Feature request #9255

Toolbar for map workspace

Added by Noone Noone almost 11 years ago. Updated over 7 years ago.

Status:Open
Priority:Normal
Assignee:-
Category:GUI
Pull Request or Patch supplied:No Resolution:
Easy fix?:No Copied to github as #:17871

Description

As QGIS is complex, the main toolbar has a lot of items and thus the user needs some time to scan/read/recognize the items again and again.
We can establish a second level toolbar, as most similar complex UIs do (GIMP, Inkscape, Eclipse, ...) at the map view workspace. Here is a simple mashup I created:

!qgis map menu.png!

IMHO this makes it easier for the user to find the tools that he is looking for:
  • general tools remain in maintoolbar (even some as selection by filter etc. can be also moved to the layer window instead)
  • tools related to the map (panning, zoom, selection, measurement, annotation) are where they are needed
    So the user not only needs to scan shorter lists and just remember the context of a tool (that is mostly implicit), he also has a slihtly shorter way for his pointing device :)

qgis_map_menu.png (116 KB) Noone Noone, 2013-12-27 06:33 AM

History

#1 Updated by Nathan Woodrow almost 11 years ago

We have considered this before but you loose the ability to move a toolbar if it isn't owned my QMainWindow. So yes it can be done but then you can no longer move the toolbar if you don't like it there.

#2 Updated by Noone Noone almost 11 years ago

Mhh thats bad :( Is there really no way to get both? Unfortunatly I have no QT skills...

#3 Updated by Nathan Woodrow almost 11 years ago

The only way to have a moveable toolbar is to have it owned by QMainWindow. You can have more then one QMainWindow per application so in theory we could have the canvas in a QMainWindow that is inside the other main QMainWindow. This would enable a toolbar to be owned by the inner QMainWindow however you can't dock it to the outside one if you wanted. So in the end the map controls could only move inside the canvas area and never dock along side the other toolbars. This might be OK but we would have to test it and I think personally it would confuse users because they would no longer be able to move the toolbar to outside the canvas.

#4 Updated by Noone Noone almost 11 years ago

I see... Maybe stackoverflow, stackexchange, ... know a different tweak to avoid this n instance mainwindow thing? I recommend to avoid an bad MDI like in GIMP ;)

#5 Updated by Nathan Woodrow almost 11 years ago

Oh it wouldn't be MDI. It would look exactly like it does now.

#6 Updated by Nathan Woodrow almost 11 years ago

Do you have the ability to build your own copy of QGIS. I have some code that implements a sub main window and moves some of the toolbars there just for testing.

#7 Updated by Noone Noone almost 11 years ago

I'm sorry but I lack the skills and time to start learning compiling QGIS :(

Do you like to share screenshots or a screencast?

#8 Updated by Giovanni Manghi over 7 years ago

  • Easy fix? set to No

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