[Synaptic-devel] [Bug #3270] UI/usability suggestions

[nobody]

=================== BUG #3270: LATEST MODIFICATIONS ==================
http://savannah.nongnu.org/bugs/?func=detailbug&bug_id=3270&group_id=2422

Changes by: Michael Vogt <address@hidden>
Date: Sat 04/19/03 at 12:19 (GMT)

            What     | Removed                   | Added
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Severity | 5 - Major                 | 4
         Assigned to | None                      | mvogt




=================== BUG #3270: FULL BUG SNAPSHOT ===================


Submitted by: elanthis                Project: Synaptic                     
Submitted on: Fri 04/18/03 at 23:29
Category:  None                       Severity:  4                          
Bug Group:  None                      Resolution:  None                     
Assigned to:  mvogt                   Status:  Open                         

Summary:  UI/usability suggestions

Original Submission:  A few UI improvements could be used.  I strongly suggest 
looking at the GNOME HIG (it is just as applicable to GTK2 only apps), and the 
folks at address@hidden are immensely helpful for pulling together a good UI.

Some of the problems I found that confused me:
  - Quitting, the dialog asks if you want to quit and has button [No] [Yes].  
The dialog shouldn't have any actions in its body, and the buttons should be 
[Cancel] [Quit].  You are forced to read the entire dialog to understand what 
the buttons do (while my suggestion makes it immediately clear), as No/Yes are 
wholly ambiguous on their own in this context.
  - Status bar tells me to look at the console I launched Synaptic from for 
more info.  Given that I'm using a GUI app vs. apt-get itself, and I'm 
launching it from a GUI (GNOME), this message is silly.  If people wanted the 
console for messages, they wouldn't use a GUI application.  ;-)
  - The preferences dialog has [OK] [Apply] [Close].  That is completely 
meaningless to me.  [Apply] is clear in that the settings take effect, but not 
if it also closes the dialog.  What does OK mean?  Does Close save the changes 
or not?  I'd suggest going with the HIG and making all changes be instant 
apply, and simply have [Revert] [Close] or [Revert] [Accept].  A help button 
that explains the behaviour of the option would be nice too, altho I definitely 
know how hard it can be to pull together good docs.  ;-)
  - Packge menu seems wasteful, and is confusing.  You already have buttons for 
its actions.  Additionally, the menu stays active, along with its items, even 
when no packages are selected, or a category (and not jsut a package) is 
selected.  If not removed entirely, it should at least become 
inactive/greyed-out when a package isn't selected.
  - The search menu also seems wasteful.  You already have a search bar that's 
always on the front interface.  If a search menu is needed, perhaps it should 
be moved down into another menu where it won't contribute to UI clutter and 
noise.
  - A lot of dialogs seem to have extraneous frames/inset-borders in them.  I 
don't know why these are there, but they contribute to visual noise/clutter, 
and look silly to boot.
  - The Filters menu and the big Filters button seem to be redundant - you 
don't need both.
  - The bottom frames for package info seem silly/extraneous when you have no 
package selected.  Perhaps they shoul dbe inactive, or a generic (clean/nice) 
logo/help/something should be shone there instead when no package is selected.
  - With the above, the behaviour for multiply selected packages doesn't sit 
well - the last clicked package is the shown info.  It doesn't mesh well with 
the fact that multiple packages are selected in the view.
  - The Update List, Upgrade All, and Dist Upgrade buttons, while very useful 
to an apt-knowledgable person, aren't that great for n00b's.  Better naming 
could be used here - I don't have a suggestion for how it could be clearer tho. 
 The address@hidden folks might have some good insight on this, perhaps - they 
are very helpful.
  - The little arrows to represent Status aren't very clear.  Better/different 
icons should be used that more clearly represents the differing states.

Also, on a more frivolous note... the RH8/9 up2date installer has this nifty 
interface for installing package groups and individual components.  I don't 
know what they use to build this (a separate database or tags/info in the 
packages), but it's cool.  I also know that Debian and dpkg have their tasks, 
which are now flags in the control file iirc.  Having synaptic support these 
with an interface similar to up2date would be *excellent* for n00b's.  Heck, 
I'd enjoy it - it makes things simpler/quicker/easier.  ^,^

Follow-up Comments
*******************

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Date: Sat 04/19/03 at 12:18         By: mvogt
thanks for your suggestions. I justed browsed over them and they look definitly 
helpfull. I'll answer to them in more detail in the next few days (I'm a bit 
busy right now). For all the smaller ui improvments, your welcome to submit 
patches :) It should be pretty easy as we are (mostly) using glade2 for the 
dialogs. 

-------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri 04/18/03 at 23:34         By: elanthis
erk, one more suggestion I just noticed - the Package Description box at the 
bottom, a margin is needed - the text/glyphs rub right against the edge of the 
text box's edge, which can be rather hard to read in some themes with mild/poor 
eyes (like mine).  Just several pixels worth of margin in that box would make 
worlds of difference.


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