Re: gui design of nm-applet

[Hans-Gerd van Schelve <hg van-schelve de>]

On Tue, 23 Mar 2010 02:40:29 -0700, Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com> wrote:
> On Fri, 2010-03-19 at 21:23 +0100, Hans-Gerd van Schelve wrote:
>> On Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:50:03 +0100, van Schelve <public van-schelve de>
>> wrote:
>> > On Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:55:35 -0800, Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>
>> wrote:
>> >> On Mon, 2010-03-08 at 13:24 +0100, van Schelve wrote:
>> >>> We are planning to rollout NM > 0.8 to a very! big number of mobile
>> > Linux
>> >>> systems. Our different usecases for NM are Ethernet, 3G datacards,
>> >>> bluetooth based 3g and in small numbers wlan as well.
>> >>> 
>> >>> Today we had a discussion about nm-applet in our companay. We are
>> > worried
>> >>> about our user get overcharge with the usability of nm-applet. The
>> >>> biggest
>> >>> painpoint we talked about in this context is way nm presents the
>> >>> available
>> >>> devices, available connections and the active connections.
>> >>> 
>> >>> The horizontal separator should be removed from nm-applet. It looks
>> > like
>> >>> a
>> >>> logical separator between different connection types.
>> >> 
>> >> Hmm, the indentation was supposed to help make that clearer.  The
>> >> problem is that we do need a mechanism to distinguish between the
>> >> "current" network connection for that device and it's associated
>> actions
>> >> (like disconnect) and the other available connections. 
Unfortunately
>> >> we're currently stuck in a GtkMenu widget where we can't control the
>> >> layout in a fine-grained manner without violating a lot of UI
>> principles
>> >> (since it is still a menu).
>> >> 
>> >>> Maybe it could be a way using differnt font size / weight? Or maybe
>> >>> indenting blockwise?
>> >> 
>> >> It might work to make the "available" text in the line smaller
perhaps
>> >> to differentiate it more from the surrounding text?
>> >> 
>> > 
>> > What do you think about presenting the list in this way:
>> One additional thing I thought about could be a "disconnect" entry
>> in each section
> 
> Right, but now you're getting dangeriously close to what we already
> have :)  When you start adding a Disconnect option, you then need to
> physically separate that disconnect option somehow from the rest of the
> available connections, because Disconnect isn't a connection and thus
> shouldn't be grouped with the other connections unless there's some
> visible separation.

I don't think so. We discussed this once again. The disconnect option must
be in the group because it is directly affected to the one open connection
in this group. The line implicate a logical breakup. I tested this with a
small number of colleagues that never have seen nm-applet. They all told
me the same. They are confused about active connections, available
connections
and their first impression was that a line is a separation between two 
devices.

> 
> Would simply making the ----- Available ----- text a bit smaller suffice
> to reduce the open space?
> 
> Dan

Hans-Gerd

> 
>> > 
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > Wired Network
>> >   [ ] Auto eth0 (100Mit FD)
>>     disconnect from this device
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > Mobile Broadband
>> >   [x] MyCompany
>>     disconnect from this device
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > Nokia 6680 (Bluetooth)
>> >   [ ] MyCompany
>>     disconnect from this device
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > Wireless Network
>> >   [x] Foobar     (83%)
>> >   [ ] blahfasel  (60%)
>> >   [ ] muckebock  (50%)
>> >   Connect to Hidden Wireless Network
>> >   Create New Wireless Network
>>     disconnect from this device
>> > -------------------------------------
>> > VPN
>> >   [ ] MyCompany (openvpn)
>> >   [ ] @Home (vpnc)
>>     disconnect vpn
>> > 
>> > 
>> > The user is able to activate or deactivate a connection by clicking
>> > into
>> > a checkbox, or even better using a radio button because you can only
>> have
>> > one active connection for each physical device. The horizonal rules
are
>> > not
>> > really necessary but I thought you like them ;-)
>> > 
>> 
>> >>> Are there currently any plans to polish the nm-applet?
>> >> 
>> >> Mainly plans to stop using a GtkMenu widget entirely and move to a
>> >> more
>> >> freeform widget.  That's not in-progress yet though.  Until then we
>> >> can
>> >> certainly discuss ways to make the current menu-based approach
better,
>> >> especially if we find that users are confused with it.  We should
have
>> a
>> >> lot better data on the new applet too given that both Ubuntu 9.10
and
>> >> Fedora 12 shipped with it.
>> >> 
>> > 
>> > You are right. The user will give response. But most of them do have
a
>> > more
>> > or less technical background. The users I am thinking about are
really
>> > native
>> > end users. They know their business application (more or less). They
>> know
>> > the
>> > difference between eMail and a letter. That's it. 
>> > 
>> > My problem is that I have thousands of them ;-)
>> > 
>> > HG
>> > 
>> >> Dan
>> > _______________________________________________
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>> > NetworkManager-list gnome org
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