GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 139105
"Connect to Server" UI improvements ideas
Last modified: 2012-08-24 20:42:56 UTC
The "Connect to Server" dialog needs an arrow-expand widget thing which has a list of favourite or recent servers (maybe both). It should display the name you mounted it under and the URI in brackets. When you select an item in the list, it should be shown up the top (so you can press Connect). The file should be src/nautilus-connect-server-dialog.c but I don't yet know what needs to be done.
I've done a bit of work on this. Here are some mockups: http://davyd.angrygoats.net/images/connect-to-server-unexpanded.png http://davyd.angrygoats.net/images/connect-to-server-expanded.png And a patch to do the mockups: http://davyd.angrygoats.net/nautilus-connect-to-patch.diff I intend to store the values for the recent servers in GConf, I'm just not sure where I should store them.
*** Bug 139101 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 141640 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 133583 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
bug 139101 mentions completion for the URL which might be a good idea too (like in web-browser location bars i guess). bug 141640 says the URL should be at the top and the "Link Name" should be automatically deduced from the URL which makes sense. the user could always do a "rename" through the file-properties dialog if they really wanted a custom name. bug 133583 says we need hints for available URI connection methods like ftp, sftp, http, etc. I replied that: maybe their should be radio buttons for available gnome-vfs connection methods like in putty.
Created attachment 27478 [details] Putty connection dialog screenshot
Created attachment 28146 [details] Proposed Dialog - Mockup 1 This is my proposed "Connect to Server" dialog.
Created attachment 28147 [details] Proposed Dialog - Mockup 2
Created attachment 28148 [details] Proposed Dialog - Mockup 3
Created attachment 28149 [details] [review] UI patch This is a patch to do the UI. It doesn't include the actual favourites or recent entries code.
Created attachment 28150 [details] Glade file for UI This is the Glade file for the above patch.
Just a suggestion - the JDS dialog (http://sayamindu.randomink.org/ramblings/images/network_share_jds.jpg) looked quite good to me.
It would seem to me, the JDS dialog doesn't offer anything new over the current dialog (except for the auth stuff; which is handled separately anyway, after all you might not need to auth). What I'm after, is favourites/recent servers available for people to connect to. After all, you connect to the same servers over and over again. Perhaps the "Open Location..." dialog should get the same treatment.
Created attachment 28162 [details] [review] UI Patch (Mk II)
Created attachment 28163 [details] Glade file for UI (Mk II)
A few comments and criticisms: The JDS does offer quite a bit aboven the current dialog, namely: * the location is on top (see comment #5) * it offers a dropdown list of available protocols (see comment #5) Davyd: Your mockup has an artificial separation of favourite servers and recent servers. They will often overlap, therefore this separation is unnecessary. Tabs, in general, should be avoided and if you're using them they should not have access keys (http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gup/hig/draft_hig_new/controls-notebooks.html). Instead, I would rather have an Epiphany/Nautilus(Ctrl+L)-like autocompletion textfield which remembers previously entered servers.
I have to agree, having a dropdown for protocols would be a good idea. I am thinking of using a GtkComboBoxEntry so that users could still specify their own protocol. I think putting the URL above the name and making it autocompletable would be more useful. Then having it work out the name in the same way nautilus would (eg. home on billy.angrygoats.net). Users would be able to override this name if required. If people prefer it this way, I'll get it working at some point soon. I would still like to include favourite/recent servers, although if people have a better layout, they are welcome to share it.
Created attachment 28171 [details] The MacOSX connect to server dialog Not that we intentionally copy MacOSX, but here is their rendition of this dialog. It seems to offer lots of cryptic buttons.
Created attachment 28173 [details] a completely rethought UI Following some discussion on IRC, I had a bit of a rethink of the dialog. Getting rid of a lot of the clutter, this dialog is a lot cleaner. Recent servers are available through the GtkComboBoxEntry, there is still an obvious way to add favourites, favourites are clearly laid out and are easily removeable. I like the idea of getting rid of Link Name's in favour of having Nautilus name them automatically (eg. davyd on billy.angrygoats.net). It doesn't offer protocols as a dropdown, however a small consensus decided that made things more complex. Also, I know it looks a lot like the MacOSX dialog, but that was completely unintentional until I realised. I think this one is better laid out anyway. The current dialog might also be a candidate for the "Open Location..." dialog too. Thoughts and comments?
Automatic naming: YES, BUT it should still be possible to rename afterwards. I don't agree a protocol dropdown would make things more complex-- having to type smb:// is definately more user-hostile than being able to select 'Windows network'.
