I want to address an issue that affects all of us working with VVVV. One of the most typical and frequently encountered tasks is creating pads and boxes—essentially, our variables and input fields that we often use as intermediate nodes for connections. The problem is that their creation requires too many clicks and doesn’t take into account our natural hand movements.
Consider the typical scenario: start link → Shift+Click → Delete → Enter
This sequence happens so often that every time you move your mouse, one hand is busy holding Shift, clicking, and then you have to take your hand off the mouse to press Delete before returning. Imagine how many times this repetitive action occurs in a day—it not only slows down your workflow but also leads to unnecessary fatigue.
As shown in the attached GIFs, creating and connecting a single pad requires at least five clicks, with additional clicks needed to correctly position the new element. An interesting point is the difference between using “Shift+Click” for pads and “Alt+Click” for IOBoxes.
Frankly, I don’t understand why this issue hasn’t received more attention. I’ve raised it several times on the forum, yet it seems most users have simply gotten used to this clunky ritual. Fixing this would be like slipping off a pair of tight shoes—it would instantly improve both comfort and efficiency.
Let’s discuss how we can simplify the process of creating pads and boxes, making our VVVV workflow smoother and more intuitive. Your experiences and ideas could significantly influence how we enhance the overall UX in this amazing tool.
Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts and suggestions!
I was just about to open a new thread about exactly this because I literally dreamt about this the other night …
In my dream scenario I even had a proposal how I could see this being done. I’m going to put the steps in bold text to highlight where the changes in the workflow would be.
Start a link
Shift-Click somewhere to create a pad
Type the pad’s name
The new pad is created with selected state (could also already be the case after 2.)
Another optional keypress opens the config/context menu of a/the selected pad with the type dialog already being active and - if there’s already a type present - that type being entirely selected so it could be replaced right away. For this action I suggest TAB (or ENTER)
This way you don’t have to move back with your hand to the mouse after Step 2.
I even noticed while writing, you can move your mouse where you want the pad right after Step 1 already, start typing your pad’s desired name and select Pad from the node browser that pops up.
As a side note:
I suggest Tab for this, as I would ideally like to have the Node Browser also invoked by a press on Tab as well.
Definitely, something needs to be done about the pads. Perhaps this is one of those daily routines that, once worked through, can result in a significant increase in convenience. In other post, you said that it would be great to ‘turn’ the text alignment to the right. Good idea!
By the way, I would like to note that, in general, Gamma has become VERY convenient in many ways over the last few years, so a big thank you to the whole team.
