Re: Dselect novice mode proposal
Lee Olds writes ("Re: Dselect novice mode proposal"):
> I finally got a chance to take a good look your dselect proposal today.
> I think it is a very big improvement. I think this "novice" mode might be
> powerful enough to replace the existing dselect. Is there anything that
> the existing expert mode offers that the proposed novice mode doesn't?
Yes: examining the status of all packages at once; seeing the exact
status of the package (the state of the various flag bits); the
teleport-you-to-a-new-screen dependency resolution (which is alarming
for new users but IME good for experts).
I'm not saying that all experts have to use the old interface, just
that I don't necessarily think it should be removed.
> Here are some of my opinions, comments, and recommendations. There are
> four of them. Shoot em'down or praise them... ;-)
>
> 1) The program should ask the user to confirm any action that starts the
> actual download, check, un-pack, install, or remove process.
Right.
> If the user chooses not to proceed, give a message something along the
> lines of:
> [ telling them requested changes are remembered ]
...
> This implies there will need to be something like a "commit" or "do it"
> menu item somewhere.
No problem.
> 2) When selecting by Priority or Section, put in another menu layer,
> rather than requiring the user to cycle through all the options. This
> would be especially useful when people want to upgrade, install, or
> remove just a few packages.
>
> Something along the lines of:
>
> +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
> | Install and/or upgrade package(s) or system |
> | Which section do you wish to upgrade ? |
> | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
> | | * base Base system | |
> | | mail Mail utilities, etc.., | |
> | | x11 etc... | |
> | | etc... etc... | |
> | +------------------------------------------------------------------+ |
> | Press <Return> to choose section, <Esc> to Exit |
> +------------------------------------------------------------------------+
>
> Where the "*" could indicate that changes have already been requested
> in the base section.
What if they miss a section out ? Don't install or upgrade anything
in that section ?
> 3) My screen style preferences:
>
> I think that a dialog box style without a mouse is not as intuitive
> as other options. Namely, tabbing between screen sections doesn't
> seem obvious. Assuming that a mouse is not required, I prefer another
> style of interface.
>
> Here is my prefered style:
>
> <Esc> always back's out of the screen. (Except for the top level menu,
> which should have a Quit menu item.)
>
> <Return> always activates the selected menu item.
>
> Select the menu items with up and down arrows. Also support vi, emacs,
> and other popular cursor movement keys for traversing menu items. And
> where appropriate support the Page-up, Page-down, Home, and End keys.
>
> This style requires that the user remember just a very few simple
> concepts. These concepts can be described on each screen with little
> use of screen real-estate.
>
> To conform to this style, the Individual Package selection screen
> could place "Go Back" and "Concise List" on the menu, And the
> "Concise List" could make the "OK" or "Done" action Accessible
> with a Hot Key, and putting the followin message in place of the
> dialog buttons:
>
> Press <D> when done, <Return> for details on a package, <Esc> to Exit.
That sounds reasonable.
> 4) It would be nice for the startup screen to display the access-method
> information as well as the other information. I still like having a
> separate menu item for selecting the access method.
This might well be possible.
> Over all, I like very much what you have proposed. I think it will be
> a big improvement.
>
> (I just started reading debian-devel a couple of weeks ago. Ian, you
> must be putting in tons of time on this! Thanks to you and many others
> for the time and excellent work that you are putting into project!
Thanks :-).
Ian.
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