GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 61592
Modify View dialog should not make "Include in menu" and "Use as default" mutually exclusive
Last modified: 2004-12-22 21:47:04 UTC
(Entered on behalf of the Sun docs team): The mutually exclusive elements in this dialog do not need to be mutually exclusive. For example, the following options do not need to be mutually exclusive, but they are in the dialog: * Include in the menu for item_name items * Use as default for item_name items Redesign dialog so that genuinely mutually exclusive elements are radio buttons and other options are check boxes.
It's a little tricky to redesign this because while the options aren't completely mutually exclusive, they are exclusive with "don't include in the menu". So if we made the "use as default" into a separate check box, it would still have to somehow be exclusive with "don't include in the menu". At some point, someone should attach a specific design suggestion to this bug report, so we can discuss that rather than the abstract issue of "needs a new design".
Here's one possible design suggestion: In the right click menu change "Open" to "Open with _______" (insert default application). (this is potentially good for other reasons too) Consequently, do not list the default application in the "Open With" menu at all. "Default" now turns into a totally seperate checkbox, but when it is checked the "include in menu" and "don't include in menu" radio buttons are greyed-out.
Include "View as Icons" in the menu for: (*) _All folder items [/] _Use as the standard view for folder items ( ) "cb114949" _only : : _Use as the standard view for this item ( ) _No folder items Disclaimer: I don't know why this dialog exists. (Would always having the `View as Icons' item in the menu for all folder items really hurt anyone? Is this really interface designers delegating the job of interface design to the user?) Even the above design seems icky -- in both it and the original, the wording `Use as {default|the standard view} for' is repeated, and I find such repetition is a good predictor of the existence of a more general UI problem.
[Erg, and double-spaced comments are a good predictor of the site running a too-old version of Bugzilla. Sorry about that.]
Some comments from eugene.oconnor@sun.com (Sun docs chappie): Part of the problem is that the same dialog is being used for quite different activities, namely: * Modifying which views to use for all folders or for individual folders * Modifying which viewers to use for all files of a type or for individual files * Modifying which applications to use for all files of a type or for individual files And the same dialogs are accessed in quite different ways, namely: * From the View as drop-down list box * From the Open with submenu I am not sure what to suggest, but I think the following would be helpful: * Define the terms "view" and "viewer" and use them consistently in the UI. I think we only need one of these terms but there is a tendency in the UI to use view for a folder and viewer for a file. * Ensure that users understand the linkage between the View as drop-down list box and the Open with submenu. Perhaps by use of consistent terminology. * Improve the quality of the text in the dialog and change the sequence of the options. The following are some examples: - Include this viewer in the viewer menus for the folder "user123" - Include this viewer in the viewer menus for all "folder" items - Use this viewer as the default viewer for the folder "user123" - Use this viewer as the default viewer for all "folder" items - Exclude this viewer from viewer menus for all "folder" items - Include this viewer in the Open with submenu for the file "loremipsum.txt" - Include this viewer in the Open with submenu box for all "plain text document" items - Use this viewer as the default viewer for the file "loremipsum.txt" - Use this viewer as the default viewer for all "plain text document" items - Exclude this viewer from the View as drop-down list box for all "plain text document" items - Include this application in the Open with submenu for the file "loremipsum.txt" - Include this application in the Open with submenu for "plain text document" items - Use this application as the default application for the file "loremipsum.txt" - Use this application as the default application for all "plain text document" items - Exclude this application from the Open with submenu for all "plain text document" items
Good point about the "view" vs. "viewer" thing. I think we want to use the word "viewer" all the time. I think the wording improvements for the options in the dialog sound good too.
Oh, I see what the "view" vs. "viewer" problem is. You can't say "Icon Viewer", because that's something that views an icon and the icon view views the files in a directory, although it shows them as icons. But you can say "Image Viewer", because you use it to view an image. We do have terminology trouble. Because "List Viewer" and "Icon Viewer" would be really bad names for the directory viewers that present a directory as a list and a set of icons.
The whole old crappy 'Modify View' dialog is gone now with 2.8, so closing.