[Exist-development] 2.0RC1 notes

[Joe W. <jo...@gm...>]

Hi all,

Congratulations on the release candidate!  This is a huge step forward on
the path to release 2.0.

Some quick notes based on OS X 10.8.2 - and apologies if any of these have
been addressed in trunk:

- The installer has a generic Terminal-esque icon and is labelled IzPack in
the dock.  I know this is pretty minor, but it would be nice if the icon
could match the eXist-db icon and if the label could say eXist-db Installer.

- The installer's list of apps (Step 5 of 10) could be improved if the
description field showed the text from repo.xml's <description> field,
rather than just the expath-pkg.xml's <title> field.

- After installation, the eXist-db icon appears in the Launchpad app, but
the icon does not launch eXist-db.  It seems the only way to start eXist-db
is via the Finder.

- I really like the Tool Window (accessible via the menu bar icon under
Show Tool Window).  The clear buttons, together with the checkbox to reveal
the console, will be very convenient for launching apps and for quick
access to the console log (I'm thinking of new users who need to supply
version numbers, startup errors, memory settings, etc. in their emails to
the mailing list).  One quirk is that if another app is frontmost (e.g.,
Chrome), Show Tool Window will not reveal the Tool Window; the only way to
see the Tool Window is to move/hide other apps from view.

- The Dashboard's list of apps might be better if ordered alphabetically,
or distinguished between core apps (eXide, admin) and others.

- The Package Manager's list of apps might be better if ordered
alphabetically.

- The Package Manager's various icons (upload, uninstall) are not obvious -
so I'd suggest adding text beside them or making them simple buttons.

- BetterForm occupies 2 spaces in the installer package and the Dashboard;
in the installer the items are called "bfDemos" and "bfReferences".  It
also occupies 2 spaces in the Dashboard, but both icons point to the same
URL: http://localhost:8080/exist/apps/betterform/dashboard.html.  Seems a
little odd and potentially confusing to users.  Can 2 apps be installed
into the same subcollection of /db/apps/?

- XSLTForms occupies 2 apps in the installer package, but it makes a clear
distinction between XSLTForms and its demo.  This is good.  Oddly, there is
only one icon in the Dashboard though.  Also, I'd suggest making the demo's
app name lower-cased (XSLTForms-Demo > xsltforms-demo) ; otherwise, it
appears first in the list of apps in /db/apps.

- Trackpad scrolling in eXide's Database Manager dialog window is flaky.
 When I scroll down in a long list of documents, the list seems to jump
back up -- as if it doesn't want me to be able to scroll down.

Joe