Keeping BricsCAD compatible at all costs?
I had submitted a support request because the Close command is not executed if you do middle mouse click on a tab or if you do Ctrl-W.
Most people use many programmes interchangeably on a daily basis, and a consistent approach to shortcut keys helps tremendously. Think of copying and pasting with Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, saving with Ctrl-S and so on. Closing a document with Ctrl-W is another such handy feature. It even works in SolidWorks and Revit.
However, AutoCAD uses it to turn SelectionCycling on and off. Now it turns out that Bricsys also implements that weird construction with a dialogue to select objects and, as in AutoCAD, reserves Ctrl-W for that.
I then wonder to what extent you have to follow Autodesk because Ctrl-W is thus lost as a standardised way to close a drawing. Besides, the method used by BricsCAD to select superimposed objects is incredibly more convenient, i.e. hover with mouse, use Tab key and after the right entity is highligthed, click.
Standardised input can be found here:
I am actually curious what other users think about blindly copying what comes out of Autodesk's kitchen. Ctrl-W is the tip of an iceberg, I can still list a lot of things that are flawed in AutoCAD and, by keeping compatible, could be improved in BricsCAD as well.
Comments
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That’s what the CUI is for, you can customize the behavior for you, right?
yes, they should be compatible, and customizable
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Learning all the details of a CAD system, and how it behaves, is something that takes a great amount of time. It is knowledge that might be comparable to a physical skill. It is like how once you learn to ride a bicycle, you stop thinking about how to do it, and just ride.
I don't think this requires every detail be replicated. But, after an AutoCAD user has been using the program for a decade, I think it is important for them to be able to use BricsCAD without bothering to view tutorials for 99% of their work. Additional features can be added, that are not present in AutoCAD. But, any loss of features, or change in behavior, will often make people unhappy.
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There was a time when "F1" was "CLI", what is now "F2" and when "Ctrl-C" was "cancel", what is now "Esc". Even Autodesk changed that behaviour and "F1" became "help", "Ctrl-C" became "CopyClip".
Assigning "Ctrl-W" to any command except "Close" continues to feel to me like copying sloppy stuff from AutoCAD.
That said, I fully understand that compatibility is an important issue.
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"compatibility is an important issue"
Amen. This forum is full of complaints about things that the user feels haven't been copied exactly from Autocad. Often it's just something that was in an older version of Autocad but not in the latest version.
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Looks like I am the alien who complains about everything in Bricscad
that is Autocad compatible ….
(And I mean "everything")
But love all Bricscad stuff that exceeds any Autocad standards and features.
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Zoomer, you're not the only one who dislikes things that are Autocad-compatible. I've always hated the way Autocad works, since I first started using it, in 1989. The only reason I use Bricscad is that I'm forced to work in DWG format. Thank God for Bricscad's great lisp facility. I use nothing but custom commands. My Bricscad feels more like Vectorworks than like Autocad.
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