launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Michael Nelson <michael.nelson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Christian Robottom Reis wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 10, 2009 at 01:00:19PM +0200, Michael Nelson wrote:
>> Issue 1: where to put the builder details
>> =========================================
>>
>> So the builder details/information section is not the type of info that
>> should be in the 3-0 side-bar, but that presents a problem for this
>> page, which most people use to find out one specific detail: the current
>> status of the builder.
> 
> This is interesting; it's the case where the registration information
> for the context object is actually not that interesting and what is more
> interesting is its current activity. However, I challenge that this is
> the exception: I bet that many, maybe most pages for a context /should/
> highlight current context over status. In a way, the old page for the
> builder is perfect, because it highlights what you want to see -- its
> status and history -- and puts in a secondary location the (admittedly
> minimal) metadata around the object. 
> 
>> You can see how I have tried to accommodate for this by including the
>> details in the main content but on the side - I personally think it
>> looks too crowded, and it *still* breaks the flow of Current status ->
>> Current log tail.
> 
> Would it make sense to instead put the Builder Information metadata at
> the /end/ of the page, under the status and the logtail?

Yes, more sense than anywhere else, afaics. I was just unsure about
moving them to them to the end (below the fold), but you're right,
there's no reason why not. Well, there is one reason - see below.

> 
>> Any suggestions as to where the details could go? In this (exceptional)
>> case - where the actual usage of the page is usually for one specific
>> detail of the context object - the sidebar worked quite well in the past.
> 
> If I were designing this page from scratch, I think I would do it like
> this:
> 
>     Bob the builder                        [ i386 ]
> 
>     Current status:
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
> 
>     Log tail:
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
>     XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX XXX
> 
>     Statistics:
>     13% idle, 22321 builds since last boot
> 
>     .---------------------------------------------.
>     | About Bob the builder                (edit) |
>     | Added to the farm on 2009-04-01             |
>     | Owned by _Launchpad Buildd Admins_          |
>     | Builder URL: http://XXX/                    |
>     '---------------------------------------------'
> 
> with the i386 at the top in big fat letters in a nice font, because it's
> the one thing from the details which actually matters to most page
> viewers.

Yep, I'll try moving the details to the bottom and include the arch
prominently... thanks! Another option that I'll try is using a 2/3-1/3
layout with the details on the right 1/3, still using the main_only layout.

> 
>> Note: Christian Robottom Reis wrote in a previous thread:
>>> is "links in the actions menu are all the links that manipulate
>>> something that isn't intuitively identifiable on the page." The page
>>> context is one such thing, since it is represented by the page itself.
> 
> Yeah, I did say that. Are there other actions related to the builder
> that would make sense to put in the menu? OTOH, the details in my mockup
> above /are/ identified in a clearly defined space, so I kinda like the
> edit link close to them..

Yes, I agree too - I like the action links in their context (I just
wanted to make sure people understood *why* I had added the action link
as shown in the screenshot). But the one use-case where this might fail
is when that contextual action link is below the fold. For example, when
an admin comes to the page specifically to edit the details (for eg.,
whether the builder is active) and cannot see either the details or the
link to edit them without scrolling down.

But I'll play with that... thanks for the input kiko!

-- 
Michael