *after* they'd let go of the button
(which could be completely unrelated to the drop, as far as the user knows),
they'd make their choice *before* they let go of the button. This reinforces
the idea that letting go of the button is how they commit to their action
(once you let go of your chess piece, you're not allowed to take back your
move). With the various forms of attenuation at consistent locations around
the circle, they could develop muscle memory for the different choices. If a
target doesn't want or can't accept certain forms (dropping a read-cap on a
"give me a write-cap so I can save this file" target), those choices can be
grayed out.

Of course, GUI support for radial menus is not universal, and sometimes they
can get as annoying as a dialog box on every action.

cheers,
 -Brian


[1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu