[Design Help Wanted] Plasma networkmanagement
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KDE Developer 
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Hi all,
we need some design help with the new plasma networkmanagement applet. We are already done with the functional part of it, but it still needs some design love. We would like to improve mainly buttons, but I guess there are more places waiting to be improved, so all ideas are welcomed. Here are some screenshots from the current implementation:    
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Registered Member
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Hi Jan!
Looks not bad! On a quick view I would make some sort of button instead of the checkboxes on the top! When it´s active then the button should stay pressed (I hope you know what you mean*g*). I will stay on the ball... Have a nice day! davidb |
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Registered Member
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hi
It looks quite good to me,am not some elite designer so don't take my opinion too seriously. anyway,I was just wondering about 2 things,1)Is there a tool-tip to show up when you hover over these buttons on the top to explain what they are ? 2)what exactly does the red cross on the top buttons indicate ? |
Global Moderator
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It should really have a scrollbar. I know normal people use the mouse wheel, but I was watching someone trying to use an earlier version of this, and they didn't figure out that they could scroll down. It's not so easy on many laptops, too.
Greetings! Sven
I'm working on the KDevelop IDE.
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Registered Member
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Personally I've never been keen on scroll bars for these sorts of widgets. How about horizontal bars / buttons, a bit like the mockup below?
  Probably could do with a bit more shadow on the top, just to make it clear that the contents is disappearing behind it. |
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KDE Developer
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We don't have a scrollbar, because this component is broken and doesn't work correctly. I like your mockup, but I'm not sure how difficult would be to implement it. |
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Global Moderator
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I know, I know  But that can't mean that core UI is lacking essential elements such as scrollbars. I guarantee it -- quite some users will not figure out how to scroll in this widget. Especially when you install the system on a new notebook, it's likely you do not know how to scroll using the mouse wheel emulation (it works differently on each notebook). And that you can grab-and-drag the widget to scroll is more a bug than a feature on desktop computers in my opinion. As said: I was in a room with two quite tech-savvy people who couldn't figure out how to find their network in the list until I showed them you could scroll down and how. Greetings!
I'm working on the KDevelop IDE.
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Registered Member
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Love the improvements so far...
but wouldn't your screenshots and videos look better with the Oxygen font? P |
Registered Member
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Hi guys,
Could anyone of you explain me the reasons (or point me to a link) why a new KDE NetworkManager has been developed? I was indeed accustomed to use the old one which I found more usable for non tech-savvy people than the current one. With the current implementation, I have some use cases I cannot fulfill: - How do you specify an hidden network? The old one had a field "Hidden network" at the top of the network list where we could directly specify the hidden SSID. - The scroll bar is indeed problematic, you at least need a visual indicator, either an arrow as proposed above or a scroll bar (be it clickable or not). - The checkboxes coupled with the network icons are not enough explicit. "I see that the network icon does have a red cross on it, does checking the box enable the network disconnection or enable the connection availability?". It's the kind of question I could have from my parents. Regards, |
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KDE Developer
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There are several reasons why we started with the new one, but I'm not going to discuss it in this topic. Regarding to your questions: 1) You can create a new wireless connection in the editor and there is an option for hidden networks, but I think that NetworkManager already see them all (even if they are hidden), or at least in the development version. 2) We know about it, but there is probably nothing we can do, but it will be probably better with Plasma Next. 3) We will problably put there some tooltips to make it clear. |
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Global Moderator
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Can't you add an ugly button as suggested above? I understand it's an ugly workaround, but at least users will not be clueless how to scroll...
edit: Apparently this post was perceived as agressive by some. I'm sorry, I did not mean to be. I meant to say that I would prefer to see the button solution implemented over having no scrollbar at all.
Last edited by scummos on Fri Feb 21, 2014 8:34 am, edited 3 times in total.
I'm working on the KDevelop IDE.
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Administrator
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Please open a new topic in either Workspace or Internet & Network with your issues, so that this thread can keep on discussing on design (to keep things clean). Thanks!
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent."
 Plasma FAQ maintainer - Plasma programming with Python |
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Registered Member
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Well I did say it needed more shadow. 
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Global Moderator
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The "ugly" was actually referring to the uglyness of the workaround from a user interaction perspective, not to the design
I'm working on the KDevelop IDE.
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Registered Member
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On small screens I'd say a button is probably better as it's a bigger area to click on, but there you are. Is the scroll bar totally broken? Or would it still be possible to put a very thin visual scroll bar a la Android? (This would be my personal preference anyway if I'm honest. I'm not very keen on fat scroll bars in small widgets such as these, I don't think it looks right.)
I wonder whether putting a little 'as you type' search box in the available connections tab might be a good idea? I've never lived in an area that has a massive amount of wifi connections so I couldn't really say if this would be useful or not, but if it's the case that people are having to scroll through a long list of availables then it might be. |
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