From: sns@bondi.jpl.nasa.gov (Sam Southard)
Subject: Need figdisp GUI suggestions
Summary: use your imagination!
Organization: SAR Systems Development & Processing, JPL
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 17:25:32 GMT

Hello all.  I'm in the middle of designing a graphical user interface for
figdisp.  To ensure maximum portability, it will be based on the X toolkit and
the athena widgets, both of which are available for all X systems.  What I
need is suggestions on how it should look and/or feel.  The best people to ask
are the people who would be using it, so I'm asking you.

What I'm looking for are descriptions of any kind.  Specifically, I'd like the
following subjects (but don't limit your comments to these - if you want to
suggest other GUI-type stuff (or anything else), please do so):

(1) What should it look like when you start up figdisp?  What windows should be
	visible?  What controls should be visible?
(2) How should the controls look?  Should they be menu-based (like xterm),
	button based, a combination, or something else?
(3) How should it work?  For example, right now you pan by clicking a mouse
	button on the new center pixel.  I've received suggestions that the
	cursor should be warped to the center of the window and that the
	image should be panned by clicking on a point and then clicking on the
	new location for that point.
(4) How should multiple images be handled?  Right now you start up multiple
	copies of figdisp.  Should there be a single copy of figdisp with the
	ability to display multiple images?  Something I've thought of is
	pressing 3 to bring up image number 3 in the main window and #
	(shift-3) to bring up an additional "main" window with image number 3.
	Of course, there would also be a way to do this from a menu or button.

	One thing I'm not sure of is how you would specify into which image
	an IMAGE command wrote.  Would you retain the ability to do something
	like:
	setenv TV_DEVICE FIGDISP
	setenv FIGDISP 3
	to specifi which image, would you replace that mechanism with the
	concept of a selected image (the figdisp user would specify into which
	image incoming data should go before doing the IMAGE command), or would
	you keep both (setenv FIGDISP 4 would specify image number 4, while
	setenv FIGDISP -1 (or some similar special value) would specify the
	currently selected image).
(5) Anything else you can think of.

Use your imagination!  Be as fancy as you want - after all, you won't be doing
the work.  I can take almost any format drawing - textual descriptions,
PostScript, TeX, MacDraw, etc.  If you're going to put a lot of work into
making a really pretty picture be sure to contact me first to be absolutly
sure I can take that format.  If you want to draw something by hand, my FAX
number is (818) 683-9761.

After I've received the suggestions, I will try to make a mock-up program
which does nothing but interface with the user - no real imaging capabilities,
just lots of buttons/menus/whatever else people suggest.  I'll make that
program available for people to try out and give feedback.  Hopefully after
not too many iterations we'll have an interface with which everyone (or at
least the vast majority of people) will be happy.
Xref: sparky alt.sci.astro.fits:175 sci.astro:11805 comp.compression:3785