Re: [Synaptic-devel] Updated UI Proposal

[Gustavo Niemeyer]

> > > Here is a more polished ui proposal for the main window.
> > > 
> > > The glade file is appended.
> > > 
> > > To get a better idea about the design I have made a fake screenshot. You
> > > can download it here (88 kbyte):
> > > 
> > > http://pimpldrive.pimpzkru.de/renate/synaptic/mockup.png
> > 
> > I like the general idea, but I think we need some discussion on it
> > before working to replace the current scheme. Some general comments
> > to start our discussion:
> > 
> > - Why do we have a combobox above the section list? What does it do?
> 
> You can take a look at the glade file it contains more options that are
> not visible in the fake screen shot.
> 
> The combo box above the section list would allow you to choose between
> "sections", "tags", "status" and "alphabet". It is a replacement for the
> "X tree" menu items in the view menu.

Now I really like the idea.

> > - We've lost the "Filters" button, and the two buttons of the "Find"
> >   interactive dialog. That's not a big problem, since the Filters
> >   stuff is available in the menu bar, and the Find dialog could have
> >   its behavior changed to automatically restart the search.
> 
> The whole new concept depends on feature additions to gtk2.3/2.4:
> 
> At first the speed up of the treeview would allow you to use the "all
> sections" item - with gtk2.2 this would take forever.

That's a temporary problem. Not a show stopper on my side.

> Secondly the treeview of 2.3/2.4 provides a filter method. So we can
> hopefully use this method to filter the package list by name and short
> description. The package list would instantly show matching packages
> only while you are typing the search term(s) into the find field. There
> should be no need for the buttons anymore.
> 
> The traditional and non-filtering search should be moved to the search
> dialog. The glade file also contains a prototype.

Humm.. aren't they there already?

> The combobox on the left treeview combined with the predefined filters
> and the instant find dialog would enable you to perform advanced
> searches fast. The filter editor would be reserved for some rare cases
> only. This is why I would like to remove the button from the main window
> - it is still available through the menu.

Nice..

> > - We need three buttons to represent the possible changes to the state
> >   of a package. The "Keep" button is missing from the dialog. Perhaps
> >   it's time to drop buttons in favor of the popup dialog.
> 
> > - The "Undo" button should be moved to the global task bar.
> 
> The package state should be represented by the color and the new added
> icons. The "keep" button is named "Undo" in my mockup - this is a little
> bit misleading, but perhaps something like "reset" would be better.

I like the "No Changes" label. "Undo" already has a different meaning
in the same interface, and "Reset" is not meaningful to me.

> I would like to disable non available buttons, e.g. disable
> "undo/reset/keep" if no change was selected or disable "remove" if the
> package is not installed.

It already works like this.

> So the buttons would be real action buttons and no toggle buttons
> anymore.

I'm still in favor of removing these buttons completely, in favor of
the context menu.

> Another place for the package control buttons could be the toolbar:
> 
> Refresh List | Install, Upgrade, Remove, Reset | Upgrade All | Execute
> 
> ("|" stands for new group)
> 
> I am unsure about relying on the context menu/menubar only, since on the
> first look the user won't see any possibility to manipulate the package
> status. But we could give it a try and make them invisible for testing.

I don't see that as a huge problem. Context menus are usual nowadays.

> Michael proposed to stabilize the internals of synaptic fist and work on
> the ui after a 0.50 release. Because the new ui would be fully usable
> with gtk 2.4 only I think that we still have got a lot of time for
> discussion. :)

Indeed. I'll talk with him today about this as well.

-- 
Gustavo Niemeyer
http://niemeyer.net