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List:       kde-panel-devel
Subject:    Re: tasks-refactor issues
From:       "Christian Mollekopf" <chrigi_1 () gmx ! ch>
Date:       2008-09-24 21:51:52
Message-ID: 20080924215152.47280 () gmx ! net
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Hi, 
sorry for my absence, the swiss army needed me ;-)

Although i read both aarons and marcos mails i will use this one to
add my ideas.


> From: aseigo@kde.org
> To: plasma-devel@kde.org
> Subject: tasks-refactor issues
> Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:38:01 -0600
> 
> hi ...
> 
> so i've been playing with tasks-refactor now for a bit and here's a list of 
> issues i've come across:
> 
> smaller things that can be fixed easier:
> 
> * the config dialog is .. well .. reversed =) the labels are on the right and 
> the controls on the left. the dialog must be reworked to be HIG compliant
> 

yep...

> * actions must not be named things like "Start/Stop grouping this program" 
> (e.g. in ProgramGroupingStrategy::strategyActions) but reflect the actual state 
> of the action
> 
> * ProgramGroupingStrategy::toggleGrouping shows we have some API issues in the 
> new libtaskmanager additions. from reading that method it is completely 
> unclear what the interplay between blackList, handleItem, closeGroup and add. 
> this must be sorted out either with proper commenting of the method (which is 
> anything but clear) or by fixing the code to read clearly (the preferred fix)
> 

Unfortunately i don't know how i could fix the code but i will add the
documentation of the function. To make it clear right away, if ProgramGrouping is \
enabled and you don't want for example Konqueror being automatically grouped, you can \
hit the "Stop groupig this Program" option which calls the toggleGrouping() function. \
This will add Konqueror to the blackList which will prevent the \
ProgramGroupingStrategy from grouping Konqueror windows. You can reenable it with the \
"Start grouping this program" option which calls toggleGrouping() again.


> * defaults for the tasks widget: sorting by alpha and grouping my program 
> should be on. no sorting/grouping is a bit silly and manual management is not 
> something most users will crave (though it's awesome that the option is there)
> 

i will trust in your experience with users =)

> some not-so-small things:
> 
> * we're going to want to have a "only group when full" option in there
> 

yeah, cool idea

> * multiple rows are still missing
> 

yes, yet to be added. I was thinking of subclassing LayoutWidget (it isn't a widget \
anymore, actually...) from  QGraphicsGridLayout and adding some variables where we \
can set a fixed collumncount or  a maximum count of collumns which would be \
automatically added or removed as needed.


> * i'm getting a consistent crash-on-exit with program grouping is on
> 

me too...

> but we have a biggers issue with the new widget than above, mostly to do with 
> user interaction. here are the outstanding issues i see:
> 
> 
> * all grouping interaction is done via the context menu. this is a non-
> starter. there absolutely must be visual feedback on this, e.g. an arrow to 
> expand collapsed groups

I'm not sure if i got this right. Do you mean, that it isn't obvious that items can \
be grouped by dragging them with alt pressed (i agree) and that there should be a \
context menu for this action, or do you mean that there should be a different way for \
expanding/collapsing than the contextmenu (i agree as well)?

> 
> * when a group is expanded, it becomes a cloud of little icons in about the 
> same space as original button. the icons are not recognizable.
> 

Yes i experimented a bit with the setStretchFactor function of QGraphicsLinearLayout \
but i couldn't get it to work....

> * i had no clue how to trigger manual grouping
> 

Yep, it done by dragging with alt pressed, but i agree this isn't obvious at all =)

> 
> so ... how to interact with grouped items ... 
> 
> expanding groups:
> 
> * a single click on a collapsed group could expand it
> 

I know that you don't like the cycling mechanism very much aaron, but i do (and marco \
apparently also) =)  (although its maybe really more the developer in me that likes \
it...) The order is kind of predictable because its exactly same as shown in the \
expanded group.

> * an expand arrow when clicked could could expand it
> 

Since its maybe hard to hit a rather small expand arrow we could add it, but keep the \
current fuctionality with double clicking? Another idea i had for expanding and \
collapsing is a group widget border that can be grabbed and pulled that the group \
expands or collapses.

> * something else .. ?
> 
> showing expanded groups:
> 
> * we could do it like in kicker and show a popup with the grouped window 
> inside that popup.
> 

I thought we could show such an expanded group widget instead of the tooltip, when \
you keep your mouse over the group for a sec or so.

> * an expanded group could overlay other buttons, temporarily 'taking over' the 
> tasks widget
> 
> * an expanded group could push other buttons aside, giving the buttons inside 
> as much room as buttons not in the group (making an all-groups-expanded 
> taskbar as cluttered as the current bar)
> 
I would really prefer if a taskbar with all groups expanded is as cluttered as the \
old one. If  you just want to temporarily access a task you can do it with the \
tooltip like popup

> * something else .. ?



best regards and thanks for your effort

Christian
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