GNOME Bugzilla – Bug 730385
Directory comparison pull down under file comparison button confusing.
Last modified: 2017-12-13 19:08:23 UTC
When starting the program or initiating a new comparison, three buttons appear in the middle of the window - File Comparison, Directory Comparison, and Version Control View. After clicking Directory comparison, three pull down boxes appear, one under each of the three big buttons. Because each of the pull down boxes is directly underneath and perfectly aligned with the above big buttons, I assumed without thinking about it that each pull down box corresponded ONLY to the button above. I selected a directory with the pull down box below the directory comparison button, but then it took a couple minutes of searching for a way to specify the second directory to compare before I realized I needed to use the pull down box under the file comparison button. The simplest way that might possibly fix this is to just make each of the three pull down boxes slightly wider or narrower than the buttons, so they don't appear to match exactly to the button above. You could center justify the pull down boxes, but it would probably help even more, to make them appear independent, if you left justified them with the left edge of the file comparison box. This would leave the layout unsymmetrical, but the 3 way comparison checkbox is unsymmetrical anyway. You could also do something like put a single horizontal line crossing under all three buttons, and a left justified label saying something like "select files or folders to compare". I hope this helps to make an already excellent program just a tiny bit better.
I would factor having the 3 file fields stacked and covering the entire width. That way any such confusion is avoided, and there is more width to see the entire file + path name. (At least in most cases.) As it is now, only about 20 characters of the file + path name are visible, which is rarely enough. (In my experience.) With the file fields stacked, the 3-way button could be underneath, just under the third field, which is greyed out when the button is unselected. Then the layout remains largely symmetric, as well.
Firstly, Meld is awesome. Thanks for the great software! However, I also found this new layout confusing for Directory Comparison. Initially I assumed it was part of the "Gnome 3" effect, and turning all gnome applications into un-usable "tablet-ified" apps (IMHO). Glad to find this ticket, which explains the new, confusing, layout. Please consider doing something like casey or andre suggest to fix it and keep Meld awesome - thanks.
Thanks guys I was just about to submit a bug. I didn't realise that first pulldown was for a directory. Yeah It would be nice if it could be made more obvious. Possibly the file comparison button could disappear?
*** Bug 789174 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
See Bug 789174 for more arguments about why the interface is confusing (it's not just the drop down position) and mockups inspired by winmerge
-- GitLab Migration Automatic Message -- This bug has been migrated to GNOME's GitLab instance and has been closed from further activity. You can subscribe and participate further through the new bug through this link to our GitLab instance: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/meld/issues/73.