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I recently met with Boris Bokowski and we chatted about what we should be doing to make the Eclipse IDE easier to use for unexperienced developers. Boris, expressed that the concept of the workspace is a bit complex to understand for new people. This made me look with critical eyes on the text on the workspace selection dialog. I definitely agree that the text on the dialog is not very informative. I suggest to change it to something more descriptive: Here is my proposal: Titel of the dialog: Launcher - Instad of "Workspace Launcher" Select a directory - Instead of "Select a workspace" New Description: The Eclipse IDE uses a directory as physical location to stores its meta-data and references to your development artifacts. This is called the workspace. Choose a directory to use. "Directory" for the label before the dropdown box instead of "Workspace". Checkbox: Use this directory as default and do not ask again during startup.
Jan-Ove, can you take this one and provide a Gerrit review for the change?
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #0) > I definitely agree that the text on the dialog is not very informative. I > suggest to change it to something more descriptive: > > Here is my proposal: > > Titel of the dialog: Launcher - Instad of "Workspace Launcher" "Launcher" is the opposite to "informative". Imagine a taskbar which has an entry "Launcher". Launcher for *what*? May be "Eclipse Launcher"? > Select a directory - Instead of "Select a workspace" "Directory" is too generic. Can user select any directory? Special one? So may be "Select a workspace directory"? > New Description: > The Eclipse IDE uses a directory as physical location to stores its > meta-data and references to your development artifacts. This is called the > workspace. Choose a directory to use. -1 For comparison: old description (shorter! no mention of "physical ", "meta-data", "artifacts" - what is it all about???): "Eclipse SDK stores your projects in a folder called a workspace. Choose a workspace folder to use for this session." So may be we can rephrase it this way (to avoid using "project" and "session" terms which are also unknown to Eclipse newbies): "Eclipse stores your data in a folder called a workspace. Choose an directory now to use as Eclipse workspace." > "Directory" for the label before the dropdown box instead of "Workspace". Do we need it at all? > Checkbox: Use this directory as default and do not ask again during startup. -1, too long. The old one "Use this as the default and do not ask again" was short and good enough IMHO.
As I have not heard from Jan-Ove about this, I take this bug.
(In reply to Andrey Loskutov from comment #2) > May be "Eclipse Launcher"? +1 > "Directory" is too generic. Can user select any directory? Special one? It can be any directory. > "Eclipse stores your data in a folder called a workspace. > Choose an directory now to use as Eclipse workspace." Actually I think the second sentence is redundant, as we say before "Select a workspace" or "Select a directory". I suggest to simply use: "{0} stores your data in a directory called a workspace." > > "Directory" for the label before the dropdown box instead of "Workspace". > Do we need it at all? I think with the label the dialog looks better. If you disagree, please open a new bug report for discussion. I would like to keep this one for label changes only. > > > Checkbox: Use this directory as default and do not ask again during startup. > > -1, too long. > > The old one "Use this as the default and do not ask again" was short and > good enough IMHO. OK, I agree.
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #4) > Actually I think the second sentence is redundant, as we say before "Select > a workspace" or "Select a directory". I suggest to simply use: > > "{0} stores your data in a directory called a workspace." After changing it, I think the desired action was missing. I changed it now to: {0} stores your data in a directory called a workspace. Please select one.
New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/58903
Gerrit change https://git.eclipse.org/r/58903 was merged to [master]. Commit: http://git.eclipse.org/c/platform/eclipse.platform.ui.git/commit/?id=11f0bb63b1aca29557a70a1a1dace70782992d6e
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(In reply to Eclipse Genie from comment #6) > New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/58903 Lars, can you attach the screenshot of the result to the bug? Thanks!
Created attachment 257503 [details] Screenshot
(In reply to Andrey Loskutov from comment #9) > (In reply to Eclipse Genie from comment #6) > > New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/58903 > > Lars, can you attach the screenshot of the result to the bug? Thanks! Sure.
*** Bug 371251 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
There are a few labels that can probably still be improved, according to some opinions on the platform-ui-dev mailing-list. Let me suggest some alternatives: * "Select a directory" -> "Select a workspace directory" or "Select a directory as workspace" * "Eclipse SDK stores your date..." -> "Eclipse uses this directory to store configuration and internal data about your projects." ? At that point, there is no need to tell users whether this will be the default folder for new projects IMO, this is already shown in the project wizards.
(In reply to Mickael Istria from comment #13) > There are a few labels that can probably still be improved, according to > some opinions on the platform-ui-dev mailing-list. > > Let me suggest some alternatives: > * "Select a directory" -> "Select a workspace directory" or "Select a > directory as workspace" "Select a workspace directory" would be OK to me. > * "Eclipse SDK stores your date..." -> "Eclipse uses this directory to store > configuration and internal data about your projects." ? At that point, there > is no need to tell users whether this will be the default folder for new > projects IMO, this is already shown in the project wizards. I don't think that "Eclipse uses this directory to store configuration and internal data about your projects." is correct. This would imply that we only store this in the workspace. What about: The Eclipse IDE uses the workspace directory as physical location to stores its meta-data and other development artifacts. Choose a directory to use.
