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Menus vs. Tools


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Im sure it has something to do with the convenience of just clicking on a tool for the simple things. The more complex operations are in the menus where you have to perform multiple mouse clicks or complex keystrokes. Generally the tools shortcuts are just one letter or number, the menus are keyboard combos.

You can use a keyboard for the tools also. Check the workspace editor or the back of the users's guide for the keyboard shortcuts assigned to the tools.

Plus, if everything was in the menus, the menus would drag on forever and you couldn't turn the menu options on and off like you can close palettes and so forth. If everything was in palettes, the screen would be cluttered and you'd have nothing but tools and no drawing screen to work on.

[ 02-01-2002: Message edited by: Katie ]

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Thanks for the reply, but you haven't really answered my question.

First, simplicity of the command doesn't have anything to do with the location of that command. e.g. 3-point arc tool, vs. 1-click trim command. Rather, the tools appear to be those operations which have modes and mode settings.

The screen need not be cluttered, nor the menus endless. Both palettes and menus would be built from the SAME list of operations, yet customized in the same manner as they are currently. Just as one can -- as of v9 -- assign variations of a key (alt+key, shift+key, alt+shift+key, etc. plus same for cmd+keys), to a tool, one could assign any one of the eight variations to any operation. For the most common operations, one may (or may not) have them on a palette. Less-frequently used items would be in menus. The presence of command modes would not force them to be in one location or another. I, personally, prefer no palettes on screen -- save object properties -- and a limited menu, since I prefer everything by key. Others, notably old Mac addicts and AutoCAD newbies, have a tendency toward cluttered screens.

Regardless of the idea's viability or value, I still don't see why there is still the dichotomy between 'commands' and 'tools', aside from the 'mode' feature, an aspect that, codewise, really shouldn't force an operation to be accessed in ONE particular manner. confused.gif" border="0

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