@fred said:
in addition to then add interface components, (which I feel look really dated and I don't like to give to clients).
There are a number of underlying concerns in your pitch. And you raise some of the niggling structural issues that regularly get comments by Isadora users. There was a robust discussion by the 2.6 beta testers about accessing OSC addresses more efficiently in Isadora, particularly from within the Isadora work area. As a result the OSC Multi Listner was implemented with a switch to display OSC pathnames within the body of the node. So this was a step towards a more convenient approach to working with a large volume of OSC connectivity points.
Taking the in-patch direction a quantum leap further and making each node inherently and readily capable of addressing outgoing/incoming OSC/midi/TCP/UDP/serial/Net Broadcaster pathnames at any parameter variable, is certainly a game changer. It would represent a serious innovation in what the software represents and how it will interface within the ecology of applications typically used in a media and performance production.
I believe it would require the addition of a combined in/out management panel that allowed sequential access and editable lists of external/internal connectivity points with a ‘go to node’ function that highlights and brings into focus the associated actor.
The connectivity panel would need to be a floating panel (not a dropdown from the Isadora frame) so that it can be always accessible and viewable beside the patch bay as connectivity points are being programmed in an actor.
In addition, an actor with an existing connection could be analogously coloured to indicate that the connection exists and coloured again if the connection is viable/active.
Presently, there is no continuity in the way each type of connectivity point is dealt with in Isadora. It appears that this is due to the ad hoc development of each connectivity feature. Currently Discrete control panels appear in many different places and forms. And some of these only coalesce in a monitor window. However, colocating the management of all node connectivity points would add productivity and nibbleness to the process, particularly when setting up and running a production in-situation.
I hear @Fred ‘s comments directed at the visual style of the Isadora control panel elements.
Best wishes
Bonemap