GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 643322
Improve navigation between panels
Last modified: 2013-02-19 10:28:30 UTC
Two of the methods mentioned were using a Back/Forward button pair, or a breadcrumb widget.
*** Bug 661445 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Not a breadcrumb widget, see bug 643322. A back/forward button would probably be useful though. Allan, Hylke?
(In reply to comment #2) > Not a breadcrumb widget, see bug 643322. Bug 661445, you mean? A breadcrumb is the best solution I've seen to the hierarchy issue, actually. Nothing else is able to communicate the relationship between all settings and individual panels as effectively. You could question whether a breadcrumb makes sense when the hierarchy is only one level deep, but is that such a problem? The main issue with a breadcrumb is that it would weigh down the UI... > A back/forward button would probably be useful though. Allan, Hylke? Back is mainly useful when traversing links between panels. We currently have one link (in the keyboard panel). I have two more planned (one in power and another in mouse/keyboard, once we get a touch panel). Since the number of links is low, it would be nice to avoid a permanent back button and to only display the option of going back after a link has been followed. This could be achieved by adding a button to the toolbar or by using an in application notification. I don't think a forward button is very useful, since retracing your steps is never going to be that difficult (is it?)
(In reply to comment #3) > Back is mainly useful when traversing links between panels. We currently have > one link (in the keyboard panel). I have two more planned (one in power and > another in mouse/keyboard, once we get a touch panel). We have quite a bit more than that. There's links in the a11y panel (to mouse and keyboard settings), there's a link from wacom -> bluetooth, and maybe some more I'm forgetting now.
(In reply to comment #4) > (In reply to comment #3) > > > Back is mainly useful when traversing links between panels. We currently have > > one link (in the keyboard panel). I have two more planned (one in power and > > another in mouse/keyboard, once we get a touch panel). > > We have quite a bit more than that. > > There's links in the a11y panel (to mouse and keyboard settings), there's a > link from wacom -> bluetooth, and maybe some more I'm forgetting now. This only matters if these panels are reached from another panel, and these panels have links to other panels that isn't the originating panel. The breadcrumbs won't ever be bigger than three levels: [ Overview ] > [ Wacom ] > [ Bluetooth ] There won't be a third arrow (or at least there shouldn't be)
(In reply to comment #5) > (In reply to comment #4) > > (In reply to comment #3) ... > The breadcrumbs won't ever be bigger than three levels: > > [ Overview ] > [ Wacom ] > [ Bluetooth ] ... Oh, interesting! That would nicely remove the need for a back button... We'd need to be sure about the length though. Something like this could fill most of the toolbar: [ All Settings ] > [ Region and Language ] > [ Keyboard ]
It the breadcrumb results too long, a [<] button could be shown instead of the first breadcrumb item, like Nautilus.
(In reply to comment #6) > (In reply to comment #5) > > (In reply to comment #4) > > > (In reply to comment #3) > ... > > The breadcrumbs won't ever be bigger than three levels: > > > > [ Overview ] > [ Wacom ] > [ Bluetooth ] > ... > > Oh, interesting! That would nicely remove the need for a back button... > > We'd need to be sure about the length though. Something like this could fill > most of the toolbar: > > [ All Settings ] > [ Region and Language ] > [ Keyboard ] It's wort mocking up, but I don't think it will be a problem. Even in this fixed width font it's still short :) We have to take translations into account as well.
Created attachment 209473 [details] sketch of proposed navigation If breadcrumbs represented the path by which you got to a particular place (as they did for Hansel and Gretel), then they could easily go beyond three levels. For example, someone could go "All Settings" > "Power" > "Screensaver" > "Displays" > "Color" (assuming each of those links exist eventually, which probably they should), and that path might be too long to fit in some languages. On the other hand, if breadcrumbs represented the shortest path from the home screen to where you are, then when you did follow any of those cross-references, the breadcrumbs wouldn't be useful in getting back to where you were. Back and Forward buttons would avoid both of those problems. They would also clarify what the "All Settings" button does, because alongside Back and Forward buttons it would more obviously be the equivalent of the Home button. (Even moreso, if it used a Home icon.) That would leave the question of how to display the title of the settings panel. I propose showing it centered in the navigation bar. That would add symmetry to the navigation bar itself, and line up the panel name with the "System Settings" title above it.
The layout you're showing is a mix of the overview toolbar, and the panel specific toolbars. In overview mode, we currently have just the search entry. In panel mode, we don't have a search entry, but we have the unlock button (for some panels), the airplane mode switch (for network). Why is showing the current panel title in the window title a bad thing?
I'm not in favor of this. I think keeping the layout as flat as possible and avoiding navigation as much as possible is the right approach.
Implemented in master, to go with the preferred "previous" button we now use in place of the grid.