Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2005 7:59 pm
Some thoughts:
An image basket might behave similarly to the browser file list panel... it would be a linear collection of images arranged according to the sorting options and having the views that the browser does... thumbnails, file list, etc.
A lightbox (or light table) interface would be a little different.
The light table would display thumbnails only.
Thumbs would be draggable to anywhere on the table and the table would remember their positions between sessions (see below).
The table would be a 2 dimensional "surface" extending "infinitely" in both directions. So, not only would it need to a vertical scroll bar (as in the browser) but also a horizontal scroll bar, since the user might wish to move some thumbs to positions "off screen" and scroll over to them. (In my little lightbox program I used a Delphi scrollbox control).
A light table would have "zoom in/zoom out" functions that would show more or less of the table surface. For instance, "zoom to extents" would zoom all the way out to show all thumbs present on the table.
Additional functionality would be the ability to explicitly group thumbs using a marque so that if you moved one of them, the entire group would move.
Another idea would be an ability to identify groups by a differential background color for the table surface behind them.
Finally, the ability to name and save, then restore different arrangements of thumbs on the table would be of paramount importance. The saved "table" file would include the filenames, the positions of the corresponding thumbs, the zoom amount, and any associated grouping data.
I suppose that a light table could serve the function of an image basket, but not the other way around.
An image basket might behave similarly to the browser file list panel... it would be a linear collection of images arranged according to the sorting options and having the views that the browser does... thumbnails, file list, etc.
A lightbox (or light table) interface would be a little different.
The light table would display thumbnails only.
Thumbs would be draggable to anywhere on the table and the table would remember their positions between sessions (see below).
The table would be a 2 dimensional "surface" extending "infinitely" in both directions. So, not only would it need to a vertical scroll bar (as in the browser) but also a horizontal scroll bar, since the user might wish to move some thumbs to positions "off screen" and scroll over to them. (In my little lightbox program I used a Delphi scrollbox control).
A light table would have "zoom in/zoom out" functions that would show more or less of the table surface. For instance, "zoom to extents" would zoom all the way out to show all thumbs present on the table.
Additional functionality would be the ability to explicitly group thumbs using a marque so that if you moved one of them, the entire group would move.
Another idea would be an ability to identify groups by a differential background color for the table surface behind them.
Finally, the ability to name and save, then restore different arrangements of thumbs on the table would be of paramount importance. The saved "table" file would include the filenames, the positions of the corresponding thumbs, the zoom amount, and any associated grouping data.
I suppose that a light table could serve the function of an image basket, but not the other way around.
Hello John !
Kind regards,