Bug 428337

Your ideas make sense to me.
Arvin, what do you think about them?

> - Partition table doesn't have focus by default (e.g. after returning from
>   an edit partition screen). The user has to press Tab multiple times for that.

Yes, I use ncurses UI it annoys me as well :) Trivial to fix

>   Bad for keyboard only navigation.

Indeed. We need some function keys and kbd shortcuts, or moving kbd focus around where appropriate

> - Double click / <Return> on partition entry navigates to the (rather useless)
>   detail screen. This should navigate to the edit screen. We're changing the
>   partition table, and that involves mainly editing partitions, right?

This is a bit tricky - 'mainly editing partitions', right, but you might want to  delete the partition, or resize it (that is a different dialog) as well. User must be able to pick either of these three options (edit/resize/delete) somewhere. 

What I think is reasonable (and have it on to-do/fixme list is to focus partitions tab (instead of overview) on double click on hard disk 

> - On Edit screen: "Mount point" field should have focus after "Mount 
>   partition" has been selected.

Hmm ... does it make sense if 'Mount point' field is just one Tab key away? But otherwise, it's trivial to fix as well

> - On Edit screen: File system ID is only changeable if partition is not
>   formated. This is pointless, changing the File system ID should be possible
>   any time, and *especially* when the partition is to me formated.

This is identical behaviour with respect to the old partitioner. Dunno why it worked that way, maybe the former author of partitioner wanted to prevent user from changing filesystem  ID carelessly, unless s/he knows exactly what s/he's doing ... 

> - On Edit screen: <Return> should return to partition overview (Finish).

I don't think I'm getting your point here ... shouldn't it return to the very same screen where it was before?
Oh, and there shouldn't be 'finish' key - ) it does not comply to style guide 2) it makes user believe that it'll finish the whole configuration, not just editing this particular partition

> - On Add screen: Maximum size should only be selected by default for extended
>   partitions. Manual size should be selected by default for others, the "Size"
>   field should have focus.

Makes sense

> - On Add screen: "Size" field should accept "G"/"M" as well, not only
> "GB"/"MB".

Makes sense

Argh ... anyway, thanks for feedback, seems that we really need it :)

(In reply to comment #2 from Katarina Machalkova)
 
> > - Double click / <Return> on partition entry navigates to the (rather useless)
> >   detail screen. This should navigate to the edit screen. We're changing the
> >   partition table, and that involves mainly editing partitions, right?
> 
> This is a bit tricky - 'mainly editing partitions', right, but you might want
> to  delete the partition, or resize it (that is a different dialog) as well.
> User must be able to pick either of these three options (edit/resize/delete)
> somewhere. 

Hm. Yes.
But this is mainly about mouse usage, having a context menu for delete/resize/add would IMHO be good enough. Anyway, the current behavior is probably the worst of all possibilities ;)

> What I think is reasonable (and have it on to-do/fixme list is to focus
> partitions tab (instead of overview) on double click on hard disk 

That's already a very reasonable first step. And should be done independently from the other suggestions.

Alternatively to my suggestion above, on double click / <Return> on a partition the partitioner could switch to the partitions tab of the harddisk this partition is located on as well.

> > - On Edit screen: "Mount point" field should have focus after "Mount 
> >   partition" has been selected.
> 
> Hmm ... does it make sense if 'Mount point' field is just one Tab key away? But
> otherwise, it's trivial to fix as well

Yes, it does make sense, there is no reason whatsoever why an activated selection point should still have focus. There's nothing to select there anymore. When you've edited some 10 mount points, you get kind of annoyed to additionally press Alt-M  after Alt-E (for edit) and Alt-O. I'm not talking about Tab, you don't want to release Alt all the time.

> > - On Edit screen: File system ID is only changeable if partition is not
> >   formated. This is pointless, changing the File system ID should be possible
> >   any time, and *especially* when the partition is to me formated.
> 
> This is identical behaviour with respect to the old partitioner. Dunno why it
> worked that way, maybe the former author of partitioner wanted to prevent user
> from changing filesystem  ID carelessly, unless s/he knows exactly what s/he's
> doing ... 

It's an old standing usability issue. I thought it would be useful to address all points that happened during installation to me.

> > - On Edit screen: <Return> should return to partition overview (Finish).
> 
> I don't think I'm getting your point here ... shouldn't it return to the very
> same screen where it was before?

Well - yes, exactly. But it doesn't.
To be more exact: it doesn't, when your input focus is mount point.

> Oh, and there shouldn't be 'finish' key - ) it does not comply to style guide

Exactly :) But I thought this was nit-picking in comparison.

> Argh ... anyway, thanks for feedback, seems that we really need it :)

You're very welcome :)

Accepting "G"/"M" as well as "GB"/"MB" has now been implemented.

All of your proposals have been implemented (in openSUSE 11.2 - context menus & co., some of them already in openSUSE 11.1), except for these two:

> - On Edit screen: File system ID is only changeable if partition is not
>   formated. This is pointless, changing the File system ID should be possible
>   any time, and *especially* when the partition is to me formated.

Please open a new bug for this issue + add some real-life usecase for that (i.e. when it makes sense to modify fsid manually, partitioner is usually able to figure the correct one out by itself).

> - On Edit screen: <Return> should return to partition overview (Finish).

This one is UI issue. To re-phrase: dialog's default button ('finish' in this case) should work and whenever user hits Return key, it should be activated. From my testing:
i) it works reasonably well in Qt UI
ii) it works sometimes in Gtk UI -  maybe worth opening a bug for the cases when it does not
iii) it does not, never did and will not work in ncurses for technical reasons :(

Anyway, closing

(In reply to comment #5)
> All of your proposals have been implemented (in openSUSE 11.2 - context menus &
> co., some of them already in openSUSE 11.1), except for these two:

Great news! Thanks for addressing them!

> > - On Edit screen: File system ID is only changeable if partition is not
> >   formated. This is pointless, changing the File system ID should be possible
> >   any time, and *especially* when the partition is to me formated.
> 
> Please open a new bug for this issue + add some real-life usecase for that
> (i.e. when it makes sense to modify fsid manually, partitioner is usually able
> to figure the correct one out by itself).

I don't think I remember the use case. I will open a new bug when I stumble over something the next time I use the partitioner.

> > - On Edit screen: <Return> should return to partition overview (Finish).
> 
> This one is UI issue. To re-phrase: dialog's default button ('finish' in this
> case) should work and whenever user hits Return key, it should be activated.
> From my testing:
> i) it works reasonably well in Qt UI
> ii) it works sometimes in Gtk UI -  maybe worth opening a bug for the cases
> when it does not
> iii) it does not, never did and will not work in ncurses for technical reasons
> :(

Fair enough. I assume I stumbled over that in the ncurses case.

Thanks again.