Comment 4 for bug 171711

Originator: YES

Sorry I haven't had a chance to describe my suggestion in more detail
before now.

I suppose the underlying problem I am trying to solve (if you can call it
a problem, since practically all drawing programs I've used operate the
same way), is that it is difficult to work with many objects stacked on top
of one another, because you can easily "lose" one underneath the others.

Perhaps a basic implementation of the feature I have suggested would be
when the user holds down Alt to do "Select under", the outlines of all the
hidden objects under the cursor are drawn, shaded in such a way so that the
z-order can be estimated.
Also, when you move the mouse over one of the outlines, it should change
color to indicate that it will be selected if clicked.

I would see the 3d view as a more complicated implementation of this that
would allow the user to see the z-order more clearly. So instead of the
outlines being highlighted, the objects would drawn in 3d above the plane
of the drawing, sort of popping out of the screen.
And if you want to get into the Vista/OSX style eye-candy, this would
probably be a good candidate - to have this 3d view smoothly popping up and
down out of the drawing surface.

tgvigil66, your suggestion sounds like a useful and sensible feature also.
I guess it provides the similar functionality, and would be more useful
when you quickly want to reorder objects, or select groups.
I think the difference with my suggestion is that it is visual and right
there in front of the user as he is drawing, and also it could be an
enhancement to the existing select-under functionality.