I think renaming afterwards through Nautilus (right-click->rename) would be suitable for this task. It seems the most logical way to handle it. As much as I would like some sort of protocol dropdown. I can't see a way of doing one, not and have the "recent" dropdown and autocompletion available. An important question here, are users who don't understand protocols going to bother with that box? I think instead, they are going to use the (currently not featured) Browse button, which will show them network:// Ideally in nautilus-upcoming, we'll see lots of exciting things in network://, like Rendezvous/SDP discovered hosts and all kinds of other bits and pieces.
Created attachment 28197 [details] [review] UI Patch for New Design Not entirely happy with it yet. Still has lots of FIXMEs in it. Recent/Favourites still isn't implemented.
Created attachment 28198 [details] Glade file for New Design
Ok, I'm coming to this a bit late so apologies if I've missed anything :) I'm all for the history list, and I can take or leave a protocol dropdown, but my niggling concern here is the Favourites list. Don't you really want all your favourite connections stored in some location (virtual or otherwise) where you can access them from the desktop and the file selector alike, rather than tucked away in the corner of this dialog? (Isn't this what the network:/// location was supposed to be for, or am I getting confused with our JDS implementation again...?) If that were the case, that location is essentially your favourites list, and then all you really need to do in this dialog is control whether a shortcut gets added there for a particular connection at all. In which case, it could look as simple as: +------------------------------------------------+ | Location: [ftp://ftp.blah.com |v] | | [x] Create an icon: [ftp.blah.com ] | | | | [Cancel][Connect] | +------------------------------------------------+ As you mentioned, it seems like a sensible longer term plan might be to merge this with the regular nautilus Location dialog... both of them are really just doing the same thing from the user's perspective, it's just that if they happen to enter a remote location, they might want to do something extra (like specify a username or create a shortcut for it). And that way, both dialogs could benefit from a list of recent entries, pathname completion etc. without having to write the same code twice. (Alternatively, if having favourites available here was deemed necessary, a merged dialog could perhaps more closely reflect the new File Open dialog, which already provides an interface for entering pathnames and adding/removing favourite locations from a list.)
Alex had some thoughts, outlined here: http://lists.gnome.org/archives/nautilus-list/2004-June/msg00009.html Alex indicated on IRC that he wants to reach a level where you never type in a URI, instead using network:// to browse and then using some action (such as right-click->connect to...) to connect to a server. This would be made more useful by Rendezvous, etc. I guess this would infact leave the connect to server dialog as a backup, for servers that aren't browseable in network:/// People seem to want to retain the ability to customly name their mounts. Having thought about this, having a name automatically suggested but overridable seems like the best idea. From a useability point of view, these names really should be renamable in the Nautilus browser. On the favourites front, I feel that favourites should really be linked between Connect to Server, Open Location and the Nautilus Bookmarks (although Connect to Server should only list non-local favourites). It seems non-sensical to offer GtkFileChooser bookmarks as well (since mounted servers are often available in the list for GtkFileChooser already, why would they have them bookmarked?). I think we need to aim for a definite consolidation of lists of favourites though.
Hi, I just came across this dialog today, and the "Link name" field just confused me. It's not actually clear from "Connect to server" that what you're doing is mounting a volume which will be available in the Computer. My user experience with this feature was as follows: 1) "Connect to server" - leave "Link name" fiend empty, and just put in a URL -> error saying I needed a URL 2) Added a relative path in the "link name" field to the URL I put in the URL field (so I had "Link namme: /pub URL: ftp://ftp.gnome.org") and I expected to have a nautilus window open up for me. 3) No window opened, so I repeated the operation twice more (by the way, putting a slash in the link name triggers a nautilus bug, see bug #148022) 4) after crashing Nautilus a few times, noticed the device icon things on the desktop. Tried to delete them. 5) When that didn't work, tried again (I'm persistent) 6) Right clicked, and noticed "Unmount volume". Lights came on, I realised that "Connect to server" "mounts" a remote volume and makes it available to me as a network share. All this was just to say that the "Link name" field was pretty confusing, but so was a bunch of other stuff. Open location actually does what I expected Connect to Server to do, except that I can't figure out a way to add a remote location (or any location, for that matter) to my "Places" menu, and I can't figure out how to create a bookmark to a remote location any other way. Still not sure why I can't have functions like "Add to favourites" in the right-click menu of a folder in nautilus, and also in the "Places" menu. But that's another issue. Is my experience of the "Connect to server" feature way off-base? Dave.
