Toolbox and Tool Settings panel

[SJ9000]

Hi all,

Maybe it's just me, but quite often I get lost as to which tool is currently selected. The depressed buttons on the Toolbox aren't different enough from the unpressed ones, so I look at the Tool Settings panel to try and figure it out. But even then some of the setting for the tools are similar and I'm still lost. I was wondering if it might be helpful if the Tool Settings panel title bar indicated which tool these are the setting for? So that rather than just say Tool Settings the panel title was Settings - Crop Tool, or Settings - Stamp Tool, or whatever tool is selected? But maybe this would break some internal program structures that rely on the panel being named Tool Settings. In any case it would be nice if it were easier to identify which tool is currently selected.

Thanks again for a great app.

Steve

[SCX]

You could increase the size of the icons in the preferences.

Edit > Options

then

Usage > Toolbars

[Herbert123]

Try setting the icons to grey/shadow in the preferences: the selected tool will show in colour (not for every tool). Another option is to edit the icon file itself (which is a pld file) - I forget what the file name is.

[SJ9000]

Thanks guys for your suggestions, but they miss the point. If the Tool Settings panel would state the tool these are setting for, it would clear up any ambiguity. And unless it breaks something internal to the application code it should be relatively easy to add to the program.

And as you said:

Try setting the icons to grey/shadow in the preferences: the selected tool will show in colour (not for every tool). Another option is to edit the icon file itself (which is a pld file) - I forget what the file name is.

And there's the problem, some tools do change to color when selected, others don't. The ones that don't are virtually impossible to see. Especially if you're using the grey/shadow scheme.

And no, even though I'm more than capable of creating my own custom images for my toolbox, again that misses the point. Adding the description to the tool setting panel would benefit everyone.

Thanks - Steve

[OldRadioGuy]

... there's the problem, some tools do change to color when selected, others don't. The ones that don't are virtually impossible to see. Especially if you're using the grey/shadow scheme.

Another case of inconsistency. All of the tools should work that way, not just a random group of tools. Hopefully, the Hubers will fix this bug for all.

... misses the point. Adding the description to the tool setting panel would benefit everyone.

Thanks - Steve

I think your recommendation for this feature is a good one, Steve. In the meantime, do you have enough monitor real estate to use the largest tool icon size? That might help you better locate the selected tool.

Bob

[bkh]

And there's the problem, some tools do change to color when selected, others don't. The ones that don't are virtually impossible to see. Especially if you're using the grey/shadow scheme.

They all change to colour when selected – it's just that some icons use greyscale even in colour mode (the layer tool, most lasso tools, most vector tools, …)

But I don't quite understand the problem – I think that one can easily see which of the tools is selected:

Toolbar.png

Maybe this is different on Windows?

Cheers

Burkhard.

[franky68]

with Windows its not quite as prominent but still noticable.

[Gerhard Huber]

Window Standard is:

[SJ9000]

Hi all,

Actually this is what my Toolbox looks like:

PL_ToolBox.png

In case you can't tell, the crop tool is selected. As you can see only the thin shadow outline of the button is inverted, which isn't very easy to see. I still think adding the tool description to the Settings panel title would help everyone.

Thanks,

Steve

[Gerhard Huber]

Actually this is what my Toolbox looks like:
In case you can't tell, the crop tool is selected. As you can see only the thin shadow outline of the button is inverted, which isn't very easy to see. I still think adding the tool description to the Settings panel title would help everyone.

You are using a Windows Style that is outdated since Windows XP, about 10 years.

Gerhard

[greenmorpher]

Mine is fine using the middle size tools setting and colored icons. The selected tool has a depressed button look -- darker background.

Cheers, geoff

[greenmorpher]

Mine is fine using the middle size tools setting and colored icons. In fact, I think it is very good. The selected tool has a depressed button look -- darker background. Yes, it would be good if the gray scale tools were in color too, but generally …

Cheers, geoff

[greenmorpher]

Good lord, sorry for the double post. What did I do?

Actually, I went back to editing something shortly after posting that and was reminded that when I adjusted up the size of the toolbox, the icons in the little toolbox for brightness/contrast do not upsize. They should -- they need to be a bigger pointer target.

I find this little toolbox extremely handy. I use it with most photos I edit.

Cheers, geoff