Re: A mockup for an alternate conduit GUI.

["Kris Northfield" <kris northfield gmail com>]

2008/7/22 John Stowers <john stowers gmail com>:
> 2008/7/22 Kris Northfield <kris northfield gmail com>:
>> 1. add a big 'sync' button to avoid having to right click on the
>> applet (also add a cancel button on the toolbar)
>
> What do you think about a dual mode gui. Once Conduit has been
> configured, the GUI collapses down to a simple interface, with just a
> big sync button?
>

If you're following the path of integrating with applications then I
think having a minimal to no UI is best. I'm not keen on the dual
mode, you could just stick configuration options into Control Center.
Also, I believe in the long term there shouldn't even be a sync
button, once configured everything should just stay in sync with no
user interaction. Maybe just notifications to prevent the user from
interrupting certain sync activities that could cause problems if
interrupted, and provide a safe way to interrupt.


>> 2. make the data providers more 'manageable' (not sure that's what i mean)
>>
>> Right now the tree view isn't too much of a problem but presumably
>> over time more and more providers will be there, making it more
>> confusing and longer.
>
> I think I agree that the treeview no longer scales. What did you think
> about Andrews mockup using an iconview to group dataproviders?
>
I like it but I think it'd scale worse than the tree view. If you're
deprecating the current gui in favour of individual app integration
then I think a list/tree view would suffice as it will only be listing
a limited subset of providers within each app (if you choose to
display them).

Overall I think getting rid of the 'sync app' is a good idea.