Yeah, FWIW the equivalent dialog we designed for JDS uses "Icon Name" instead of "Link name", and (amongst other things) also has a "Go there now" checkbox to open the window straight away.
Created attachment 35054 [details] initial view of add network place dialog
Created attachment 35055 [details] expanded options of add network place dialog
Created attachment 35056 [details] add network place with folder name included
These are the updated mockups from the Connect 2 Server designs[1] which I've renamed to "Add Network Place". Don't know if the new name is significantly better, but it seems better than saying "Connect To Server". http://www.gnome.org/~clarkbw/designs/connect2server/
Two small recommendations: 1. Don't forget mnemonics. 2. Use the new gtk-file-chooser-button.
Overall it looks good to me, some small suggestions: 1. I don't like "icon name" either, it's not like your naming the icon. Not actually sure what it should be though, suggesting "Title" or "Display name". 2. Should there be a port entry field or could the port-number be appended to the location (ftp.gnome.org:22) (for easier copy/pasting) 3. Is username an "advanced network property"?
I agree with comment 33, #1 and #3. For some reason, I dislike what you've done with "Location"; having two input boxes for one field isn't "nice" in my book. I'd actually rather there was a seperate "Protocol" box in that case, but I'm not so sure it's needed at all: Any user who knows what to select in that box would most certainly know what to type in as a prefix as well.
I like the design. If people want to use protocol:// uri's, please use the console instead.
from comment #32 1) yes 2) yes from comment #33 1) hmm, not sure. "Display Name" might work for me 2) a port entry field has been requested many times, otherwise people don't know if they can just enter in a port number that way. Perhaps some could work on the code to parse a pasted entry and fill in the appropriate fields? 3) Yes, the local username is automatically filled in so people shouldn't care. I do consider it advanced if you need to enter in another username besides your own to connect to a remote server. from comment #34 Separating it out into Protocol field becomes confusing since most people don't know what a Protocol really is. We're trying to side step the technical terms by providing friendly names "Public FTP (Anonymous)" and not labeling the combobox with an obscur technical term. This should help that people who don't know what to type in as a prefix can do this correctly. Alternatively if you do type in the prefix see my note in 2) just above as an idea for a possible solution.
In the newest mockups, it seems to me that it could be unclear that the field for the hostname is indeed intended for the host name. Imagine if that field was blank when the dialog first displayed, I don't think its obvious that thats where the user is supposed to type in the hostname. Although we are all used to seeing protocol://hostname, don't people usually care more about the host they're connecting to, rather than the protocol they're using? Which would lead me to suggest a design where a hostname field comes first, followed below by a protocol field (and perhaps an auto-detect button, which would try to make a reasonable guess or present a list of services that the named host appears to be running) This is sort of a noun-verb as opposed to a verb-noun, if you will (its a bit of a stretch)
A little criticism, To me "Add Network Place" seems a little abstract, what is a "Network Place" supposed to mean? "Connect to another computer" sounds better to me. Sorry for wasting your time if its set in stone or i'm plain wrong :)
I see your point however in the new menu of GNOME there will be [Applications] [Places] [Desktop] where these connections will show up as well as this connect dialog. When I redid the mockups I used ANP because I was trying to look forward to the new menu. I don't believe this is set in stone at all, perhaps Vincent knows.
Bryan: it should land in the Places menu this week-end. I was waiting for some nautilus changes that are in CVS now so we can share the same code. However, there'll still be a menu item to open the dialog from nautilus (like now). I'm not sure ANP is sounding good in the nautilus case.
As a suggestion for the name, I would say "Add Network Folder" is more appropriate, since this is exactly the end result the user is working towards -- a remote filesystem-type resource transparently available thanks to gnome-vfs. "Add Network Place" sounds more like a method of manually specifying a remote hostname for browsing the Network:/// URI. The server is the "place", the resource is the "folder".
Has all this not been obsoleted by the 2.12 connect to server dialog ... ? By all means smack me hard if I am talking rubbish. Love, Karderio
Karderio: the Connect to Server dialog in GNOME 2.13.4 still doesn't contain a history/recent list of servers.
One thing to note, which the current dialog does wrong and the mockup images do right: It's not a folder, so it shouldn't have a folder icon.
The patch is bit-rotten, but this would still be nice to improve. I expecially like the idea to have a list of recent servers somewhere. Setting patch status and updating fields.
*** Bug 339133 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Created attachment 167303 [details] Connect to server mockup Here's a mockup which seems to address what's requested in this report. More information can be found here: http://live.gnome.org/Nautilus/Ideas/ConnectToServer
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 682637 ***