Re: How to visualize wrong or missing configuration in NM connection editor

Hi Jan,

interesting topic, and ideally you implement a two-step error handling.

The first one comes from the HIG
(https://community.kde.org/KDE_Visual_Design_Group/HIG/LineEdit):

* If the user enters a character that is known to be invalid, ignore
the character and display an input problem hint that explains the
valid characters (e.g. numbers vs. characters).

It means to not accept alphanumerical input for IPv4 values, for
example. Guess that's realized today.

* If the input data has a value or format that is known to be invalid,
display an input problem hint when the text box loses input focus
(e.g. wrong zip code format).
* If the input data is inconsistent with other controls on the window,
give an error message when the entire input is complete, such as when
users click OK for a modal dialog box.

These two guidelines are what you suggest with the red frame. In case
of inconsistent/missing user input you would highlight the fields that
will fail the current operation. An example is when the password is
missing. (We should refine the text as KDE apps never show a callout
at places with wrong input, would be nice though.)

There might be an issue with themes as I don't know for sure if the
error color is defined separately and appropriately. The red frame
looks good on dark background but not when the theme is pink.
Furthermore the information is only color-coded. An accompanying icon
helps users with visual disabilities (or the callout as defined in the
current HIG) .

The second (or actually third) step of error handling is when the
action has been executed but returns an error. In that case you show a
message panel on top of the dialog
(https://community.kde.org/KDE_Visual_Design_Group/HIG/MessageWidget).

Best wishes,
Heiko

2017-04-11 8:05 GMT+02:00 Jan Grulich <[email protected]>:
> Hey,
>
> I would like to ask/discuss what do you think would be a good way how to
> visualize wrong or missing configuration in NM connection editor, because
> there are quite many fields you can set and sometimes users may be wondering
> why they cannot hit the apply button.
>
> Example 1 - missing password in wifi configuration:
> https://jgrulich.fedorapeople.org/wifi_tab_missing_password.png
>
> Example 2 - missing IP address in ipv4 configuration:
> https://jgrulich.fedorapeople.org/ipv4_tab_missing_address.png
>
> But there are many cases where this would be needed and some of them may not
> be that obvious like missing password.
>
> One solution could be to use what nm-connection-editor uses for this. They
> highlight the border of the missing/wrong field, see picture below:
> https://jgrulich.fedorapeople.org/nm_connection_editor.png
>
> I would personally go for this, but there is no other application using/
> requiring something like this, at least none I would be aware of so I'm not
> sure if this will comply with you and our guidelines and I would like to also
> hear other opinions.
>
> Thank you
>
> Regards,
> Jan
> --
> Jan Grulich,
> Software Engineer, Desktop Team
> Red Hat