As requested, I copy my comments from platform-ui-dev into this bug (knowing that the discussion already went on with Mikael): "Select a directory“ is by far less helpful than "Select a workspace“. Workspace is a term that needs to be learned but is has a well-defined meaning. „Directory“ is not. It’s like using "Open Dialog“ instead of „Open Preferences“ or „Open About“. I’d stick with Workspace in the title instead of directory. The Term „your data“ is much more vague than the previous explanation. I understand that, from a pure technical perspective, the workspace folder doesn’t have to store your data. But I does so by default, and thus, it’s okay to say so. In addition it actually stores the mapping which projects exist, are opened, closed etc. So, in a more abstract sense it’s still true. The change using „directory“ instead of „folder“ should be done carefully. Those terms are used widely in the APIs, documentation etc. While some may argue both can be used interchangeably I’d prefer to be consistent. Personally, I’ve a preference for folders since the resources plugins uses IFolders and IFiles and existing wizards use the term folders as well ( e.g. „Create New Folder Wizard“, New Source Folder Wizard“, „C++ Folder Properties“ etc.) For completeness: The change to add 5 more workspaces to the short list, well, for those this issue matters - they will be happy. Those that usually don’t have more than 5 workspaces per Eclipse install - they won’t notice. Thus, this change likely improves the dialog. Changing the dialog title from "Workspace Launcher" to "Eclipse Launcher" looks fine to me - although I did not feel uncomfortable with it before.
Please refer to https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=371251, it has additional alternatives for text formulation (workspace description).
Please make sure no to abandon "workspace" term as it is standard Eclipse term in many UI locations and should not be changed easily.
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #14) > (In reply to Mickael Istria from comment #13) > > Let me suggest some alternatives: > > "Select a directory as workspace" I think that is very descriptive. I prepare a change with it. > @Yevgeny unfortunately the descriptioin from Bug 371251 is to long. Any strong objections with the following text? If yes, please provide an alternative text which is similar in length. {0} uses the workspace directory to stores its preferences and development artifacts. \\ Choose a directory to use. Also I plan to change the label before the selection box back to "Workspace" as several people seem to prefer that.
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #18) > (In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #14) > > (In reply to Mickael Istria from comment #13) > > > > Let me suggest some alternatives: > > > "Select a directory as workspace" > > I think that is very descriptive. I prepare a change with it. > > > @Yevgeny unfortunately the descriptioin from Bug 371251 is to long. > > Any strong objections with the following text? If yes, please provide an > alternative text which is similar in length. > > {0} uses the workspace directory to stores its preferences and development > artifacts. \\ > Choose a directory to use. > > Also I plan to change the label before the selection box back to "Workspace" > as several people seem to prefer that. Looks ok.
New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/59029
Created attachment 257554 [details] Screenshot Attached the suggested new screen. With the suggestion from Mickael of using "Select a directory as workspace" I think we can skip the "Choose a ..." second sentence.
"...directory to stores its preference..." should be "...directory to store its preference..." Also "development artifacts" sounds too specific to Eclipse. My RCP product also uses workspaces and this description does match very well my case.
I meant that the description doesn't match very well my RCP product.
(In reply to Peter Severin from comment #23) > I meant that the description doesn't match very well my RCP product. For RCP you can provide your customer text, I assume also "projects" were not fitting for several RCP applications. Typo fixed in the Gerrit review.
Created attachment 257556 [details] Screenshot
+1 for: it is clear, synthetic and preserves the concept of Workspace
Gerrit change https://git.eclipse.org/r/59029 was merged to [master]. Commit: http://git.eclipse.org/c/platform/eclipse.platform.ui.git/commit/?id=34247da600124bcbe19731bb77f31fe269c11d40
(In reply to Eclipse Genie from comment #27) > Gerrit change https://git.eclipse.org/r/59029 was merged to [master]. > Commit: > http://git.eclipse.org/c/platform/eclipse.platform.ui.git/commit/?id=34247da600124bcbe19731bb77f31fe269c11d40 > Looks much better now.
(In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #25) > Created attachment 257556 [details] > Screenshot "preference" should be "preferences"
(In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #29) > (In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #25) > > Created attachment 257556 [details] > > Screenshot > > "preference" should be "preferences" Conf(In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #29) > (In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #25) > > Created attachment 257556 [details] > > Screenshot > > "preference" should be "preferences" Maybe "preference" should be replaced by "configuration" or just "data" because it is not only preferences that is stored in the workspace.
(In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #30) > (In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #29) > > (In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #25) > > > Created attachment 257556 [details] > > > Screenshot > > > > "preference" should be "preferences" > > Conf(In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #29) > > (In reply to Lars Vogel from comment #25) > > > Created attachment 257556 [details] > > > Screenshot > > > > "preference" should be "preferences" > > Maybe "preference" should be replaced by "configuration" or just "data" > because it is not only preferences that is stored in the workspace. In my opinion, "data" is not a good. Both "configuration" and "preferences" are good options.
New Gerrit change created: https://git.eclipse.org/r/59159
Gerrit change https://git.eclipse.org/r/59159 was merged to [master]. Commit: http://git.eclipse.org/c/platform/eclipse.platform.ui.git/commit/?id=1c1a1bc5e48b4a779c73c7d3c224efe95df4ffcd
(In reply to Eclipse Genie from comment #33) > Gerrit change https://git.eclipse.org/r/59159 was merged to [master]. > Commit: > http://git.eclipse.org/c/platform/eclipse.platform.ui.git/commit/ > ?id=1c1a1bc5e48b4a779c73c7d3c224efe95df4ffcd (In reply to Wim Jongman from comment #29) > "preference" should be "preferences" Thanks. Fixed.
