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Bug 360730

Summary:	[client] Use words "fetch" and "push" in tooltips
Product:	[ECD] Orion	Reporter:	John Arthorne <john.arthorne>
Component:	Git	Assignee:	Tomasz Zarna <tomasz.zarna>
Status:	RESOLVED FIXED	QA Contact:
Severity:	minor
Priority:	P3	CC:	susan
Version:	0.3	Flags:	susan: review+
Target Milestone:	0.3 RC3
Hardware:	All
OS:	All
Whiteboard:

Description John Arthorne

2011-10-12 16:54:35 EDT

20111012

it looks like the tooltips for fetch and push in the Git status view have been changed. Now they say:

Fetch: "Update the remote tracking branch using content from the remote"
Push: "Update the remote branch using content from your local active branch"

I think these are technically correct, but very confusing because they both start with "Update the remote...". I think we should use the well known git terms "fetch" and "push" here to avoid confusion. Something like:

Fetch: "Fetch from the remote into your local branch"
Push: "Push from your local branch into the remote branch"

I realize the term "remote tracking branch" is used but its meaning is ambiguous. I.e., it could be interpreted as a branch that tracks a remote, or a tracking branch that is remote.

Comment 1 Tomasz Zarna

2011-10-13 11:55:17 EDT

The author (Szymon) is gone, so I will adjust them.

Comment 2 Susan McCourt

2011-10-13 13:24:10 EDT

(In reply to comment #1)
> The author (Szymon) is gone, so I will adjust them.

Thanks. We used to show the command name for icon commands but now we show the full tooltip.  Most core commands use the command name to start the tooltip.  I mentioned this to szymon and he argued for the tooltip to be implemented as a progressively expanding thing that showed name and then tooltip.  I forgot to follow up on the short term fix.  I think we should have all tooltips start with the command name unless it's awkward.

Comment 3 Tomasz Zarna

2011-10-14 07:25:45 EDT

This is how I understand the terms mentioned in comment 0:

local branch - a branch in refs/heads/*
local active branch - a local branch pointed by HEAD, it's sometimes called "local checked out branch"
remote tracking branch - a branch in refs/remotes/{remote}/*, stored locally, created to track a branch on the {remote}
remote branch - a branch on the remote, it doesn't have to exist locally

I'm aware the last two may be confusing. Very often branches like "origin/master" are called "remote branches". I'm not saying it's wrong, but I guess this is the source of the ambiguity John mentioned.

If we agreed to use those meanings "Fetch from the remote into your local branch" would be wrong. It should say "Fetch from the remote branch into your remote tracking branch". Tooltip for push "Push from your local branch into the remote branch" would be fine. I think there is no need to mention that remote tracking branch would be updated as well (it's a technical detail imo).

So, my suggestions are:

Push - "Push from your local branch into the remote branch"
Push To ... - "Push from your local branch into the selected remote branch" (currently disabled, see bug 352202)
Push All - "Push commits and tags from your local branch into the remote branch" (notice it's not "git push --all" rather "git push --tags")
Force Push All - "Push commits and tags from your local branch into the remote branch overriding its current content. Be careful! You may lose history"
Fetch - "Fetch from the remote branch into your remote tracking branch" (when on a remote tracking branch)
Fetch - "Fetch from the remote into your remote tracking branches" (when on a remote)
Force Fetch - "Fetch from the remote branch into your remote tracking branch overriding its current content" (when on a remote tracking branch)

What do you think?

Comment 4 John Arthorne

2011-10-14 10:05:38 EDT

That sounds fine. To be honest if the first word is "Push", "Fetch", etc, the user will quickly understand what it means without reading the rest closely. The only one I didn't like is:

Force Push All - "Push commits and tags from your local branch into the remote
branch overriding its current content. Be careful! You may lose history"

A warning about losing work shouldn't be hidden in a tooltip. That should really be a warning dialog after clicking the button. If there is already a warning dialog then the warning isn't needed in the tooltip as well.

Comment 5 Susan McCourt

2011-10-14 11:42:40 EDT

(In reply to comment #4)

> A warning about losing work shouldn't be hidden in a tooltip. That should
> really be a warning dialog after clicking the button. If there is already a
> warning dialog then the warning isn't needed in the tooltip as well.

Agree.  Note we don't have a similar warning in Force Fetch tooltip.  I think both of those work-losing actions should have a warning prompt.

Comment 6 Tomasz Zarna

2011-10-14 13:29:04 EDT

Proposed change: http://git.eclipse.org/c/orion/org.eclipse.orion.client.git/commit/?h=bug360730&id=8ee8c0cd9453c884096331b123a907aae7685694. Susan please review. I didn't know what to do with the Fetch command which can appear for both Remote and Remote Tracking Branch so I combined both tips into lame "{tip for remote} or {tip for remote tracking branch}". If you have a better idea feel free to update the branch and merge it then. Have a nice weekend!

Comment 7 Susan McCourt

2011-10-14 15:57:22 EDT

(In reply to comment #6)
> Proposed change:
> http://git.eclipse.org/c/orion/org.eclipse.orion.client.git/commit/?h=bug360730&id=8ee8c0cd9453c884096331b123a907aae7685694.
> Susan please review. I didn't know what to do with the Fetch command which can
> appear for both Remote and Remote Tracking Branch so I combined both tips into
> lame "{tip for remote} or {tip for remote tracking branch}". If you have a
> better idea feel free to update the branch and merge it then. Have a nice
> weekend!

+1.  I really had trouble understanding that fetch tooltip so I just got rid of the parenthetical "when on a..." remarks and made it terse.  "fetch from remote".  Maybe we can do better, but I think that contextually people know what it means.