By galaxyguide - 11/8/2012 9:01:39 PM
I must pass on Kudos from our programming department. They like the new Stardraw drawings that I have been creating. I am surprised, I thought they would want something much more detailed. I use a hybrid of the block and pictorial. Switchers, routers and network switchers are all in block form with the inputs and outputs iterated and detailed, user equipment I either use the pictorial provided in the Stardraw library, or more often I create a UDP from a jpg. Apparently this format is appreciated, since no one really needs to be told how these wires/signal types plug in to a device, but they do need to be able to have a central agreed upon set up for the routers and such. It makes sense, cuts down on extraneous information, a picture is worth, in most cases at least 20 words and "reads" much faster to the eye than text. Once I got the hang of creating UDP's and creating some work arounds for areas SD7 has yet to address, then this is no problem. I like that my library shows up where ever the dongle shows up, since I work on multiple computers.
So thank you for those features, they are noticed and appreciate.
Here is the next Big Scary Issue. Since I am staring down the barrel of an 120 sheet project, and since there is no viewer, I have to print everything to PDF, AND to hard copy.
Print set up: the fact that it just took me 12 trys to print 3 drawings to pdf has spurred me into my 20 minute forum posts, if I have put that much effort into the next 120 and sheets I am going to .... feel irritated.
My issue: I have to first hit print, select the right printer (if the default printer does not support the size format desired), close out of that print, open page set up, select what I want (4 clicks to get paper format and proper orientation, maybe more if it doesn't center correctly), then go back to print, print. Now God help me if I forget to save, because the program won't retain the new setup unless I hit save before moving on to the next tab in the same file. This is waaaaay too many moves for each drawing.
Here is what I (and I am sure many others want):
1. I want to adjust settings in the start template for SD7. I want to set up my global parameters, save it, and then everytime I open a new project my default parameters pop up.
2. I want to have the option to hit a global button and send all tabs in that file to print.
3. I would like to batch print from the file index, rather than opening all files. Stardraw2007 let me do this.
4. Cable tool. I like it, it has gotten better, now I want to be able to choose what color cable tool I am going to use from my tool pallet with one click. For instance, I have my audio drawing set up so that blue, green, red, and light blue all carry a different signal. Can I save a couple of these colors and line widths into an quick icon in the tool pallet that saves that routine for me, so I don't have to click 4 times to get the color and width the way I want it.
Ok the last one was not directly print related, but all of these affect my speed, attention levels, frustration to flow ratio, and ultimately productivity. When we are talking large numbers of files, it could conceivably take me half a day to set up and complete printing a project.
Thank you for your consideration,
Linda
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