[GRASS-dev] Making start of GRASS GIS easier for newcomers

[Anna Petrášová]

On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 3:01 PM, Markus Metz <markus.metz.giswork at gmail.com>
wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 2, 2015 at 8:01 PM, Vaclav Petras <wenzeslaus at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > More improvements for startup window in r64405.
> >
> > Most notably you don't get error message when starting GRASS for the
> first
> > time without a rc file. After clicking OK, you would get a browse window.
> > Now you just get a warning text in the middle of the window and it is up
> to
> > you to read it and press the button. In my opinion, much less annoying
> > behavior.
> >
> > The descriptions are now in gray. This is system color, so it should work
> > with different themes. (This is not true for the things like warning
> text or
> > grayed out Mapsets)
> >
> > I changed the descriptions a little bit but it needs more care. Anybody
> can
> > change it now but perhaps we should try to discuss them without
> diverging to
> > how to do startup procedure differently. Also there is more strings, some
> > messages, they might need some revision too. E.g. should there be
> numbers in
> > the box titles? And what about the error messages?
> >
> > The windows issues are just partially fixed. It seems that wxPython is
> not
> > determining the wrapping properly. The widgets have the same boundaries
> in
> > widget inspector on MS Windows and on Linux. Just the text is wrapped
> > differently.
> >
> > The vertical size is bigger then it was before (you can compare at an
> image
> > posted earlier [2]). It will get smaller by using smaller banner image.
> > However, longer descriptions and the error/warning text are making it
> > bigger. Now the behavior of error/warning text is that it does not occupy
> > any space unless something is shown. Hopefully it will work on all
> platforms
> > (seems to work well on Linux and MS Windows). In theory, the window
> could be
> > re-sized by user to be smaller (if screen is small) but I'm not able to
> make
> > Location and Mapset lists to allow it. If I set minimal size, then they
> > actually use it from the beginning and I get unnecessary small lists. We
> > could get some vertical space by growing wider but then the Location and
> > Mapset lists are unnecessary wide.
> >
>
> For newcomers/no rc file: how about creating a new GRASS GIS database
> in $HOME, in there a new location with EPSG:4326 (latlong wgs84), the
> empty PERMANENT mapset will be created automatically. Does not apply
> to MS Windows, because the demolocation is created during
> installation.
>
>
I agree, we were suggesting this too.

Why not having a minimal welcome screen with a dropdown list for
> existing locations and a dropdown list for existing mapsets in the
> selected location, plus a prominent OK button and a change/manage
> button, nothing else?
>
> It's the difference between
>
> "You need to fill in this form first, and fix the errors in the form,
> after that you may enter GRASS GIS"
>

User wouldn't need to fill the form in case there is the wgs84 location
before starting grass. In case of errors, how would minimal welcome screen
help?


>
> and
>
> "Welcome! Just press OK to enter GRASS GIS"
>

It seems to me that the current list is easier to navigate than if the
locations and mapset would be in combo box. I often click on different
locations in the list to see the mapsets, that would be more difficult with
the combo boxes. Your suggestion is probably useful for new users, but is
convenient for normal users? Should we implement both and let people switch
it? I would try to avoid two solutions.

Should we somehow vote about this? We probably need to put all these
(detailed) suggestions on trac.

Anna




> Markus M
>
> > Vaclav
> >
> > [1] http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/changeset/64405
> > [2]
> >
> http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/grass-dev/attachments/20150121/62aad5af/attachment-0001.png
> >
> http://osgeo-org.1560.x6.nabble.com/attachment/5183019/1/startup_with_explanations.png
> >
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