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Idea #12990: Select objects with freeform lassos instead of just rectangles

Written by Endolith the 9 Sep 08 at 16:06. Related project: Gnome. Status: New
Rationale
Currently, selecting objects that are in a non-rectangular shape requires many operations, like holding down the Ctrl key and making multiple rectangular selections.

On the Desktop, you could also drag the objects one by one into a pile and then drag a rectangle around them (I've seen people do this when they didn't know about Ctrl).

Neither is a great solution.

Selecting with rectangles is fine sometimes, but only if the things you want to select happen to be in a rectangle shape already, which is not very common.

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Solution #1: Select with freeform lassos instead of rectangles
Written by Endolith the 9 Sep 08 at 16:06.
It should be possible to select objects (icons in a file manager, for instance), by drawing a free-form lasso around them instead of drawing a rectangle.

Why not just let the user draw a curve around the objects they want? This is more intuitive, doesn't require two hands, and is already a common feature of graphics editors.

It's kind of hard to describe what I'm imagining without visuals. I have a more detailed description with mock-up images on my website.



As shown, a line would be drawn back to the starting point to complete the selection, so you don’t have to draw the entire outline. The line that you draw should be simplified as you draw it, on the order of the size of one icon, so as not to be messy, since we don’t need any more precision than a single icon anyway. It should also be possible to “backtrack”; if you draw backwards within a certain width of the line you already drew, it will erase it, so as to de-select something you accidentally went around.

I made an interactive mock-up with Processing.js. You will need JavaScript enabled to try it. Keep in mind that you only need to get the lasso around the midpoint of an icon for it to be selected. This means you can draw pretty sloppily and actually make most selections *faster* than you could with rectangles.

Propose your solution

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Eldmannen wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 17:47
It is an interesting concept, but thats about it.

I don't think it is useful at all in the real-world, it just makes it slower and trickier.

Icons are aligned, so doesn't help much.

Endolith wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 17:59
Slower and trickier?? How do you figure? This would be faster and easier than holding down Ctrl and drawing multiple boxes. Open up a file manager and try selecting odd shapes. Imagine that you can do it with a lasso like this, and see how much easier and quicker it is.

Eldmannen wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 18:02
If this gets implemented, then I hope its an alternative function accessed by holding down a button such as ctrl, alt, or shift and not the default mode.

Endolith wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 18:06
"If this gets implemented, then I hope its an alternative function accessed by holding down a button such as ctrl, alt, or shift and not the default mode."

Yes, that's what it says. "Instead of just rectangles."

Eldmannen wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 19:00
"As shown, a line would be drawn back to the starting point to complete the selection, so you don’t have to draw the entire outline."
Nice, then perhaps this wouldn't be so tricky. ;)

Endolith wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 19:08
Yes, look at the pictures :)

young wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 19:51
Nice idea, but I think Ctrl + rectangle is sufficient.

Endolith wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 20:16
Ctrl + rectangles is sufficient, but this would be better. Why not make things better?

timwintle wrote on the 9 Sep 08 at 23:13
I think this would be worth testing - it may not work out, but why not try?

I can imagine this being great on a touchscreen display, or using a graphics tablet.

phalkon30 wrote on the 10 Sep 08 at 03:21
Very interesting and original idea.

I think what others are saying above is that the default selection mode should maybe not be changed, but have a key that when you hold it down it goes into "lasso selection" mode. There are times when I feel it would be faster to use a rectangle.

I do like the autocomplete part of it though, it would be very slick to show this to people.

young wrote on the 10 Sep 08 at 10:11
maybe a "paint" mode or "brush" selection with a brush size of an icon to paint over the area you want selected, just like using mask selection in photo editing programs...

Endolith wrote on the 10 Sep 08 at 13:54
I think a paintbrush selection would be slower than drawing an outline around something (you'd have to drag the mouse back and forth across the entire area instead of just going around the perimeter), but that's a very interesting idea. I wonder if they could be combined somehow.

javaiscoolmike wrote on the 13 Sep 08 at 01:21
i like the idea. I would also add that it would be cool if you could lasso some items then un-lasso part of that selection. Like lasso a set of items A, then de-select with the lasso a subset of A.

Endolith wrote on the 13 Sep 08 at 15:08
"i like the idea. I would also add that it would be cool if you could lasso some items then un-lasso part of that selection. Like lasso a set of items A, then de-select with the lasso a subset of A."

Well, you could still do all the things you can currently do with the Ctrl key.

sosurrey wrote on the 14 Sep 08 at 00:41
I like this idea a lot. I use the lasso tool in gimp all the time. I could see using this to select groups of pictures that need to be moved or deleted, yet leaving groups of other ones alone. A polygon lasso select tool would also be helpful to people with shakey mouse hands. Another idea would be to have a hybrid rectangle tool that would begin with the cursor and draw like the freeform lasso, but be completing the selection in the style of the rectangle as you go. Ok, I'm not so good with describing. Here's a mockup.
http://www.mediafire.com/imageview.php?quickkey=ljqoz7poued&thumb=5

Endolith wrote on the 11 Feb 09 at 16:23
@sosurrey: File not found?


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