[Qgis-developer] Better options dialogs

Wed Sep 5 21:58:07 PDT 2012

Hi Larry,

Obvious there are some improvements now over the 1.6 version.

We appreciate the excellent work you do for us!

Thanks,
Andreas

Am 05.09.2012 23:40, schrieb 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
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Qgis-developer mailing list
>>>> Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Qgis-developer mailing list
>>> Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Qgis-developer mailing list
>> Qgis-developer at lists.osgeo.org
>> http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/qgis-developer