[Qgis-developer] Better options dialogs

[Larry Shaffer]

Hi,

Sorry for top-posting. I switched the main Options dialog over to
vertical tabs. Couple of features:

* Long labels should wrap, but may not look great at 3 lines. Seems to
be a bit of an issue when using a custom font, where the wrapping
doesn't work quite the same as with the Qt default font.

* The splitter state is saved, so once a user gets the tabs the way
they like, it should stay like that

* There is an icon-only mode when the splitter is moved all the way to
the left. The vertical scrollbar is then always shown, hiding the
beginning of the tab's text. Please let me know if it doesn't end up
looking like [0] on your platform.

Note: I did not clean up the settings yet, just added the vertical tabs.

Currently, the dialog is a little slow to open. This is due (I
believe) to the custom font combobox population, and the new
QProcess::systemEnvironment() call to populate the current environment
variables table. I'll work on fixing those.

[0] http://drive.dakotacarto.com/qgis/options-dialog_icon-only.png

Regards,

Larry



On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 10:47 AM, Larry Shaffer <larrys at dakotacarto.com> wrote:
> Hi Matthias and Nathan,
>
> I was just about to bring this topic back up myself. :^) Yes, I can
> work on this next (probably this weekend). I'll start with the main
> app options dialog, cause it's the simplest.
>
> Option dialog candidates to switch to vertical tabs (for
> useability/consistency):
> * App options
> * Project options
> * Vector and Raster layer properties
>
>
> Matthias, do you think the new diagram options setup can be moved to
> horizontal tabs, instead of a toolbox, once there are vertical tabs
> for the vector dialog?
>
>
> Nathan,
>> ...  If you need some help I can lend a hand.
>
> Remember that little custom toolbutton widget we chatted about for
> data defined option overrides? (to the right of labeling options in
> redesign [0]) I think you mentioned some kind of abstracted data
> binding class that widgets like that could use or inherit. Such a
> class, that worked with the new vector API, would be very handy and
> greatly help with the labeling dialog redesign (and elsewhere). Do you
> have some time to work on that?
>
> See http://irclogs.geoapt.com/qgis/%23qgis.2012-11-26.log starting at (14:44:28)
>
> [0] http://drive.dakotacarto.com/qgis/labeling-redesign.png
>
> Regards,
>
> Larry
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 7:12 AM, Nathan Woodrow <madmanwoo at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Larry,
>>
>> If you do have time for this I too would really like to see this added. The
>> tabs situation is becoming a mess and is only going to get worse as we move
>> forward.  If you need some help I can lend a hand.
>>
>> - Nathan
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Jan 4, 2013 at 5:51 PM, Matthias Kuhn <matthias.kuhn at gmx.ch> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi Larry,
>>>
>>> What is the status of the vertical tabs? Do you still have a branch with
>>> them ready?
>>>
>>> I noticed, that the new labelling dialog in the vector layer settings has
>>> two columns of tabs, which look a bit uncommon, and I'd see vertical tabs as
>>> a good replacement for either the first or the second level of tabs in this
>>> dialog.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Matthias
>>>
>>>
>>> On 09/05/2012 09:10 PM, Larry Shaffer wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> 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
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>>>
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