kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/11/2014 7:53 AM, Tim Hutt wrote:
> On 10 September 2014 22:25, Javier Serrano
> <javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:javier.serrano.pareja@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     Assuming I have correctly understood what you mean (English is not
>     my native language) I'd have to disagree with it. All the opinions I
>     have read here seem to me as coming from people who are genuinely
>     convinced of what they are saying. Everybody here wants to make
>     KiCad better. I support the notion that KiCad can and should improve
>     in the usability/friendliness/etc department because I know your
>     case as a first time user is far from unique, and I think that's not
>     good for KiCad and first user experiences could be better without
>     making the experience worse for everybody else. Now, discussing
>     about these things in a mailing list this size is tricky because all
>     of us may have strong opinions about something and there is lots of
>     room for misunderstanding. So respect is key to begin with!
> 
> 
> You're absolutely right. These are prime bike-shedding topics that was
> could probably discuss forever without actually improving anything. So
> in the interests of doing something.... I'm planning to do the following:
> 
> End goal: Improve the usability and learnability/discoverability of
> Kicad without annoying experienced users.

Tim,

I appreciate your desire to improve KiCad.  There is no doubt that
improvements can be made and the project can always use the help.
Please keep in mind that the KiCad development team has the right to
accept or reject your changes.  KiCad is not a democracy.  It attempts
to be a meritocracy that is weighted by developer contribution.  In the
end, the project leader has the final say on any changes.  Currently,
that person is me.  I will attempt to be objective about some of the
changes you proposed but I can tell there are a few that I would reject
outright based on some of the comments I saw from the development team.

> 
> Method:
> 1. File bugs for the issues I found in the video (assuming they aren't
> already in the bug tracker).
> 2. Create a wiki page linking to important bugs, along with proposed
> solutions and difficulty (example below). Kind of like the CERN work
> packages page.
> 3. Fix the bugs! (when I say bugs I mean bugs and needed features)
> 
> Examples:
> 
> Bug: When kicad is run for the first time it complains about a missing
> project file.
> Solution: Either include the missing file, or don't complain if the
> missing file is "". See src/foo/bar/baz.cpp:55
> Difficulty: Easy

I believe this one has already been fixed.  Check the bug database
and/or a recent version of the product branch.

> 
> Bug: Can't disable mouse warp on zoom everywhere.
> Solution: Add it to the preferences where it isn't available, or make
> those parts of kicad respect the preference that is set elsewhere.
> Difficulty: Easy

This one I'm fine with this but it's implementation could be an issue.
See comments below.

> 
> Bug: Mouse warping setting (and presumably others) aren't global - you
> have to set them in about 5 different places.
> Solution: Depends on what CERN do with the integration of kicad programs.
> Difficulty: Hard

I'm not sure if mousing warping should be enabled or disabled globally
or on a per drawing canvas basis.  I can see valid arguments for both
implementations.  I don't have a strong opinion on this because I prefer
mouse warping.  If I was forced to give you a preference, I would say
per drawing canvas.  I suppose you could do both where the per canvas
setting overrides the global setting.  This is definitely something to
think about and would require some careful design.

> 
> Bug: New users (both to Kicad, and PCB design in general) are unsure
> what to do after running Kicad for the first time.
> Solution 1: A dialog with links to tutorials on first startup.
> Solution 2: Context-sensitive "signpost" tips.
> etc.
> Difficulty: Medium

I will tell you up front that you will have a hard time convincing me to
approve the nanny pop ups from your UI mock ups.  There is already some
hand holding when creating a new project.  You can choose to create a
new project from an existing template or create a new empty project.  I
suppose there could be a third option such as some kind of project
wizard that hides all of the new user help.  This way advanced users
never have to see the hand holding stuff.

Regards,

Wayne

> 
> For controversial bugs/solutions like the last one I'll list several
> potential options and then they can be discussed.
> 
> Any major objections? As Javier said, please don't be mean - I'm
> volunteering my bug fixing help and was nearly ready to abandon that
> idea until I received a nice supportive off-list email (thanks!).
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Tim
> 
> 
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