Bug 348920

Summary:	Skanlite's interface has controls with four various visual widths, looking unpolished; default window size is not expanded enough
Product:	[Applications] Skanlite	Reporter:	Michael <kde>
Component:	general	Assignee:	Kåre Särs <kare.sars>
Status:	REPORTED ---
Severity:	wishlist
Priority:	NOR
Version First Reported In:	1.1
Target Milestone:	---
Platform:	Kubuntu
OS:	Linux
Latest Commit:		Version Fixed/Implemented In:
Sentry Crash Report:
Attachments:	Shows how the controls are various widths for the Basic Options tab Shows how the controls are various widths for the Scanner Specific Options tab

Description Michael 2015-06-09 08:42:33 UTC

Skanlite's "Basic Options" tab has controls that each have different widths, which could look more polished if they were aligned to the same grid. Same goes for the "Scanner Specific Options" tab. See both attachments.

The Skanlite main interface window, at least for my scanner, is too small in its default size. It needs to be resized before I can see all the controls in the "Basic Options" tab and begin to do my work. See the first attachment.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Start Skanlite. 
2. Wait for it to find your scanner.
3. View the main interface with the default "Basic Options" tab.
4. See how the widths of the controls in the left-hand pane are different widths. (see pic 1)
5. See how the window is too small to contain all the controls, such as the "Image intensity" group. 
5. Go to the "Scanner Specific Options" tab.
6. See how the widths of the controls have different widths, at least for my scanner. (see pic 2)



Expected Results:  
See the attached picture to get an idea of how to change the widths of the controls to be on the same grid. 

The window needs to have a default size that fits all of its controls in the "Basic Options" tab.


Kubuntu 15.04, x86_64

Skanlite Version: 1.1-0ubuntu1

Comment 1 Michael 2015-06-09 08:43:44 UTC

Created attachment 93090 [details]
Shows how the controls are various widths for the Basic Options tab

Comment 2 Michael 2015-06-09 08:44:28 UTC

Created attachment 93091 [details]
Shows how the controls are various widths for the Scanner Specific Options tab

Comment 3 Kåre Särs 2015-06-09 20:30:46 UTC

I agree here that the visual polish is not the best. The problem is that I want Skanlite to be usable also on low-resolution devices (1024x600) and not have the options tabs eating all the space.

Since I don't know the scanner provided options in advance it is not easy to optimize the widths without making it really strange in some places. Try the test backend:
skanlite -d test

Then check "Enable test options" in the Scanner Specific Options tab. Now you have some really long labels, short and long combo-boxes, sliders that have short or long spin-box areas,...

How would the "Bit depth" option look if the combo-box would be as wide as possible?

Ideas on how to solve the dilemma are welcome ;)

Regards,
  Kåre

Comment 4 Michael 2015-06-14 06:47:06 UTC

Hello Kåre,

Okay, it seems that there are a bunch of issues here, so let's go at them:

> The problem is that I want Skanlite to be usable also on low-resolution devices (1024x600)
> and not have the options tabs eating all the space. 

The few times that I've used a netbook running at 1024x600, I've been grateful when windows didn't get clipped at the bottom, so I can see what you're getting at.

In the same way that websites now have reactive layouts that reorganize their structure differently depending if the site is being displayed on a low-res device like a phone, or a hi-res computer screen, I wonder if a reactive type of layout would be a solution for Skanlite if it needed more visual space? Just food for thought.

I measured a default invocation of Skanlite's window resolution. With the Breeze theme, it shows a size of 889 x 444. I think we still have some room to heighten the window, even if we're shooting for a netbook-class constraint. I'd say we could at least go from a vertical sizing of 444 to 560, which would show more of the "Image intensity" grouping. And then we still have room in the x dimension to widen if need be.

> Since I don't know the scanner provided options in advance it is not easy
> to optimize the widths without making it really strange in some places. 
> Try the test backend: skanlite -d test 
> Then check "Enable test options" in the Scanner Specific Options tab. 
> Now you have some really long labels, short and long combo-boxes, 
> sliders that have short or long spin-box areas,... 

That's a cool test to have as a reference.

Maybe I wasn't being clear in my description, but I hope you see what I mean in the first attachment picture that I originally included: My issue was one of simple visual alignment where if you look at the right edge of a bunch of controls, say the "Scan mode" drop-down, the "Bit depth" drop-down, the "Scan resolution" spin-box, and the "Brightness" spin-box, you see that they all have different widths. In my attachment, I drew red lines to show the right-edge of the controls and how different they are. 

For example, in the Brightness spin-box, it is a very wide area to input a value that goes to 100. Why does it need to be so wide? If it were a box half the width, it could still fit 3-digit numbers, and it would align visually with the "Bit depth" drop-down. Moreover, if the Brightness box were to be shortened, the slider adjacent it could be elongated, and its width match the slider of the "Scan resolution" slider above it. Do you see what I mean?

To the eye, it looks cluttered and disorganized to see these right edges unaligned, and the sliders of different lengths.

> How would the "Bit depth" option look if the combo-box would be as wide as possible?

I don't know right now, but I imagine the interface might need to change to accommodate it.