The Tip of the Week: Spinner Buttons
Yeah, that's it. Just slipped my old mind.
It never came naturally for me to use the "spin" capability.
It's something that isn't necessarily obvious to a user who has not used a similar control somewhere else (and I hadn't).
Speaking for X7, some of the tools on the default workspace don't have this option. Like rotate for instance. I have a macro assigned to cntl+alt+up/down arrows for this purpose but I notice that in the transformation docker the angle of rotation has a spinner.
I also use a keys to increase/decrease the outline thickness for the same reason.
It's really difficult for "discoverability" if something looks a lot like something else, but has additional capabilities that are not obvious. It's even worse if there is a mix of those in the same application.
In a lot of my macros, the comboboxes have a number of special features. I have to tell users about those features, because their previous experience is probably with comboboxes that don't have such features.
In the world of not-necessarily obvious, look at the extra-compact spin buttons from the Property Bar when an ellipse is selected:
Those work like the other spin buttons, but you don't click between the arrows. Instead, you have to click on the area right below a pair of down/up arrows. It's the same - but different!
I don't know if one exists, but a new user might benefit from having some reference document that describes all of the different types of controls used in the CorelDRAW UI.