2010/11/9 Misha Shnurapet <shnurapet(a)fedoraproject.org>
Hi, Design Team!
I got a little issue with the new filter panel introduced in Transmission
2.11. I desided to ask here because it's part of Fedora and there are people
experienced in UI design.
The GUI client used to have nice buttons [1] that allowed to jump quickly
between the lists of active / paused / seeding torrents, etc. Now that there
are options added, the control has been converted into combo boxes [2].
The issue is pretty simple: I dont' like the extra-click-and-choice it
takes to use the combo boxes.
I have posted a ticket [3] to the trac trying to explain my concern. Being
disappointed I made myself sound offensive, which I regret and feel very
sorry for. However, the developer agreed to see a new solution that wouldn't
narrow back the current functionality. Tabs wouldn't work. I'd like to
consult with designers if this can be improved any further. Maybe Máirín or
Jakub would have an idea?
Hi Misha,
Sorry this response took a while - I meant to reply earlier but the mail got
lost.
Here's my opinion on the matter:
It's a hard decision to make. Adding functionality can be good but you also
want to keep your software simple. In this case, it's up for the
developers/designers of Transmission to decide which one of these provides
more value to their users. They should consider their target audience and
what they would want: do they value the added power over the expense of
increased complexity?
I do think it's very good that you've taken notice of this change though...
The difference between one and two mouse clicks will not sound shocking on
its own, but these changes can quickly add up. Transmission is known for its
simplicity and I personally think that's very valuable. I can only tell them
to be careful, but I'm sure the developers know this. :)
By the way, the submenus inside the drop-downs shouldn't be there according
to the HIG [1]. On the other hand. the HIG is about guidelines, not rules,
and Transmission isn't part of GNOME. Again, it's up to the developers to
decide if the tradeoff is worth it.
What I *would* do however is give the default selection in the drop-down
list a better label. In your screenshot they both say "All 3", which
doesn't
make clear what they do. Maybe something like "All torrents", "All
states"
or "All trackers" would be clearer here? Just an idea.
Jef
[1]
http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/controls-option-menus.html.en