[Qgis-developer] Better options dialogs

[Larry Shaffer]

Hi Andreas,

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 2:14 PM, Andreas Neumann <a.neumann at carto.net> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> +1 for having icons with captions on the left. Some versions ago we had
> this idea already ;-) but with bigger icons.
> see:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:QGis_Load_mapcolor_style_-_01_properties_window.png

Well now, that looks familiar!  :^)

I pulled the .ui file from 1.6 branch and loaded into Designer. Couple
of differences between my layout and that one.

* Has no scroll areas for option sections
* Icons too big @ 64x64 for desktop use (IMHO, it even makes them look
a little garish)
* No splitter, though not really useful for that layout style
* Unnecessary padding

Basically, though, the overall concept is the same. Icons could be set
to any reasonable (or device-specific) size in the new layout via a
pref.


Little background on why I started looking into this today...

Matthias Kuhn on #qgis irc wrote [concerning his recent GUI updates to
Diagrams]:
> I wanted to use tabs instead of ToolBoxes, but it has been suggested that tabs-in-tabs are a bad thing
> so second best possibility was to use ToolBox

No offense to Matthias here, but I find the toolbox approach used in
that layout to be unnecessarily confusing, with too much hidden. A
couple of tabs with scroll areas and group boxes would not only match
other layouts, it would work in a smoother fashion (click-scroll).
Toolboxes look OK on Ubuntu, but not so nice on Mac (Qt's default
toolbox approach is also very uncommon on Mac). When a developer has
to forgo an obvious GUI choice for good organization of options, it
says to me that the parent control widget should be looked at for a
fix, especially if there are other added benefits.

Matthias should be able to layout the options for Diagrams in a way he
feels is appropriate, relative to the new functionality of Diagrams
and general HIG, or users may get confused.

While not using tabs within tabs is a good call, the more complex QGIS
becomes, the more the possibility of nesting of options and controls
will become an issue. Nesting the *same* kinds of control widgets
should be avoided. Mixing it up graphically, if nesting is required,
should be considered, as well as approaches to parent control widgets
that do not limit the GUIs of their children.

Larry


> see:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:QGis_Load_mapcolor_style_-_01_properties_window.png
>
> Things are coming and going and coming back, it seems.
>
> Andreas
>
> Am 05.09.2012 21:55, schrieb Robert Szczepanek:
>> Hi Larry and Marco,
>>
>> +1
>> I have the same impression as you.
>> Tabs to the left with captions. That would be great improvement.
>>
>> Similar discussion was recently on GRASS list [1]
>>
>> regards,
>> Robert
>>
>> [1]
>> http://osgeo-org.1560.n6.nabble.com/command-dialog-notebook-styles-td4997929.html
>>
>>
>> On 05.09.2012 21:47, Larry Shaffer wrote:
>>> Hi Marco,
>>>
>>> On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 1:26 PM, Marco Bernasocchi
>>> <marco at bernawebdesign.ch> wrote:
>>>> On 09/06/2012 02:10 AM, Larry Shaffer wrote:
>>>>> Hi,
>>>> Hi Larry,
>>>> Looks great to me, but not the version without text, too hard to guess,
>>>
>>> The version with only icons is optional, and is produced by setting an
>>> appropriate minimum width for the list widget. If a user wanted to
>>> size it that way, it is possible (and a saveable window state), but I
>>> am definitely not in favor of it being a default. Thanks for the
>>> input!
>>>
>>> Larry
>>>
>>>> so +1 for me foremost for freeing vertical space
>>>>
>>>> ciao
>>>> MArco
>>>>>
>>>>> I've been working on reducing overall clutter and excess space, and
>>>>> trying to increase efficiency and extensibility, with options dialogs.
>>>>>
>>>>> Problems with current option dialogs' parent QTabWidget approach:
>>>>>
>>>>> * Tab widget uses unnecessary vertical space (bad for small screens).
>>>>> * Tab widget limits the use of reasonably needed tabs for option
>>>>> sections (avoiding tabs-within-tabs unfortunately trumps useability).
>>>>> * Horizontal parent tabs limit how many option sections can be offered
>>>>> (already too wide, without text truncation, on Mac).
>>>>> * Horizontal parent tabs dictate the width of the dialog, causing form
>>>>> layout elements to optically stretch too far apart.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Possible solution: Move 'tabs' to simple list widget on left side of a
>>>>> splitter and have option sections loaded on right.
>>>>>
>>>>> I have done mockups for the app and vector layer options [0], which
>>>>> show the following advantages:
>>>>>
>>>>> * Vertical height is maximized without sacrificing layout of option
>>>>> section form elements (good for smaller screens).
>>>>> * Number of option sections is not graphically limited.
>>>>> * Number of option sections no longer dictates width of option section
>>>>> forms (forms look much better).
>>>>> * List item widget can have its splitter section collapsed to a set
>>>>> size to show only icons for sections.
>>>>> * Consistent look across platforms, with larger icons for sections.
>>>>> * More current 'look' for v 2.0 without too much work.
>>>>>
>>>>> Other than making the dialogs clearer and less cluttered IMHO, the
>>>>> full useability of the dialogs at smaller sizes helps the user see
>>>>> more map canvas when testing options with Apply.
>>>>>
>>>>> Any comments or suggestions?
>>>>>
>>>>> [0]
>>>>> https://www.dropbox.com/sh/yy0j3mmg4l4kw7x/Ar_S-eYqCv/qgis/options-dlgs?lst
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>
>>>>> Larry
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Qgis-developer mailing list
>>>>> Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Marco Bernasocchi
>>>> http://opengis.ch
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>>
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