touch-packages team mailing list archive

[Shahbaz Youssefi <ShabbyX@xxxxxxxxx>]

I completely agree with what you are saying. If I wanted to manually
select my network every time, I would also be frustrated with having
unwanted networks in the way.

However, I do see a problem. First of all, remember that most people
have the network automatically get connected to, so when they do click
on the network button, they often want to connect to a new network, for
example on a laptop in an airport. With that in mind, there is a
usability problem with your suggestion. The issue stems from the fact
that people don't read anything.

An average person has his network automatically get connected to, so he
is likely not familiar with what's inside indicater-network. In fact
this is the case for the majority of people. Now, imagine this person
wants to connect to a new network. With your suggestion, he opens
indicator-network and sees some text, and he is going to completely
ignore them (such as "Connection Information", "VPN Connections" etc).
>From experience, this person may even know that generally what those
texts he just ignored do must have something to do with configuration,
which is not what he wants at the moment.

What he wants at the moment is to quickly be able to see the name of the
new network he wants to connect to. But it's not there. Is the router
on? Does my wireless card suck? Am I too far from the router? Do I hate
Ubuntu? No, everything seems ok. So why don't I see my damn network? Oh,
look there is something there that says "More Networks". WTF.

In short, it's a nuisance to the majority of the people who, when they
click on indicator-network, want to select a network they have never
connected to (because the ones they always connect to, automatically do
so, so there is no need to open indicator-network).

---

That said, I certainly agree with you. However, I have a different
solution. I'd suggest to change the layout of indicator-network from
this:

    Bla Bla
    ----
    Known Network 1
    Known Network 2
    Unknown Network 1
    Unknown Network 2
    Unknown Network 3
    Unknown Network 4
    Unknown Network 5
    ----
    More Bla Bla
    More Bla Bla
    Edit Connections

to this:

    Bla Bla
    ----
    Known Network 1
    Known Network 2
    ----
    More Bla Bla
    More Bla Bla
    Edit Connections
    ---
    Unknown Network 1
    Unknown Network 2
    Unknown Network 3
    Unknown Network 4
    Unknown Network 5

This way, all networks are visible, so the network you are searching for
is quickly findable. On the other hand, switching between known networks
is not frustrating because the unknown ones are not close-by, or worse
interleaved.

Building on this idea, and reducing clutter, indicator-network could
look like this:

    Bla Bla
    ----
    Known Network 1
    Known Network 2
    ----
    More Bla Bla
    More Bla Bla
    Edit Connections
    ---
    Unknown Network 1
    Unknown Network 2
                 V

Where `V` is a clickable "down arrow" that once clicked (or hovered on),
would expand indicator-network to list all visible Unknown Networks
(like the previous case). In this design, indicator-network should show
only strong unknown networks (say, higher than >=3 bars), because they
are the ones that the user is likely looking for. If none exist, it
should show the top 1 or 2 strongest networks (for example 2 if the top
2 strongest are close in strength, and only 1 if it is much stronger
than the second strongest). The weak networks, which are not likely what
you are looking for, would be hidden under the down arrow.

I belive the down arrow should be clear enough for the general user to
show there is something more below, and it's not text, so it's easily
understandable (because again, people don't read, so any text is of next
to no use).

What do you think?

** Changed in: indicator-network (Ubuntu)
       Status: New => Confirmed

-- 
You received this bug notification because you are a member of Ubuntu
Touch seeded packages, which is subscribed to indicator-network in
Ubuntu.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1425991

Title:
  Networks I have never connected to should be confined to the "More
  Networks" folder

Status in indicator-network package in Ubuntu:
  Confirmed

Bug description:
  When a user clicks the network manager indicator, a dropdown appears
  and lists wifi networks. This menu should NOT display networks that
  the user has never connected to. Networks the user has never connected
  to should only display in the "More networks" folder. At a mininum,
  the user should be given the ability to confine unwanted networks in
  the "More networks" folder.

  It is an unproductive design choice to force users to have to wade
  through networks they have never connected to (networks they will
  never connect to) in their menu. Numerous reasons exist why a user
  will not use the Auto-Connect setting for wireless networks. So it
  makes sense and is more efficient to have the menu only display the
  networks the user makes active use of and no more.

  When I click on the Network Manager Indicator and select "Edit
  Connections" and then look under the "Wifi" heading, only a couple
  networks appear. So why do 5 or more networks (networks I have never
  connected to, networks I never will connect to) perpetually show in
  the Network Indicator menu? They should not be displayed like they
  are. They should be confined to the "More networks" folder.
  Alternatively, there should be a way to manually confine/sandbox
  unwanted networks to this folder so they no longer display in the
  dropdown menu.

  In the interest of providing a visual example of what I am talking about, here is a picture of some networks I would like to hide/remove from my Network Indicator menu.
  http://a.pomf.se/fdqlnn.png

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