GUI improvement for changing between edit & create objects? (SC)

[tomos]

How to change from edit mode to create object mode: click on the white arrow icon with the red "O"- if it says "select mode" I can select an object - if that object is an arrow, the arrow 'pane' will open, I can then edit it. If I click the arrow icon again, nothing shows, if I then click on e.g. Arrow icon, I can create new arrows.

~
If you look in the spoiler below you can read my struggle to figure this out (I know - I could well have read more of the manual)

Could this be made more intuitive somehow?

As said in spoiler:
there is no visual indication (that I can see) that tells me which mode I'm in.

• Maybe that the arrow icon would change depending on which mode is active?
• and/or -
• Maybe the arrow icon ("Object select mode") could be part of a frame that frames all the object icons? (I like this idea a lot cause then I'd see it's importance. But dont know if it's possible.)

the struggle

I do this about once a year or less (and struggle each time with it):

Help says:
By default, after you add one object or text box, you will switch into object editing mode. If you want to draw many arrows at once you can find options for this in the preferences dialog.

In Preferences, I found the option
Switch to object selection mode after a new object is inserted
I deselected that - I made a new screenshot & it works. I can create loads of arrows.
But now I cant get into edit mode... aha, found it - if I close the arrow panel and reopen it I'm in edit mode again and but now I cant get back into create mode again.

So how do I (easily) move between creating an object and editing it and back to creating an object?

With apologies - I'm figuring this out as I go along -
[Sort-of Solution]
I have to click on the White cursor with the red Opera style "O" icon to toggle edit and create modes - I still find this incredibly confusing as there is no visual indication (that I can see) that tells me which mode I'm in.
I just keep clicking that and the arrow icon and eventually I get one mode or the other...

I click on arrow icon, and check which mode it's in by trying it out.

Okay, the best I can find is to click on the white arrow - if it says "select mode" I can select an object - if it's an arrow, the arrow 'pane' will open.
If I click it again, nothing shows, if I then click on e.g. Arrow icon, I can create new arrows.

If I'm missing something please let me know

[cranioscopical]

No doubt about it Tom, you win the prize for best diagram of 2011.

I've not seen that many arrows since Custer's last stand!

Mind if I use that in my next presentation? It's so much clearer than my usual output  

[tomos]

Mind if I use that in my next presentation? It's so much clearer than my usual output 

-cranioscopical (December 13, 2011, 01:36 PM)

it just kind of "evolved" like that...