> Hi Jerome,
>
> What do you feel are the major outstanding issues?
>
> From what I can see, the important functionality is pretty-much
> there, but I do have serious concerns about the layout of the user
> interface. For Thaw to be successful, it is essential that it not
> only provide the necessary functionality, but that this functionality
> is provided in a user friendly and intuitive way. I think you have
> made some good improvements with this, but there is still work to do.
>
> Let me try to summarize my main concerns, please don't think I am
> being over-critical here, if I sound abrupt it is just because I'm
> trying to be efficient:
>
> 1)
> Tabs really don't feel like the right way to expose the functionality
> to add files to the upload/download queues. I think Fuqid gets this
> right by having pop-up dialogs which allow the user to enter the
> information they need, rather than permanently present user interface
> elements under different tabs. The fact that the user interface
> elements under the "Insertion" and "Download" tabs struggle to fill
> the space available to them is a symptom of this.
>
> My recommendation:
>
> * Get rid of the tabs, all of Thaw's functionality should be
> exposed through a single dialog with additional pop-up dialogs to
> acquire necessary user input as necessary (ie. to add files to the
> insertions and downloads queues).
>
I will think of it. For the current functionnalities, it shouldn't be too hard
to do ... but for the next one (indexation, etc), I'm not sure that it will
be as easy as that to put in only one dialog. So at the moment, I think I
will continue with tabs, and we will see where to move everything later ? (it
will probably easier to design a correct UI when we will be able to see all
the components).
> 2)
> Too much information is provided, cluttering the UI and potentially
> confusing users. I get the sense that the current UI was designed
> "from FCP back" rather than "from the user forward". In other words,
> rather than thinking about the user's needs for specific operations,
> and then figuring out how to meet them with FCP, the UI was designed
> by looking at what FCP offered, and then figuring out how to present
> this in the UI.
>
> I think almost all of the information in the status section is
> unnecessary, to go through each item:
>
That's why the left panel is, by default, hidden. (If your is visible, you can
hide it by sliding the separation to the left).
I agree that most of users don't need these informations, but sometimes I may
need them to debug more quickly (for example the bug "filename == null" was
visible in this panel, in the key field). Another point is that my node is
quite slow, so the second progress bar ("Thaw <-> Node") is also usefull for
me, and probably for some other users.
But if you really want, I can hide this panel more (-> an option in the
configuration for example).
> File: this is provided in the insertion and download listbox
>
> Size: this too
>
> Progress: this too
>
> Status: this too
>
> Key: Most users really don't need or want to see the key - since it
> is mostly just a collection of random characters. The user probably
> will want to copy the key to the clipboard, and this operation could
> be provided by right-clicking on the file in the Downloads or
> Insertions listbox and selecting "Copy key".
>
> Local path: The term "local path" will mean nothing to most users,
> but we could provide a "View in Explorer" or "View in Finder" right-
> click option for the user to open the file in their operating
> system's file-system browser (assuming Java can do this).
>
> Priority: Meaningless to most users
>
> Try: could be presented in "Status" column of ListBox
>
I agree about this one, because in my FCP requests, MaxRetries is set to -1,
so this field is never updated. I will remove it.
> Identifier: What does this mean? Isn't it the same as the filename?
>
No, it's the identifier used by thaw to discuss with the node about this
transfer. I added the filename in the identifier to make
http://127.0.0.1:8888/queue/ file list more readable.
> Global queue: An internal implementation issue, irrelevant to most users
>
When you download a file you can select if this download must be on the global
queue or not. Even if most of the time, users will prefer the global queue,
the non-global queue can sometimes be useful. For example if you're many
using the same node (it was my situation some weeks ago).
> I would therefore remove the status panel altogether, relying on the
> Downloads and Insertions listboxes to provide necessary file
> information, and making additional options available under a right-
> click menu where necessary. This will bring Thaw closer to a Fuqid
> like interface, and I don't think that is a bad thing, I think Fuqid
> got a lot of things right, and we shouldn't be afraid to emulate it
> where appropriate.
>
> I hope that feedback is useful,
>
> Ian.
>
> Ian Clarke: Co-Founder & Chief Scientist Revver, Inc.
> phone: 323.871.2828 | personal blog - http://locut.us/blog
--
Jerome Flesch.
