bugPSPP - Bugs: bug #24908, usability review / make the GUI...

 
 

bug #24908: usability review / make the GUI more HIG-compliant

Submitter:  -Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Submitted:  Sun 23 Nov 2008 07:05:06 PM UTC
   
 
Category:  Graphical User Interface Severity:  5 - Average
Status:  Fixed Assigned to:  None
Open/Closed:  Closed Release:  None
Effort:  0.00
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Thu 12 Mar 2009 11:50:51 PM UTC, comment #12: 

I checked this in, and also seperated the variable sheet dialogs from the data editor specs, to make it easier to work on in the future.

John Darrington <jmd>
Group administrator
Sat 07 Mar 2009 03:58:31 AM UTC, comment #11: 

It seems to me that data_editor.glade has not changed in master since I did the patch; at least, comparing my "vanilla git version" from december 18, 2008 16:55:58 EST to the current git version doesn't seem to yield differences, except for the Find button, where

<property name="sensitive">False</property>
...was removed somewhere along the way (unaffected by my patch afaik).

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Wed 04 Mar 2009 05:06:18 AM UTC, comment #10: 

I've pushed two of these files.
The third one - data-editor.glade  has changed somewhat since you sent the patch, so you might want to revisit that.

John Darrington <jmd>
Group administrator
Fri 19 Dec 2008 02:06:24 AM UTC, comment #9: 

Here is a very conservative initial patch. It shouldn't break anything. Just rearrange some widgets around and standardized some spacing on the glade files I had access to (from the git version).

If you accept these changes and want me to move on to the "real" thinking, this would mean that the next patch tarball would break stuff (you would have to code around it), for example by replacing most of the widgets in var_labs_dialog by a single listview widget.

(file #17090)

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Tue 16 Dec 2008 01:33:36 PM UTC, comment #8: 

Value labels dialog: not only less mouse movements :)
- It may (I don't really know) also be better for keyboard-only operation. At least, the current way SPSS does it, it's an endless serie of clicks or "tabs" to change focus. It feels a bit unefficient.
- More space is allowed for the list of variables while not sacrificing the length of the fields such as label names
- Changing existing items would be a snap

As for "maintaining" those things... My specialization is layouting the UI, so I'm only proefficient with glade. With a little luck, I can cut and paste the existing set of of widgets so that their names/signals and (some of*) their properties are conserved (therefore, I assume, not breaking code).

*: some properties I deem unfit to preserve, usually spacing/sizing ones

For stuff like changing the code to use an editable listview, that's already beyond my skillset, as I am not a programmer.

I'm glad to see that those proposals are considered acceptable so far, so I'll try building pspp-git during the holidays (hopefully) and actually edit the glade files to put those changes into something concrete.

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Tue 16 Dec 2008 11:46:26 AM UTC, comment #7: 

The missing value dialog is fine.  It's not too different from what we currently use.

I had thought of doing something similar with the var_type dialog myself.  One of the problems with the existing dialog is that it doesn't provide all the possible types; some of the less common ones are missing from the dialog.  So I think this would be a worthwhile improvement.

The val_labs dialog is certainly a lot more "radical", but I can imagine why it's easier to use; less mouse movements.

I rather agree with your opinions about the spss design.  Despite
that I've been somewhat conservative about following their example.  However, if you're willing to code and maintain these dialogs, then I'd be happy for them to be added to the repository.  Maybe initially, we could have both dialogs and let the user choose between "traditional" and "enhanced".   Then we can get some feedback on pspp-users to see what people prefer.



John Darrington <jmd>
Group administrator
Tue 16 Dec 2008 05:02:40 AM UTC, comment #6: 


> They are mockups intended to gauge your reaction, so I know what is
> considered "radical change" or not.


Your dialogs look nice to me.  (John Darrington is authoritative on
PSPPIRE though.)

> For example, the var_labs_dialog. This little fellow had me thinking
> for a while on how to actually make it more efficient to use (the
> current SPSS workflow of that dialog is crap, really) and easier to
> understand at a very quick glance.
>
> What I came up with is an "editable" listview. To have an idea what
> I'm talking about, you might want to try out applications such as
> Cowbell or Sound-juicer, which use that as a UI interaction mechanism.


It sounds very much to me like that would be a better interface.  I
don't think it would be too hard to implement, either.

