Thomas

Re the relative orientation of two sets of atoms: hjkl might be a bit coarse,* because naturally it runs in increments. If this were to coarse (additional input by other users welcome), perhaps a) this could be complemented by dials of the three axes (similar to e.g., inkscape "rotate this selected shape by x degrees in in clock/anticlockwise direction), or b) right away with an input for the Eulerian rotation matrix. I think if not a), version b) could be “too much effort” for Avogadro2.

* Of course not to be called vim tool. There are times vim is more suitable, and other times Emacs (e.g., orgmode) for different purposes.

Is a manual setup of bond lengths and angles in addition to a readout a frequent / typical need in computational chemistry?

So far, I did not consider to miss such a dial next to the readout, especially because Avo2 updates the values if atoms are moved / groups swing around a bond with the mouse tool, etc.

I like the «vim like» mode to translate, rotate, zoom in/out the scene. Based on this (especially with the optional display of the the coordinate system) I can imagine to select a couple of atoms / one or multiple molecules with the mouse tool to freeze their coordinates relative to the coordinate system in common. Then to select a second set of atoms/molecules which then is translated / rolled by hjkl before both sets of atoms are written back into the input file.