dubuntu-team team mailing list archive

[Charl Wentzel <charl.wentzel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Guys

I've created a suggestion for the front-end and attached as a PDF.  Jay,
could you upload this to your picasaweb site and send the link back to
the mailing list for future reference.

There are basically three screen shots showing the three main steps in
the process of creating/updating an environment.

Note that on the top the three steps are shown.  You could skip steps or
go back to another step by simply clicking on its heading/tab

Step 1: Requirements
In this step you specify your requirements, i.e. what you would like to
do.  There's a tree on the left containing the main requirements, with
sub requirements where relavant.  Just below the tree there's a
description block that explains the requirement currently selected

On the right-hand side there are the options you can select from for the
current requirement selected in the tree.  Below that there's the
description for the current option selected.

Note that you can select more than one option, e.g. multiple languages.

Step 2: Categories
Now you are presented with a list of pre-filtered packages based on your
requirements.  The options are grouped in main categories (and
sub-categories).

The categories are presented in the tree view on your left.  Below the
tree is a description block that tells you more about what that category
is.

In the middle you have the main options for the category currently
selected in the tree view, e.g. the type of IDE.  Below that there is a
description block that explains that option.  In some cases we may
pre-select some default options here, but the user will have to make at
least some choices at this level.

On the right-hand side you are shown the actual packages for the option
currently selected.  More than one package may be involved.  We'll
pre-select defaults here.  A newbie can look at this for interest sake
and read the description block below for each package.  An experience
user may choose to change the selection here.

Step 3: Review / Save / Install

In the last step you are shown exactly what will be installed.  It gives
you a list of all the packages you've selected.  Again you can look at
each one's description.  An experienced user may deselect options here
(but it is probably not advised)

In the middle block the Environment manager shows you additional
packages it has selected to get things to work together properly... base
d on the idea that you want everything to "just work".  Again an
experienced user can deselect options.

The right-hand block is just for the experience user.  If you really
feel that the Environment Manager has done you in and there is something
extra that you need, you can manually add it here.

At the bottom you can save this configuration and give it a name.  You
could then open it up later or share it.  If you are in a company
environment you might use this to ensure that every development machine
gets the same environment.  Or you might like to share it with a friend.

Missing parts:

What is missing here is the first page where you'll select what you want
to do, e.g.:

- Create/install new environment config
- Load/install an existing environment config
- Review you're current environment

This will then take you to the screens listed above.  In each case
you'll get the same three screens but your initial values will be
different:

- Create - start with a blank (only default values)
- Load - load a previously save configuration
- Review - look at/display what is currently installed on your machine

We can also add a fourth screen, which just gives you a terminal view
showing the output that APT gives along with a progress bar.

What do you think?

Charl


On Tue, 2009-07-07 at 20:10 +0300, Jay I. wrote:
> had some fun in inkscape:
> http://picasaweb.google.com/jay.27182818/Devbuntu#5355764339305453682
> 
> jay
> 
> On Tue, 2009-07-07 at 15:26 +0200, Charl Wentzel wrote:
> > Hi Guys
> > 
> > I did not want to put this in CLI thread as it is more appropriate in a
> > separate thread...
> > 
> > GUI design:
> > The system functionality proposed in the CLI thread could be easily
> > catered for in a gui design.  You could have three windows in your main
> > screen:
> > 
> > a. Requirements window
> > This is where you select from the options for each requirement
> > 
> > b. Category tree
> > A tree view with branches for sub categories
> > 
> > c. Category items
> > A list of options available for the current selected category in the
> > category tree
> > 
> > If you change an option in the requirements window it automatically
> > updates the available category items
> > 
> > As you move through the category tree it will update the category items
> > window with the relavant choices with a tick next to those that you have
> > selected (or the default choices).  You could even choose that it shows
> > you all the options available for the category or just the ones you've
> > selected to install.  Much like Synaptic, except that Synaptic has much
> > fewer categories, no sub-categories and no requirements.
> > 
> > So we're really adding a whole bunch of filters to make it easier to
> > find what your are looking for.
> > 
> > I like this approach because you work in only one window and can see
> > everything in once glance but also dig deaper (into the tree) if you
> > want to.
> > 
> > What do you think?
> > 
> > Charl
> > 
> > 
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