launchpad-dev team mailing list archive

[Martin Pool <mbp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

2009/9/5 Tom Berger <tom.berger@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
> The bug page will be redesigned for 3.0 to make it easier to work
> with. Unlike other pages, the redesign is pretty light - the template
> changes to the new two column style, but most elements stay where you
> know them. Things to note:

It looks nice.

>
> * Bug-related information (secrecy, me too) is moved into the
> right-hand side, just below the affects table. This should make this
> information stand out better.

Please think twice before getting rid of the hashed border for
privacy.  I think it works well.

> * All bug-related actions are now on the right hand side. That should
> make them easier to find.

+1

"Also notified" has never had a clear meaning to me, maybe it means
"Implicitly subscribed" and should say so?  On for example
<https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/bzr/+bug/392355> there are two
screenfuls of people 'also notified', many of whom I've never heard of
and don't care about.  I am sometimes interested in who's specifically
shown interest in the bug by subscribing but I don't think I've ever
cared about the 'also notified' list.  So it seems like a waste of
space.  If it's really needed, maybe it can be behind a disclosure
triangle.

Let's keep a link for reporting a new bug, and put it above the fold
(thereby fixing a bug).  I do that all the time when it turns out the
bug I thought was mine is in fact different.  Also, I think if this
link is not reasonably prominent, it encourages some users to add
random unrelated comments to whatever bug they land on.

Why not change the oddly phrased "does this bug affect you" link
(there is a bug for this) to just be
 * this bug affects me
 * this bug doesn't affect me
then we can later show how many people have clicked each one (fixing a
very popular bug!)

Similarly "Nominate for release" is misnamed; it should be "request
fix in series", and "also affects distribution" perhaps likewise.

Data between the large block of text in the description and the large
block of text in the comments is easily lost (there is a bug for
this).  Can we hove those things away to the right hand side?  I think
we can

 * CVE reference: move to a portlet with a CVE field and edit icon
next to it; for bonus points give some clue what "CVE", if not the
monetary unit of Cape Verde.

  CVE security vulnerability: ______ {/}

 * Branches: a portlet of branches, and a (+) link branch -- for bonus
points this follows the principle of putting actions near the thing
they act upon.  Also it would be great to information there about the
state of merge proposals connected to those branches.

 * Tags: likewise

 * Original description: this is ok in this position cause it really
does relate to the description, but it would be cooler if there was
just a timeline entry saying "description changed" and linking to the
previous version.  (Isn't this already there? If so, just remove the
link under the description.)

Moving those links would break up the "big list of random actions"
effect still somewhat present in this mockup, and instead get more
towards the bug having attributes you can act upon.

Your sample data shows the somewhat annoying bug that status changes
are now fragmented from the text that describes them.  I understand if
you want to tackle that separately though.

> * The search portlet is gone. People can use the common search box or
> go up one level for an advanced search.

The common search box is not visible in this sketch but presumably it's there.

The search box also gave you a link to 'all open bugs' which was
sometimes useful, but may be obsolete if the bugs homepage changes to
be more like a bug list.

> * The description, activity items, comments and comment input are
> nicely aligned.
> * CVE references float to the right of the branch links. They are
> quite rare and where they are now they steal too much vertical space.
> * The link to the original description floats to the right of the tags.

Will the comment field still work the same way, as far as the
unfolding part for attachments?

It looks like you got rid of the unfolding dialog under the status.
This is the only way at the moment to change some things, and the only
way altogether to change status and explain why you're changing it.
Perhaps it should stay until things are properly batched in both mail
and the web site.

I like your pencil icon here better than the one actually used in lp,
because it looks more like a pencil.

This does look really nice, and gives room for growth.  I think it
would be cool for example to show some portlets about other relevant
bugs, for instance likely duplicates, or overall project bug
statistics (filters/tags/targeted) as on the bugs home page.

I would think about putting the bug number just before the summary,
rather than after it, and making that bug number be a link to the
short form url for the bug (https://launchpad.net/bugs/1234) so that
people can easily drag it.

And then along with the date originally reported it would be a bit
interesting to show the relative date last touched ("3 days ago" or
"1/2/09") - this can be inferred from the activity log but it would
mesh with people valuing the recently-changed-bugs list.

There is some inconsistency in both the current page and I presume
this one as to whether clicking the bugtask fields takes you to the
relevant thing (milestone, project, person), or lets you edit it
(status, importance).  That may not be a problem, if the rule is
"takes you there, if there is any 'there', otherwise edits it."

The dates sometimes look weird at the moment, because it says "3
seconds ago" which is  factually wrong by the time the page arrives in
my browser.  I think Launchpad needs some other representation of time
which goes "12:20 today", "3:30 yesterday", "29/2/2000".  Soyuz I
think recently did something similar.

You seem to have quietly dropped the "offer mentorship", which is good.

I realize you're focusing more here on the layout than on fixing ever
request for the bugs page, but it would be great if some of the
simpler ones could get done at the same time.

Hope that helps.  I'd be very happy to see screenshots or updates as
you go along.
-- 
Martin <http://launchpad.net/~mbp/>