[Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

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openBrain
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by openBrain »

I'll second wmayer. I think a "Python" category would be fine.
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onekk
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by onekk »

me too I'll second wmayer.

IMHO is more taylored to group 'Python dependant things' like Python Console and Python editors, and probably even Macro preferences as Macros are essentially related to Python.

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adrianinsaval
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by adrianinsaval »

what's really the point of having separate tabs for this? Is it really worth having a whole tab for 3 checkboxes? And btw these could all fit on the same line and don't really need the "Enable" word, that is implicit on them being checkboxes.
Screenshot 2023-03-25 125036.png
Screenshot 2023-03-25 125036.png (6.96 KiB) Viewed 684 times
This separation is also confusing because the syntax highlighting settings in the "Editor" tab do apply for the console, in the past I had a hard time finding this out when I wanted to change the normal text color because it didn't work well with my system theme. Consolidating these two into one (called "Python") and then having those settings that only apply to the console or only apply to the editor in their own group boxes with appropriate titles easily solves that problem.
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by wmayer »

I don't mind moving the three options to the Editor tab as long as it's clear and obvious that it doesn't affect normal text editors. The mentioned group box should achieve that.

However, this doesn't change the fact that there are too many tabs in the General category. Some of them could be easily moved to their own category.

I don't know who of you use QtCreator as IDE. Its preferences dialog has the same basic layout as that of FreeCAD and the maximum number of tabs of a category is seven while in FreeCAD it's 10.
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adrianinsaval
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by adrianinsaval »

wmayer wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 4:55 pm However, this doesn't change the fact that there are too many tabs in the General category. Some of them could be easily moved to their own category.
agreed

btw, why not put the contents of the "Units" tab on the "General" tab? I would argue that is much more relevant than the preference packs, and it's also a very short one that could fit in one or two lines. Now that we have a dropdown for the unit system in the status bar the unit settings in the preference page could be reduced to just the number of decimals and the minimum fractional inch.
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onekk
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by onekk »

'Python Editor' or 'Macro Editor' as it seems to be called most if the time and 'Report View' and 'Python Console'

Seem to be related, with a doubt about 'Report View'

So a Python Group could be a good place.

But 'Cache' and 'Selection' probably are loosely related to a 'General' Group.

Maybe in a 'General' thinks like Language, Units, Document, Aspect (Colours and preference packs) seems what an average user is expecting to find in a 'General' tab.

Adding an 'Advanced' or other names for the less 'General' things that a average user use rarely could be a more simple way, maybe 'Cache' and 'Selection' if 'Selection' maybe have some sense with 'Navigation' but then 'Navigation' Group then could not be taylored.

Only a thinking. Sorry for the noise.

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Carlo D.
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wmayer
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by wmayer »

btw, why not put the contents of the "Units" tab on the "General" tab?
This page is already too overloaded and I don't think further things should be added there.
Now that we have a dropdown for the unit system in the status bar the unit settings in the preference page could be reduced to just the number of decimals and the minimum fractional inch.
I disagree. The preferences page should offer all available options and not just a subset as otherwise it will be very intransparent what to change where. The drop-down button in the status bar must be considered a convenient way to quickly change the units but not a replacement.
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paddle
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by paddle »

wmayer wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:01 pm
btw, why not put the contents of the "Units" tab on the "General" tab?
This page is already too overloaded and I don't think further things should be added there.
+1 to move the unit back to General. Regarding the fact that it is too crowded I offer several solutions ideas :
1 - Move workbench options to the workbench tab (start up workbench + workbench selector position). This way we remove 2 lines. (I'm including that in my workbench preference PR)
2 - Put system unit + decimal number on the same line.
3 - Show 'inch fraction' only when the proper system unit is selected. Else keep it hidden.
openBrain
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by openBrain »

paddle wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 5:20 am +1 to move the unit back to General. Regarding the fact that it is too crowded I offer several solutions ideas :
I think we need some houseworking.
I'd propose something like :
* Move "Macro" + "Editor" + "Python Console" to another group category
* Move "Preference packs" to a dedicated tab
* Bring back "Unit" and eventually some other important stuffs to "General/General"
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onekk
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Re: [Preferences] 'Editor' and 'Python console'

Post by onekk »

openBrain wrote: Wed Mar 29, 2023 8:06 pm ...
I think we need some houseworking.
I'd propose something like :
* Move "Macro" + "Editor" + "Python Console" to another group category
* Move "Preference packs" to a dedicated tab
* Bring back "Unit" and eventually some other important stuffs to "General/General"
Good for me, maybe colors and related things could be moved to an "Appearance" Group, where you could customize the graphical appearance, as done in other software, maybe even some setting about icon theme or settings like "use OS dialog" for "file dialog" that now are in the Tools tab (sorry for bad wording, but I'm on mobile so I can't check real menu item's names).

Kind regards

Carlo D.
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- In deep articles on FreeCAD.
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