Re: [Synaptic-devel] Synaptic development

[Richard Bos]

Op woensdag 12 november 2003 15:00, schreef Gustavo Niemeyer:
> > Another point would be that the current status of a package is not very
> > easy to see. Ok, we got the "Installed version" column, but this is not
> > very clear, since the column could be out of the visible area and the
> > long string gets lost in all the text information of the table.
> > The status can be abstracted from the available toogle-buttons, but this
> > is also not very clear.
>
> There are at least tree points where you can see the "status" you
> ask for:
>
> - The Installed Version column, which looks very nice to me.
> - The Common tab
> - The Toggle buttons.
>
> I'm surprised to know that you still can't see the status of some
> package.

I sometimes use a package installer that provides this information via a small 
column at the left in the pane.  The column signals with icons what the 
status of the package is or what action will be performed.  If one moves over 
the package a small info window is shown with additional pkg information.  
Further more left clicking on the package name pops up a menu, with the 
available actions.  And I must admit this is a very nice way of presenting 
the information and the possible actions.  All the times it feels just 
natural!!  To give you an idea of how it looks like, review the snapshot I 
made of the program:

The snapshots can be retrieved from:
http://linux01.gwdg.de/apt4rpm/ypm/ypm-menu.png

ypm-deep-menu.png: all possible actions, available via the menu shown in
     ypm-menu.png
ypm-list.png: the list with actions in action
ypm-menu.png: the initial pop menu
ypm.png: the whole search pane (only 1 pkg found in this case)


My 2ct.

-- 
Richard Bos
Without a home the journey is endless