[Usability]Re: GNOME-SEARCH-TOOL: Comment Request [UPDATE]

[Michael Toomim <toomim uclink4 berkeley edu>]

Dennis Cranston wrote:
>    Screenshot #1:
>    http://bugzilla.gnome.org/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=10471

"File is named" makes me think that I should be typing in the exact 
filename (without directory).  It isn't apparent that I can use 
wildcards.  "File is named" also makes me think that it won't do a 
substring match by default.  Does it, or does one have to surround the 
string with *'s to make it search for a substring?  I think most users 
might expect a substring match.

>    Screenshot #2:
>    http://bugzilla.gnome.org/showattachment.cgi?attach_id=10472

"Additional Options" could be more descriptive.  These aren't just extra 
generic search options -- they are, specifically, additional matching 
criteria.  How about "Additional Specifications" or "More Search 
Criteria"... or maybe just the single word "Refine"?

The "Selected Options" label seems unnecessary.  I think that the label 
above it ("Additional Specifications", or whatever) suffices alone to 
describe the items in that box.

Visually, the expanded "more options" items don't look like a unit.  It 
looks like there are two separate UI sections: the stuff in the relieved 
box, and the stuff below the box (starting with "available options"). 
This makes it hard to see where to add new items, since the "add" 
section is visually removed from the items section.  Ideally, everything 
that is expanded by the "More Options" arrow should be enclosed in a 
single box.

How about this:
  A) Always keep an extra blank specification row in the "additional 
options" box.  As soon as a user starts editing a row, add a new blank 
row below it.  This way, users never actually have to explicitly add 
rows, and you can do away with that entire section of the UI.
  B) You'll need a way to select the "type" of specification.  You 
could replace the label in the list of specs with an option-menu like 
the one in the "add item" section.
  C) Make the default "type" be "Choose a search type", or something 
similar.  Now, you know precisely when to create a new blank 
specification item: whenever the user changes the type from "Choose a 
search type" to a real search type.

Doing this would remove a lot of clutter.  You'd be able to enclose the 
entire "Additional Options" section inside of a single box, and simplify 
the process of adding new criteria immensly.  What do you think?

-Michael