livetrax/manual/xml/user_interface_conventions.xml

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<section id="sn-user-interface-conventions">
  <title>Interface Basics</title>
  <para>
    Although Ardour has a fairly conventional graphical user interface,
    there are a few elements that are unique to it and are probably new to
    you. This chapter provides a guide to using these aspects of the
    interface.
  </para>

  <section id="interface-mouse-clicks">
    <title>Mouse Clicks</title>
    <section id="interface-click">
      <title>Click</title>
      <para>
        When we say "click on" without specifying a mouse button, we mean
        use <mousebutton>Button1</mousebutton> to click on a user interface
        element (button, fader, menu, etc).
      </para>
    </section>

    <section id="interface-context-click">
      <title>Context Click</title>
      <para>
        As in most graphical user interfaces today, a "context click"
        (<mousebutton>Button3</mousebutton>) in many parts of the user
        interface will popup a context-specific menu, allowing you to set
        parameters or carry out operations. There are a lot of examples of
        this, but trying it on an audio region, a mixer mute button and a
        mixer strip name will show the general idea.
      </para>
    </section>

    <section id="interface-delete-edit-click">
      <title>Delete &amp; Edit Click</title>
      <para>
        There are two additional mouse/key combinations that you should be
        familiar and comfortable with. They are called "delete click" and
        "edit click", and by default they consist
        <keycombo><keycap>Shift</keycap><mousebutton>Button3</mousebutton></keycombo>
        click and
        <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><mousebutton>Button3</mousebutton></keycombo>
        click respectively. A delete click on most objects within Ardour's
        editor will delete that object. This includes regions, markers,
        curve control points and so on. An edit click on the any of the same
        kind of objects will pop up an editor dialog for that object.
      </para>
    </section>
  </section>

  <section id="interface-clocks">
    <title>Clocks</title>
    <para>
      There are several clocks in Ardour's user interface, some of them
      visible all the time, others in windows that are only shown by
      request. All these clocks are identical to each other in their
      functionality, although some can be edited by the user and some are
      for display only.
    </para>

    <para>
      Context clicking on a clock brings up a menu that allows you to modify
      the display mode of that clock. The choices are:
    </para>

    <itemizedlist>
      <listitem>
        <para>
          Audio Frames
        </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>
          BBT (Bars,Beats,Ticks - musical tempo &amp; meter based time)
        </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>
          SMPTE
        </para>
      </listitem>

      <listitem>
        <para>
          Min:Sec
        </para>
      </listitem>
    </itemizedlist>

    <para>
      Each clock mode has a number of different fields. For example, SMPTE
      has hours, minutes, seconds, and video frames.
    </para>

    <para>
      To edit the value of a particular clock, click in the leftmost field
      you want to modify. You can then enter a new value for that field
      using numeric keys, along with '.' where appropriate. Editing will
      move the next field of the clock after you have entered the maximum
      number of digits for a field. To move to the next field before this
      press Tab. To finish editing, either press <keycap>Return</keycap> or
      use the <keycap>Tab</keycap> key to advance through all remaining
      fields.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="interface-bar-controllers">
    <title>Bar Controllers</title>
    <para>
      Bar controllers were inspired by a comment made by "Larry the O" in
      Electronic Musician in 2001.
    </para>

    <para>
      A bar controller is a user interface element that works rather
      differently than any standard element found in most programs. They are
      used to provide a combined method of displaying and modifying a
      parameter.
    </para>

    <para>
      To graphically edit the value of the parameter represented by a bar
      controller, press <mousebutton>Button1</mousebutton> and drag the
      controller left/right or up/down as appropriate. To edit the value
      with greater precision, double click the controller and it will
      transform into a data entry box. You can enter an exact value for the
      parameter, or use arrow buttons to increment/decrement the displayed
      value. When you are finished editing, the Enter or Tab keys will
      transform the data entry box back into the normal version of the bar
      controller.
    </para>
  </section>

  <section id="interface-click-boxes">
    <title>Click Boxes</title>
    <para>
      Click boxes were also inspired by Larry's comment.
    </para>

    <para>
      A click box is, as its name suggests, just a part of a window you can
      click on to change some parameter or control value.
    </para>

    <para>
      Clicking with 3 moves the parameter to the next value, clicking with 1
      moves to the previous value. Clicking and holding either button will
      automatically advance through the possible values in the appropriate
      direction.
    </para>

    <note>
      <para>
        we are slowly eliminating click boxes in favor of bar controllers
      </para>
    </note>
  </section>

  <section id="interface-panes">
    <title>Panes</title>
    <para>
      Panes are user interface elements that allow you to adjust the
      relative sizes of two sections of a window. The panes in Ardour work
      perfectly normally but have one additional feature: a Delete-click on
      the pane divider will completely hide one side of its two sections.
      Which section depends on the pane, and is not user configurable, but
      is neary always precisely what you'd want anyway. If the pane is
      already hidden, then Delete-click (on the still-visible pane) will
      restore it to the size it had before it was hidden.
    </para>
  </section>
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