Feature Overview

When pressing Option and clicking on a tool with two dots, the Optional Tool Settings dialog should append as a sheet to the associated tool palette.

Feature Description:

Currently, tools with optional settings (two dots in their icon), pressing Option and clicking on a tool opens a new floating window. In the case of PowerCADD Tools, those windows float and can be moved around. In the case of WildTOOLs, those windows don't float (a long standing HIGs^? violation and pet peeve) and are stuck to the center of the screen area.

The proposed feature for tools with optional settings; their settings should open as sheet appended to the tool palette instead of a floating dialog.

Why

The user already knows where the tool palette is; it's my work flow anchor for production. I've had to move my mouse around just to press option and click on the tool to open the dialog. I then have to go through more mousing around to get to the dialog to either move the dialog (in the case of PowerCADD tools) and enter the data.

It would more convenient if the optional settings just appended to the Tools Palette as a sheet. It would behave in principle just like the see-through / auto-fade settings work now for floating windows or the primary tool palette. In case you missed it, here is how you can adjust the auto-fade settings in PowerCADD 7: Control+Click on any tool palette and choose Palette Settings... from the contextual menu to see this sheet append to the selected tool palette:

Having all the user interface elements grouped together around the tool palette would be more efficient for production and provide a smoother user interface. While it's possible to assign a key command to a tool which includes the Option key to force the dialog, having it all associated with the tool palette as a sheet just seems like a nice logical extension of the Mac OS^? X interface.

Special Note: If the optional settings were appended to the tool palettes, it would also mean that WildTOOLs would follow the same standard (or at least one would hope so), thereby unsticking their optional tool settings from the center of the screen and making for a more fluid and consistent work flow.

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• Very Important Feature: you think the feature is a big deal and has a big impact to your workflow
• Important Feature: not critical to your workflow but something you'd find useful or would explore more deeply if it was there
• Not an Important Feature: this feature wouldn't impact your workflow at all and you're not interested or don't see value in exploring it

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