Re: [Usability] Dialogs and Maximize button

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>]

On Sep 18, 2006, at 9:28 AM, Sebastian Heinlein wrote:
> Am Sonntag, den 10.09.2006, 17:21 +1200 schrieb Matthew Paul Thomas:
> > > Some of the content useful for more advanced users it outside the
> > > default visible area, and can be scrolled to.
> >
> > I don't think I've ever seen a window like that. Can you give an
> > example?
>
> The synaptic download window and all of its error dialogs, which also
> display the terminal output of apt.
> ...

Wow, you're right. The listbox in the download window probably should 
be replaced by text for the currently downloading file:
    __
    \/ Time remaining: about 7 hours

          Downloading: linux-image-2.6.15-27-386
                 From: security.ubuntu.com
                 Rate: 2897 B/s

The error alerts could similarly be made more useful by parsing the 
terminal output and replacing the listboxes with text, something like:

    3 of the 27 files (including
    “linux-image-2.6.15-27-386_2.6.15-27.48_i386.deb” from
    security.ubuntu.com) could not be downloaded. Do you want to
    install the 4 packages that all files were downloaded for?

    ( Open Full Log )          ( Cancel ) (( Install 4 Anyway ))

(The button wording sucks, I know.) Anyway, these are quite unusual 
cases, so I don't think they warrant making alerts maximizable. The 
lack of a maximize button is one of the visual cues that "this is an 
alert".

Cheers
--
Matthew Paul Thomas
http://mpt.net.nz/