[Epiphany] Re: ui improvement requests

["David Adam Bordoley" <bordoley msu edu>]

Steve Salazar writes: 

> Hi.  I just started using epiphany today and I love it.  I do have a few 
> ideas however: 
> 
> 1.  When typing in the location bar, a list of possible completions is 
> generated as you type plus the list of smart bookmarks.  To get to the 
> drop down list you have to either use the mouse or the down arrow.  How 
> about tab also cycles down in the list.  This is a) easier to get to than 
> down arrow if you want to keep your hands on the keyboard, b) fits in with 
> the tab complete meme and is more intuitive because users can actually see 
> the completions they are going to get, 3) just like mozilla so there is an 
> existing expectation from a large number of users that could be leveraged. 
> 

Tab completion has alot of accessibility problems, since tab needs to be 
used to exit the entry and nav into the toolbar item, so we can't support 
that. There are lots of threads in gtk-devel, desktop=devel, usability-list 
explaining this very in depth :/ We will be using the new gtk combo impl 
once its available though and it should be much better i assume. 

> 2.  Similar to the first idea, could shift-tab cycle backward in the list? 
> Also could the list wrap around when you get to the beginning or end?

See above, as i recall ctrl+tab needs to cycle backward from the entry to 
the previous toolbar button. 

> 
> 3.  The bookmark editor is fantastic.  I now am able to stuff everything 
> on one bar including my address bar and bookmark bar.  This is great.  
> However, the bookmark bar item I have, just ALL, looks pretty plain beside 
> the other icons.  Could it be possible to set an icon for a category in 
> the bookmarks so then if it appears in the bookmarks bar or elsewhere the 
> icon would be shown beside the category name?  Right now ALL by itself 
> does not seem to indicate much to me at all.  At least it should read "ALL 
> Bookmarks" although that is pretty long.  If setting the icon seems too 
> ungainly then maybe ALL could just have a default icon. 
> 

Well by default you should have All and a "search the web" smartbookmark. I 
think the problem is that you have an existing bookmarks file, and hence the 
"search the web" bookmarks isn't getting added to your collection or the 
bookmarks bar. Not really bug, just a symptom of being a beta tester :/
You can manually add bookmarks to the bookmarks bar, by dnd from the 
bookmarks editor, or by selection a bookmark or topic and selecting 
file->show in bookmarks bar. 

I'd really rather not add icons for topics. We specifically added down 
arrows to topics so that users could easily identify them vs. regular 
bookmarks. There is no default icon we could use that screams "Topic!!!" and 
using a folder icon just seems wrong to me (topics don't work or behave like 
topics, i'd rather not confuse the user by using a completely different 
metaphor here). Having a user defined icon would require a properties 
dialog, but topics really shouldn't have properties at least in my mental 
model of what they are. I sympathize I just don't think there is any other 
solution here. On that note we may add the ability to specify custom icons 
for bookmarks. 

You do have a point, that maybe All should be "All Bookmarks" when in the 
bookmarks bar, would be much clearer. could you file a bug maybe? 

> 4.  I know this has probably been mentioned on this list a million times 
> and is probably already being developed but there really needs to be 
> pop-up blocking.  I know many people who use mozilla over IE exclusively 
> just because of this ability.  Pop ups are really evil.  I almost forgot 
> how much I hate them but was reminded today by epiphany unfortunately. 
> 

yeah this is in the works. We have basic popup blocking that you can enable 
in the security tab of the preferences. However there is no way to white 
list of sites to enable popups for yet. 

> 5.  Mozilla has had smooth scrolling recently as does firebird.  It really 
> adds a subtle but impressive touch to the smoothness of the browsers that 
> have this.  (For some reason the IE smooth scrolling is more bewildering 
> than anything but firebird anyway gets it right.)

I have no real problems defaulting this to on. I'm going to talk to some of 
the other usability team members and see what they think. 

> 
> I know epiphany is in early stages of development so I hope none of my 
> suggestions are already planned (or done in CVS). 
> 
> Thanks and keep up the very nice work. 
> 

Thanks very much for the comments they are appreciated and taken seriously. 

dave