Re: [RFC] Make the "LaTeX Equation" dialog modal

Xun Sun wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The current "LaTeX Equation" dialog, as well as the "Find", "Replace"
> dialogs, is a modeless one. As a result, the user can work on the
> document in the background when it is opened up.
>
> However, the "LaTeX Equation" dialog is somehow different, in that it
> operates on a specified object at a specified place, just like the
> "Format"->"Font" dialog. But the dialog has no idea which object
> (equation) is being edited. If the user points the mouse at some other
> place in the document before clicking the "Insert" button, then
> another equation is created/modified instead the original one, which
> is very confusing.
>
> Therefore, I suggest to make this dialog model. Any thoughts or comments?
>
> //I have discussed this on IRC with sum, who suggested me to bring it here :)
>
>
I am not in agreement - the latex equation dialog is a method of
entering data. While ideally entering an equation would take place
within the main document context (that is, edited in line), for right
now a modeless dialog is the best way to handle this in my opinion. I
am a heavy user of the math feature, and my current workflow is to open
the dialog, then just go ahead and enter text, if it's a word it goes in
the main window, if it's math it goes in the dialog. If you'd like to
improve this interface, I'd suggest inline editing for math.

I'm not sure about find/replace but it actually also seems to me that
there is no reason for that to be modal, either. It's not data entry
but it's conceivable you might want to do some editing as part of a
search/replace process, and avoiding complications of opening/closing
the dialog would be useful to the user.

Ryan

-- 
Ryan Pavlik
www.cleardefinition.com
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