Manipulate suggestions
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg101282] Manipulate suggestions
- From: AES <siegman at stanford.edu>
- Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:31:30 -0400 (EDT)
- Organization: Stanford University
Now that I've finally gotten around to learning and using Manipulate
(admittedly late to the table), I have to agree that it truly does
deserve the Steve Jobs/Apple appellation, "Insanely great". But, a few
minor gripes/suggestions:
1) Executing
Manipulate[ Plot[x^n, {x, 0, 1}], {{n,2}, 1, 5, Animator}]
without the "Animator" and then clicking the inverted "+" icon gives me
the icon control buttons and the numeric value/data entry box (which is
very valuable). Adding the "Animator" as above auto-opens the icon
control buttons, but not the numeric field.
Why not? (That is, is there a good and necessaru reason it doesn't)
Is there a way to build an automated "Auto-click the inverted + button
for me" into the Manipulate command?
2) Does anyone else agree with me that "-" and "+" single-step buttons
should be side by side (just like the Slow/Fast vertical double arrows),
with the Start/Stop button either at the very left end, or over just to
the left of the Slow/Fast arrows)? Trivial point, perhaps, but seems
like a more natural ordering.
3) And would anyone else agree that the default action if you click the
single-step buttons while an animation is running should be to _stop_
the animation, and wait for further single steps (and let you click the
Start arrow when you're ready to re-start).
Seems to me this is the way many if not most other video and movie apps
work -- and the natural way that a user would want it to work.
(Otherwise, what would be the point of clicking the single step buttons
during a running animation?)
4) Any simple way -- repeat, simple! -- to link the single step buttons
to Left and Right (or Up/Down) Arrow keys on your keyboard. (Should
that maybe be the built-in default? Doesn't nearly every keyboard have
arrow keys?)
Anyway, despite my other continuing critiques of Mathematica, Manipulate
is a great concept, very neatly executed, and a real credit to the
Wolfram team.