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Bug 369574

Summary:	Usability enhancements for synchronized project filtering
Product:	[Tools] PTP	Reporter:	Greg Watson <g.watson>
Component:	RDT.sync	Assignee:	John Eblen <jeblen>
Status:	CLOSED FIXED	QA Contact:
Severity:	normal
Priority:	P3	CC:	jeblen
Version:	5.0.4
Target Milestone:	5.0.5
Hardware:	Macintosh
OS:	Mac OS X
Whiteboard:

Description Greg Watson

2012-01-24 14:00:42 EST

Some suggestions to improve the usability of the synchronized project filtering:

1. Replace the "Modify Exclude/Include List" and "Modify Default Exclude/Include List for New Projects" menus with a single menu "Filter..." The dots "..." are used to indicate an action that opens a dialog.

2. The "Modify Default Exclude/Include List for New Projects" action should be a preference page called "Synchronized Projects". Global preferences are never accessed from a context menu on a project. 

3. Rather than use colors to indicate included/excluded, use a font attribute (e.g. bold) or provide separate tables (preferable). Using color is an issue with accessibility.

4. Rather than "Enter pattern" and "Select pattern", there should be an "Add" and "Remove" button to the right of each table (assuming separate tables for include/exclude). These should pop up a dialog that allows the user to enter a pattern or select a pre-defined pattern. See the Team>File Content preference page for an example.

5. Is it necessary to have the file view at all? This might be a problem for very large projects (scalability), and it only provides a single level in any case (you can't enter folders). If you want to allow the user to select from a list, I'd suggest using a file browser from the "Add" button in #4.

6. "Remove" should be used rather than "Delete".

7. The "Up" and "Down" buttons should be the same size.

Thanks!

Comment 1 John Eblen

2012-01-31 14:02:31 EST

(In reply to comment #0)
Thanks for the feedback! Changes have been committed to ptp_5_0. Items 1,2,6, and 7 were handled as suggested. Regarding items 3-5:
 
> 3. Rather than use colors to indicate included/excluded, use a font attribute
> (e.g. bold) or provide separate tables (preferable). Using color is an issue
> with accessibility.

Colors have been removed, but a single table is needed to show the order in which patterns are applied. So instead, the table has been changed to state explicitly whether each pattern is an exclude or include pattern.

> 4. Rather than "Enter pattern" and "Select pattern", there should be an "Add"
> and "Remove" button to the right of each table (assuming separate tables for
> include/exclude). These should pop up a dialog that allows the user to enter a
> pattern or select a pre-defined pattern. See the Team>File Content preference
> page for an example.

There are four ways to enter a pattern, including the file view and the boxes below the pattern view. Given this many options, and also how the views work together (see below), it seems better to have them all on one page.
 
> 5. Is it necessary to have the file view at all? This might be a problem for
> very large projects (scalability), and it only provides a single level in any
> case (you can't enter folders). If you want to allow the user to select from a
> list, I'd suggest using a file browser from the "Add" button in #4.

The file view is not a list but a file tree for the project with checks to indicate what is being sync'ed. (The commit fixes it so that all directories are now expandable.) Users can deselect or select files and directories directly from this view. Additionally, it and the pattern view are both updated whenever a pattern is added, moved, or removed. This is a helpful feature in that users can see immediately how a change affects what files are synchronized.

Comment 2 John Eblen

2012-03-08 14:19:51 EST

Closing because the target milestone, 5.0.5, has been released.