> What do you think? I can think of stuff like that all over the place
> if you want, but that all depends if you are ready for that :)


For me, at least, my main problem with PSPP right now is lack of time.
So, I hope that you are willing to continue making suggestions even if
we don't act on them immediately.

> And then, in the end, you will be able to claim on the website
> "HIG-compliant user interface, better thought out and easier to use
> than SPSS! Also makes coffee!"


A cup of coffee sounds great right now :-)

Ben Pfaff <blp>
Group administrator
Tue 16 Dec 2008 02:42:33 AM UTC, comment #5: 

Hello again, I spent some time thinking on the most glaringly annoying dialogs I am familliar with in PSPP, and made some mockups of what they could look look like ideally.

These would
- conform to the HIG
- be much more coherent/easy to grasp
- not be a 100% clone of SPSS, but SPSS is certainly not an example of good UI design from what I've seen

They are mockups intended to gauge your reaction, so I know what is considered "radical change" or not. Most of my changes can be achieved without breaking existing code I presume (mostly just moving widgets around with cut-and-pasting), however some of my ideas would require changes in the way PSPPire "thinks".

For example, the var_labs_dialog. This little fellow had me thinking for a while on how to actually make it more efficient to use (the current SPSS workflow of that dialog is crap, really) and easier to understand at a very quick glance.

What I came up with is an "editable" listview. To have an idea what I'm talking about, you might want to try out applications such as Cowbell or Sound-juicer, which use that as a UI interaction mechanism.

The idea is this: instead of having a bunch of controls that eat space and are really not that efficient, we provide "direct" manipulation of data. For example, when the user clicks the "Add" button, a new row appears in the listview, with the editable cell in the "Value" column focused, and the user types some value. When the value is entered, the user can then specify a label (by moving with the keyboard, or clicking in the appropriate cell in the "Label" column).

When the user wants to modify something? Well, he can just click the relevant cell and change it!

When the user wants to delete a row, focus some cell and then click the Remove button.



What do you think? I can think of stuff like that all over the place if you want, but that all depends if you are ready for that :)
And then, in the end, you will be able to claim on the website "HIG-compliant user interface, better thought out and easier to use than SPSS! Also makes coffee!"

(file #17075)

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Mon 24 Nov 2008 10:01:45 PM UTC, comment #4: 

glade-3 is required.

You must also build and install pspp with the --with-gui-tools option set at configure time.

John Darrington <jmd>
Group administrator
Mon 24 Nov 2008 03:17:29 AM UTC, comment #3: 

Should I be using the svn/cvs/some_vcs version of the glade files?

What version of glade are you using? I have glade-3 here, and it is possible that it reformats/reindents the whole thing if I do changes, even minor ones.

Or should I instead make a screencast of me reviewing the UI in realtime and send it to you for review?

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Sun 23 Nov 2008 11:12:08 PM UTC, comment #2: 

We're always happy to accept help.

Yes we do use glade files, but might well move to GtkBuilder in the future.

Pspp tries to follow the hig in most instances.  However pspp also tries to offer a familiar interface to spss refugees.  So where the hig recommendations would make the gui depart too far from that with which spss users would be comfortable, we've followed the spss example instead of the hig.

John Darrington <jmd>
Group administrator
Sun 23 Nov 2008 07:07:30 PM UTC, comment #1: 

Heh. The bug tracker posted my comment before I actually wrote it.
====

I am familiar with the GNOME HIG (http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/) and would be willing to give some advice on improving details of the PSPP GUI. If you guys are using glade files, I could even do some of the minor changes (spacing, alignment, etc.) myself

Would you be interested in this?

-Deleted Account- <kiddo>
Sun 23 Nov 2008 07:05:06 PM UTC, original submission:  


-Deleted Account- <kiddo>

 

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Attached Files
file #17090:  patch1.tar added by kiddo (160KiB - application/x-tar)
file #17075:  HIG mockup 1.tar added by kiddo (60KiB - application/x-tar)

 

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    Follow 4 latest changes.

    Date Changed by Updated Field Previous Value => Replaced by
    2009-03-12 jmd StatusNone Fixed
        Open/ClosedOpen Closed
    2008-12-19 kiddo Attached File- Added patch1.tar, #17090
    2008-12-16 kiddo Attached File- Added HIG mockup 1.tar, #17075

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