Re: RFE #876613

Am 19.01.2004 um 07:47 schrieb Jerzy Kaczorowski:
> The code we are talking about is in the CvsEntries.cpp at the end of
> Entries_SetVisited function where we are setting the description for 
> entries
> elements. That is used in the Status column.
>
> For the folder we can have:
> "Ignored Folder"
> "NonCvs Folder"
> "Folder"
>
> For the files we got:
> "Ignored"
> "NonCvs file"
> "Conflict"
> "Binary" or "Mod. Binary"
> "Unicode" or "Mod. Unicode"
> "File" or "Mod. File"
>
> To begin with I am contemplating to change the column name to "State" 
> to
> indicate that it's not exactly the same as the result of "cvs status"
> command but it reflect to more "local" information. But I am not quite 
> sure
> on this because it may confuse people a little bit.
>
> But most important is the change of the description text itself. I 
> suggest
> to change as follows:
> For the folders:
> "Ignored"
> "Unknown"
> ""
>
> For files:
> "Ignored"
> "Unknown"
> "Conflict"
> "Resolved"
> "Modified"
> ""
>
> The reason is that information about the type is redundant - it's 
> already
> contained in the Option column and the icon for the file. From CVS 
> "state"
> perspective the type isn't much important.

While I agree that it shouldn't be in the "Status" column, I'd still 
keep - at least optional - a "Type" column.
In general, I think in the long run, we should move away from being a 
purist cvs frontend that just shows whatever low-level output cvs 
returns towards a more user-friendly frontend that translates this 
output into 'human readable' from (e.g. "Binary File" as type instead 
of '-kb', update/modified state display in the browser instead of 
having to read the console output to see which files were modified in 
the repository when doing "Check Update", etc.).
While many of the low-level details may be interesting for technical 
kind of people, cvs is more and more used by 'mere mortals' that don't 
have a profound knowledge of cvs' architecture and thus won't 
necessarily know what to make of '-kb'...
As of now, the feedback from our frontend is remarkably similar to the 
output of the commandline tools. From user reports on versiontracker, 
etc. forums, it seems like this is not what users want - and I have to 
agree, even though I understand what all those terms are, but I still 
believe that the UI should make the transition from technical terms to 
user terms... Plus, feedback in the browser for more things is 
necessary so it's not as important to consult the console window (e.g. 
it would be nice to see the current revision of a file, even when it's 
not sticky, results of an update check, etc.) Some of this has already 
been discussed, but it's definitely a direction we should take in the 
future, I think...
(That of course being a long-term task).

>
> I propose to change "NonCvs" into "Unknown" for it being shorter and 
> in use
> for filter descritpion for a long time now. It just seems to be more
> natural.
>
> Additionally we would use empty string for folders and files that are 
> "up to
> date". That would reduce the noise and expose the files that are 
> potentially
> more of interest to the user - modified or unkwnon ones. To help 
> expose the
> files of potential interest the sorting algorithm for state column 
> would
> apply "empty always looses" strategy. That means that when sorted by 
> state
> the files with non-empty description would always be on top of the 
> list both
> in ascending and descending order. In my experience that sorting 
> approach
> helps a great deal.
>
> That is just a proposal for now and since it will impact all platforms 
> I'm
> waiting for comments or suggestions. It should help with translations a
> little bit and thanks to the new sorting approach it will make sure 
> that
> important things are always on top and clearly visible. I am using 
> that same
> approach in CvsIn while I'm hacking WinCvs and I find it quite 
> helpfull.

Sound pretty good...
Maybe for the sorting of the "State" column we should not do a plain 
text comparison, but compare the 'internal' states as opposed to 
comparing the display text, which should be localized. That way, e.g. 
"Unknown" would always sort before "Modified" (assuming that's how it's 
internally rated), regardless of the translated display names for those 
states.
(I'm not entirely sure that's what users would expect, though - it 
really depends on how people use this column...)

</jum>


 

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