Re: [anjuta-devel] Project manager UI suggestions

[Johannes Schmid <jhs jsschmid de>]

Hi!

> I have a few points where I'm not sure.
>
> 1. I wondering if it's better to keep the GTK_STOCK_ADD icon for the New 
> actions. I would say yes, because you still add the new object at the end.
> 2. Same question for the "Ok" button in all these dialogs.

I think you can keep it if you like. By default, the icons aren't
displayed anyway in the menu.

> 3. In the "New Library" dialog (old Add Package), I need to enter a 
> module name and there is a package list. I think it's better to keep 
> these names as they are the real names used in autotools. Moreover 
> package and module appears in the project view. After thinking about 
> this, I think having a dialog named New Library which is asking for a 
> module name and a package name is a bit strange but still the best solution.

Hmm, maybe we want the module name in a bit a less popular place (below
instead of above the chooser) with defaulting to the first module. In
general users creating projects with anjuta will only have one module
anyway and those that have more modules usually know what they are
doing.

Also, I wouldn't mention "Package" in the UI as long as it isn't
necessary. The user should just choose from the list.

> 4. In the same way, the New Directory dialog request for a group name. 
> Perhaps it's better to keep it too, to make it clear that it's not just 
> a directory and have group properties instead of directory properties. 
> On the other hand, this group name is not defined in autotools where 
> it's rather called a directory. So I think I will keep the name directory.

I would go for directory here, groups aren't a concept anyone things of,
not even autotools specialists.

> By the way, if someone else has more ideas about the best way to improve 
> the project manager interface, I'm interested.

We might try to sit together with some usuablity guys once we have
something to show off. But seems unlikely that we will have that time
before ui freeze in this cycle.

> On problem remaining is how to present the node properties. The 
> properties in the main menu item show only the properties of the 
> project. You need to use the properties context menu item to set 
> properties for a target and I have seen several users who haven't found it.

What I have seen in glade for example is to add a small icon
(GtkCellRendererIcon) beside each node that has the properties icon and
opens the properties on click. That way it would be visible that there
is something to configure. But could also look ugly, don't know.

> On solution could be to draw the root node in the project view and 
> display the selected node properties with the main menu item. So you 
> will have to select the root node to get the project properties and you 
> can get all other properties by selecting another node. To make this 
> even more clear perhaps I can add a tree view in the properties dialog 
> allowing to select another node without closing the dialog, like in the 
> add source, add target or add group dialogs.

I think that would be a good idea, too, or in combination with the
above.

Thanks,
Johannes