GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 749957
Refine the search list
Last modified: 2017-08-16 13:09:51 UTC
It would be good to improve the list of search results a bit. Some layout guidance can be found here: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/gnome-design-team/gnome-mockups/master/shell/search/search-list-layout.png Improvements: * Doesn't show a thumbnail when it isn't useful. * Emphasises the source application, which makes the list easier to scan, better communicates how search works, and gives the results list a clearer hierarchy. * Shows the application name, which can be useful if you aren't familiar with the app. * More compact: this is particularly needed for smaller displays.
I've just updated the mockups for this.
I forgot to say that i will work on this :).
Some suggestions over that mockup: - I would very much promote GNOME Software to the top, to make it easy to install an app you were searching for. I don't think Software's search provider should be relegated down there. - I would align columns vertically, so that if you want to quickly eye filter an item (such as files by location) you don't have to move around so much. Let me know what you think Allan
(In reply to Alberto Ruiz from comment #3) > - I would very much promote GNOME Software to the top, to make it easy to > install an app you were searching for. I don't think Software's search > provider should be relegated down there. That would be achieved by adding 'org.gnome.Software' to the 'sort-order' key in the org.gnome.desktop.search schema (from gsettings-desktop-schemas). > - I would align columns vertically, so that if you want to quickly eye > filter an item (such as files by location) you don't have to move around so > much. Maybe per search provider, but I don't think "global" columns are useful here - some providers tend to return long names and no descriptions (e.g. epiphany), so a fixed description column would just needlessly ellipsize names; other providers tend to have short names with longer descriptions (e.g. gnome-control-center), so fixed columns would likely cut off descriptions by giving the name column more space than necessary (for that provider).
Created attachment 355640 [details] [review] search: Make the results take more horizontal space In order to make gnome-shell search functionality fit on smaller screens, like those of devices, search results need to take advantage of more horizontal space so that any extra space can be used efficiently. In order to do so, change the layout of the ListSearchResult class from a vertical one, to a horizontal one and also decrease the padding of the list-search-result-content css class.
Created attachment 355641 [details] [review] search: Refactor providerIcon into providerInfo In order to match the current mockups, the providerIcon class needed to include both the name of the provider and the label that informs the user about how many more search results are available for that specific provider. The latter replaces the plus sign icon that has been used so far.
Created attachment 355642 [details] [review] search: Tweak the sizes of search results icons Just a small tweak of icon sizes, in order to make them look like in the mockup.
Created attachment 355643 [details] [review] search: Replace the gradient separator with a simple line The current separator uses a gradient effect as a separator between search results. As the mockups suggest, the gradient separator is no longer needed, in favor of a more simple one, which is a thin semitransparent line.
Created attachment 355644 [details] [review] separator: Remove HorizontalSeparator It's now unused.
Created attachment 355645 [details] [review] search: Use standard font size for list result titles The current size of the text is way bigger than what we want now. The default front size is what we are looking after, therefore no explicit value is needed to specify the font size.
Created attachment 355646 [details] [review] search: Increase maximum number of visible list search results Since results are now much more concise and take up less space, we can use the 'saved' space to provide the user with more search results for each provider.
Created attachment 355647 [details] [review] util: Wrap g_regex_escape_string() g_regex_escape_string() has an optional length parameter to handle non-'\0'-terminated strings. Unfortunately that means that the string parameter is exposed to introspection as array, which confuses gjs. Work around this by adding a small wrapper for regular '\0'-terminated strings.
Created attachment 355648 [details] [review] search: Propagate searchResults down the hierarchy In order to prepare for applying the bold style to the part of the description that matches the search terms, we need to listen for the signal that announces the fact that the search terms have changed. Given the fact that the SearchResults class is aware of the changes regarding the search terms, the classes that extent SearchResult need to have a reference to it in order to listen for the to-be-implemented 'terms-changed' signal.
Created attachment 355650 [details] [review] search: Highlight search terms in description The classes extending the SearchResult can now connect to the 'terms-changed' signal emitted by the SearchResult class. This signal enables each object to update its internal description in order to apply the bold style onto strings that match the search terms.
Created attachment 355652 [details] [review] search: Disable multiline descriptions Having descriptions with multiple lines will clutter the view and make it more confusing for the user. Apart from that, it also makes the search result a lot bigger, potentially losing general vertical alignment.
Created attachment 355654 [details] [review] search: Make search result description semitransparent There is a clear difference between the file name and its associated description which the mockups clearly highlight. Consequently, make the description label semitransparent, in order to emphasize the file name, not the description itself.
Patches have been reviewed on https://gitlab-test.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-shell, just attaching for reference before landing.
Attachment 355640 [details] pushed as a426295 - search: Make the results take more horizontal space Attachment 355641 [details] pushed as faa0dda - search: Refactor providerIcon into providerInfo Attachment 355642 [details] pushed as 0a8d81c - search: Tweak the sizes of search results icons Attachment 355643 [details] pushed as 9d77fa8 - search: Replace the gradient separator with a simple line Attachment 355646 [details] pushed as 1502523 - search: Increase maximum number of visible list search results Attachment 355648 [details] pushed as 77e0c38 - search: Propagate searchResults down the hierarchy Attachment 355650 [details] pushed as b3d74bd - search: Highlight search terms in description Attachment 355652 [details] pushed as 69a9c22 - search: Disable multiline descriptions
This isn't specifically a problem with this patchset, but I guess this patchset makes the problem a little more apparent. The background for Activities Overview, Search Result, and App Drawer aren't opaque or blurry, but is only darkened with vignetting effect. That is fine, except when the wallpaper is bright, colourful, and with a lot of details in it. As this patchset makes the text smaller in the Search result, it also makes the text less legible if the wallpaper happens to have those properties. https://raw.githubusercontent.com/peterychuang/random/master/screenshot1.png The screenshot isn't from the default theme, but you get the idea. As far as I know, there's no easy way to adjust the opacity of the background or put some kind of filter there via css. imho that would be a nice thing to have.
*** Bug 695491 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 598500 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***