Bug 289320 - Poor ergonomics: names of packages appear truncated/column cannot be resized/...
Summary: Poor ergonomics: names of packages appear truncated/column cannot be resized/...
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: apper
Classification: Applications
Component: general (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: Fedora RPMs Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Daniel Nicoletti
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2011-12-18 22:09 UTC by Nicofo
Modified: 2018-11-10 01:30 UTC (History)
1 user (show)

See Also:
Latest Commit:
Version Fixed In:
Sentry Crash Report:


Attachments
Apper's poor ergonomics (97.63 KB, image/png)
2011-12-18 22:09 UTC, Nicofo
Details
(very) bad ergonomy in Apper ! (91.89 KB, image/png)
2013-01-10 19:38 UTC, Nicofo
Details

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Description Nicofo 2011-12-18 22:09:22 UTC
Created attachment 66889 [details]
Apper's poor ergonomics

Version:           unspecified (using KDE 4.7.3) 
OS:                Linux

See the picture attached.

When displaying the "Version" of the packages (in the main search view of Apper), several names of packages becomes unreadable (because truncated).
Moreover, it is not possible to see the full name of the package: "traditional" method (=available in many other software) don't work:
1) it is not possible to resize the columns (in the picture attached, the "Name" column is ridiculously little compared to the "Version" column, and this cannot be changed !!)
2) the little popup which is displayed when hoovering the mouse on the package name displays... the version (which is perfectly visible) and not the name !!

(Rem: in the picture, the version of one package not visible on that view is very long, which explains why the "Version" column is so important).

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
(check "Show Versions" in the results list)

Actual Results:  
The search view has very poor ergonomics:
- columns cannot be resized
- "version" column should not be more important than "name" column
- results are even not sorted !!
- and columns cannot be sorted
- ...

Expected Results:  
All that must be possible (that's basic actions present in all modern software)
Comment 1 Daniel Nicoletti 2011-12-20 00:11:37 UTC
Ridiculous is a package version so wide, not Apper's fault.
I'll try to truncate the version but I'm not sure it's possible.
Comment 2 Nicofo 2011-12-20 19:23:10 UTC
(In reply to comment #1)
> Ridiculous is a package version so wide, not Apper's fault.
Yes indeed ! But the fact is that wide versions exist (and are quite frequent: some version with "git": for example, ati driver is "xorg-x11-drv-ati-6.14.3-3.20111125git534fb6e41.fc16.i686").
So that must be taken into account in apper design.
> I'll try to truncate the version but I'm not sure it's possible.
Not sure it's a good solution: in the ati driver package for instance, the number indicates a git version (I don't know exactly what it represents, but it is certainly useful for some people). Or at least the full version must be visible when hovering the version with the mouse.
The good solution, according to me, is to enable people to resize the columns.
Comment 3 Daniel Nicoletti 2013-01-09 17:53:10 UTC
I can't fix this since if I enable people to resize the column then it doesn't get good default values :/
Comment 4 Nicofo 2013-01-10 19:38:10 UTC
Created attachment 76373 [details]
(very) bad ergonomy in Apper !

(In reply to comment #3)
> I can't fix this since if I enable people to resize the column then it doesn't get good default values :/

I'm sorry, I cannot accept this response: have a look at what I get after a simple research in apper (see new attachment - tested with apper-0.7.2-4.fc16.i686): totally unreadable: it makes apper just UNUSABLE !!
(remark: a workaround for me is to maximize the window, but it would not be possible with small screens)

My suggestions for that view:
1) Enable column resizing (I don't understand your answer: the fact columns are resizeable don't disable the calculation of a good default value (I guess you mean default "width"). Just as now, when the results must be displayed, you can calculate the default width, but you can also enable their resizing. And no need to memorize the custom width for the next time: just recalculate it again, as now. Please tell me if I have misunderstood you)

2) Enable column sorting (I don't know what are the impact in term of programming, but there are already sortable columns in other views of apper => should be easy to enable I guess ?)

2bis) And sort the results by default: it is not the case now (not visible in screenshot). The first results are packages with an icon, then the packages without icons. Strange sorting... Maybe the idea was to list applications first, then other packages ?

3) In the popup (see screenshot), simply add the name of the package. It's the most important thing after a search no ? And must be simple to implement in the code.

(if you prefer I can open a bug for each point ?)

I hope you understand my point (again, have a look at the screenshot !)
I'm sure something can be done to improve the 'search view'.
Thanks in advance for taking my few suggestions into account.
Comment 5 Andrew Crouthamel 2018-11-09 01:09:12 UTC
Dear Bug Submitter,

This bug has been stagnant for a long time. Could you help us out and re-test if the bug is valid in the latest version? I am setting the status to NEEDSINFO pending your response, please change the Status back to REPORTED when you respond.

Thank you for helping us make KDE software even better for everyone!
Comment 6 Nicofo 2018-11-09 20:07:07 UTC
Sorry, I don't use apper anymore because of its lack of ergonomy. Maybe it is in better shape now, but I found better alternatives...
Comment 7 Andrew Crouthamel 2018-11-10 01:30:17 UTC
Thanks for the update!