software-store-developers team mailing list archive

[Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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As part of the current design project, Calum and I identified three main
features missing from the software item screen:
*   multiple screenshots
*   videos
*   item-specific recommendations, i.e. "People also installed...".

I drew a wireframe adding these three things to the existing layout.
Then I tried a major rearrangement to see if I could find a better layout.
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=p58-small.png>
<https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SoftwareCenter?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=p59-small.png>
(second attempt at the major rearrangement)

In both layouts, videos and screenshots are combined in a single gallery
with thumbnails. If any videos are present, they come first in the gallery.

In the rearrangement, there are several changes. Maybe they're all good,
maybe some of them are, maybe none of them are.

*   The installation state bar is gone, replaced by an "Install for
    Free", "Buy for $X", or "Remove" button under the summary (like in
    USC 2.0).
    !   This would require figuring out where to put the other stuff
        that appears in that bar, like progress bars and error messages.

*   The description is collapsed down to a single paragraph or so, with
    the rest available by clicking an expander.

*   The technical metadata (package name, version, size, license etc) is
    moved into a column by itself, below the icon.
    +   This would reduce the scrolling required to get to reviews (or,
        for that matter, to get to the metadata).
    -   It would work poorly for long package names.

*   The video/screenshot gallery takes up nearly the whole window width.

*   By default, only the most helpful review is shown, with the others
    available by clicking an expander.

*   The "Reviews" section shows the average rating (as well as the
    distribution of ratings). This conflicts with showing it at the top
    of the screen, though.

I welcome your opinions on any of these, or sketches of alternative ideas.

Thanks
- -- 
mpt
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