Exploring labels in whizzing labels mode is difficult in some circumstances

USE CASE: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?

I want to be able to easily navigate to columns/rows of the labels I can see in whizzing label mode and then get back to the one I was over before.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE AN ISSUE (OR TRIGGER A NEW FEATURE)

Open the 6kx6k file
Resize window to smallest allowed dimension
Hover to a random spot in the matrix and note the column label you're over
Visually pick another column label that you can see while the cursor is over one spot that far away from the hovered position
Hover the cursor over the data to put the cursor over the column that belongs to the label chosen in step 4
Whether or not step 5 was successful, try to hover back over the data to the spot originally hovered over in step 3

CURRENT BEHAVIOR

With large datasets, this use case is difficult and in some cases, impossible. The labels move way too fast, jumping multiple labels across per pixel of hovering either left or right. Even single pixel hover changes dramatically changes the position of the labels in the label area.

EXPECTED BEHAVIOR

The expected behavior is not yet completely clear, but ultimately, we would like to make it easier for the user to be able to relate the labels they can see with the data they represent. Thus, we came up with the following phased solution to address the problems with this use-case:

Turn off whizzing labels by default but at the same time, introduce the single label on hover and spacebar to see all whizzing labels. [This is what this issue would address]
Implement simple sticky label (not implemented/usable in whizzing mode, i.e. spacebar would be the current whizzing label behavior). [This would be addressed in issue #494]
Implement sticky whizzing labels. [This would be addressed in issue #494]
Other improvements suggested to improve whizzing performance. [This would be addressed in issue #494]

DEVELOPERS ONLY SECTION

SUGGESTED CHANGE (Pseudocode optional)

Create a new variable containing the max number of labels to show to either side on hover in whizzing label mode. Have a value of -1 mean all possible labels for the available space. Create a second boolean variable to control whether the first variable should be used or not when drawing labels. This second variable would be controlled by the spacebar.

One thing to be careful of is blanking out previously visible labels.

Another optional thing to implement would be some sort of either button, checkbox, setting (via contextual menu?), or other toggle to control the second variable besides using the spacebar.

FILES AFFECTED (where the changes will be implemented) - developers only

LabelView
MapContainer (or ModelView)
MatrixViewController (key bindings)

LEVEL OF EFFORT - developers only

medium

COMMENTS

Related to issue #494, which further solves this by adding a new "pinning label" feature.

The following phased implementation to address this issue and issue #494 was agreed to via an email thread with Anastasia around March 10, 2017.

Turn off whizzing labels by default but at the same time, introduce the single label on hover and spacebar to see all whizzing labels.
Implement simple sticky label (not implemented/usable in whizzing mode, i.e. spacebar would be the current whizzing label behavior).
Implement sticky whizzing labels.
Other improvements suggested to improve whizzing performance.

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