[Qgis-developer] Proposed attribute table UI redesign

[Andreas Neumann]

 Hi Nathan and others,

 I like your new proposal, Nathan.

 At the dev-meeting in Zurich we also discussed marrying the attribute 
 table with the forms. The forms would be in the same window as the table 
 you could jump between form and table using tabs.

 It would have the advantage of fewer windows and we would add 
 navigation buttons to the forms, like
 * jump to first record
 * last record
 * next record
 * previous record
 * indication of the total nr of records
 * button to change to edit mode
 * button for new record
 * button to filter records (using the query builder)
 * button to remove filter
 * button to highlight current and/or selected record(s)
 * later: also a button to export current selection to 
 csv/xls/openoffice, etc.

 The filter and the add/delete function would work simultaneously on the 
 tables and forms.

 The other things we want to add are master/detail forms for one to many 
 relations and a tab for showing related forms or tables.

 The Autodesk Topobase product is a very good source of inspiration for 
 such a combined table/forms approach. See 
 http://images.autodesk.com/adsk/files/topobase_-_customizable_forms.bmp 
 for an example.

 Jürgen Fischer will be working for us to improve the forms/tables - so 
 Nathan, maybe you could team up with Jürgen to improve the tables and 
 forms. I would also be interested in discussing new approaches and 
 ideas, but I cannot contribute from a programming point of view.

 Andreas


 On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 18:54:55 +1000, Nathan Woodrow wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Today I was looking at some different ways to redesign
> and optimize the attribute table UI and have come up with a design
> that I think works well but would like to get some feedback first.
>
> I have made two screenshots, showing the old and new dialog at the
> same size and using the same Qt theme.
>
> Just a plain comparison screenshot
> : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6170988/Plain.png [1]
> Comparison screenshot with notes
> : http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6170988/Noted.png [2] 
>
> The main things are:
>
> 	* Make the min row height to 16.  This removes the empty space below
> the text in the current UI and allows more rows to be shown with less
> wasted space.
>  	* Reduce some of the margins around the controls.
> 	* Move the search stuff to the top in order to give search text more
> space and group the items better. All search options at the top.
> 	* Replace Advanced search button with a hyperlink style button.
>  This is less distracting from a UI point of view IMO.
>  	* Remove Search button as Enter on the keyboard does the same 
> thing.
> Is a button really needed?
> 	* Split buttons at bottom into two groups.  Actions for current
> selection and stuff that only works in edit mode e.g. adding new
> column.
>
>  Over all you can show about 4 more rows depending on the theme.
>  Having the search at the top for me feels better as it is less
> cramped then where it is now and makes more sense to click Show
> Selected Only and seeing the results below. 
>
> Anyone have any thoughts about the design?
>
> - Nathan
>
> Links:
> ------
> [1] http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6170988/Plain.png
> [2] http://dl.dropbox.com/u/6170988/Noted.png

-- 
 --
 Andreas Neumann
 Böschacherstrasse 10A
 8624 Grüt (Gossau ZH)
 Switzerland