GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 733310
General tab is a mess
Last modified: 2018-03-11 17:57:36 UTC
Created attachment 280962 [details] screenshot, modified screenshot In bug 724110, we reworked the general tab of the preferences, in order to make it easier to read and understand, as well as more attractive. Unfortunately, the general tabs still has a lot of issues. * There are too many alignment points, which add visual noise and complexity. * Similar options aren't grouped together using spacing. * Dissimilar options are close together - giving the misleading impression that they are related to one another. * There's a lack of visual repetition/rhythm, caused by inconsistent spacing. This makes the UI harder to read. * Some of the controls span the entire width of the tab - this isn't necessary, and it makes the UI feel heavy and unnecessarily bloated. I've attached a modified version of a screenshot. It attempts to resolve these issues by making the following changes: * Remove the text appearance heading. * Switch the position of terminal bell and custom font settings. * Reduce the width of the button/combobox/text entry. * Move profile id, so that it is logically grouped with the profile name. * Increase vertical padding between dissimilar controls: profile name, terminal size, cursor shape, and the font settings.
Could we pretty please completely remove the profile ID (bug 731233)? It's of zero usefulness to the user, it's a private technical detail of the internals of the format in which the settings are stored.
How about changing Initial terminal size 80 - + columns 24 - + rows Reset to ☑ Custom size 80 - + columns 24 - + rows that is, a checkbox followed by the correspondingly sensitive/insensitive numbers, without reset? This would look and behave the same as the font selector, and we'd no longer have that lone Reset on the right. The wide UI elements could be made a bit wider than in the new mock (although still narrower than they are currently), it looks weird to me that they span over "80 - + columns 24 - +" but not "rows".
Should we move "Rewrap on resize" to the Scrolling tab? Logically, the feature doesn't belong to Scrolling, it's a General preference. However, the only reason for the existence of this checkbox is that rewrapping with a giant scrollback buffer is very slow. If those two settings (scrollback size and rewrapping) are on the same tab, we can easily warn the users if they set a slow combination (e.g. if scrollback > 100.000 and rewrap is enabled, a red text label and an alert icon become visible on that tab explaining the situation). Also, we win some precious UI real estate on the crowded General tab.
(In reply to comment #2) > How about changing > Initial terminal size 80 - + columns 24 - + rows Reset > to > ☑ Custom size 80 - + columns 24 - + rows > > that is, a checkbox followed by the correspondingly sensitive/insensitive > numbers, without reset? This would look and behave the same as the font > selector, and we'd no longer have that lone Reset on the right. My feeling is that reset is closer to user intent than a checkbox - if you do have a checkbox, and you uncheck, you are essentially saying "go back to the default state". Reset has the added benefit of enabling you to repeatedly adjust the values from their default settings, without having to know what those defaults are. > The wide UI elements could be made a bit wider than in the new mock (although > still narrower than they are currently), it looks weird to me that they span > over "80 - + columns 24 - +" but not "rows". Yeah, I think you're right about that - easily changed.
(In reply to comment #4) > My feeling is that reset is closer to user intent than a checkbox - if you do > have a checkbox, and you uncheck, you are essentially saying "go back to the > default state". Reset has the added benefit of enabling you to repeatedly > adjust the values from their default settings, without having to know what > those defaults are. I don't see your point. Keeping the "Custom size" checkbox enabled also lets you repeatedly adjust the values without knowing what the default is, so you don't lose any functionality. Moreover, it might give you the option of a "temporary reset", i.e. you enable custom size, set it to 100x50, disable custom size, you're back at 80x24, enable custom size again and it's at 100x50 again. You can't do this with the Reset button. (Not a terribly useful feature, though, but still... :))
Let's call this obsolete with the unified prefs dialogue. If there are any remaining issues, please file a new bug.