Re: Project Groups - UI proposal ready

Jan Rojcek wrote:
> I propose to keep just the simple free group that tracks open/closed 
> projects in the group.

OK. Other opinions pro/con?

> The current "Advanced" check box doesn't work from UI perspective.

Consider it temporary - the purpose is not to be nice for a release, it 
is to make it easy to turn on and off the other group kinds while doing 
the UI evaluation. If we seriously wanted to keep all the group kinds 
for a product release, but have a separate Advanced mode, then we could 
design some nicer GUI.

> If I understand correctly it only turns on/off the types of groups in
> "New Group" dialog.

And controls whether to show the autosynch-related GUI in the properties 
dialog for free groups.

> I agree with the point of visualizing the current group. I can see 3 
> places where to display it:
> 
> - Projects window tab - might not work well in the default window 
> layout. There's probably not enough space in the tab.

Depends on your screen resolution etc. In the default IDE appearance 
probably there is insufficient room.

(Off-topic but personally I find the default IDE appearance less than 
optimal for doing real work. IMHO the main window should be maximized, 
and Projects and other left-area tabs should be wider, in autoslide 
mode, and on the right where they are less likely to cover up text in 
the editor.)

> - Root node in the Project window - only visible when the user uses 
> groups (other group than "none" is selected). Isn't really visible if 
> the user scrolls the expanded project tree down.

-1. Needlessly adds another hierarchy level to the window, decreasing 
usability of horizontal space.

> - Title bar - there's enough space, but it's a bit far away from the 
> project window

I considered that, but the IDE already displays the selected project 
(i.e. project corresponding to node selection or active editor window) 
in the title bar, which is more useful IMHO than displaying the active 
project group.

> Currently the radio button of a group is disabled under certain 
> condition. I understand the intention, but it's nonstandard and not 
> really obvious why it's so. I suggest to keep it always enabled.

If advanced group kinds are removed then there is no need for this, of 
course.

> When a master group is selected and I open a new project, it should be 
> somehow visible that this project isn't actually part of the group. 
> Maybe grayed project icon, or it would open up underneath a node saying 
> "Temporary" or something like that.

Impossible while feature is implemented as a separate module, and 
irrelevant if we kill other group kinds anyway, so let's defer that.

-J.

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