Re: [Zapping-misc] Tabs in prefs dialog

[E. <ga...@eu...>]

> > I'd like to know if other people noticed
> > Zapping's Preferences dialog looks overly complicated, possibly because=
 of
> > an overload of tabs.
>=20
> IMO the plugin preferences need not be placed in Zapping's prefs at all.
> Take the Screenshot, wouldn't it be more natural to pop up a dialog
> containing a file name, format menu and stuff when you want a screen
> shot? The plugin would remember the last filename and propose
> dir/file<auto num++>.<suitable ext>, also overcoming the hardcoded file
> names. I'm undecided if the present one-click method isn't better in
> some cases though. Ideas?
Yep, i pondered this, but it's slightly less comfortable for my common
habit: see a good picture, Ctrl+S and done.
But if you prefer Ctrl+S+Enter, then consider it done, it is pretty fast
too.
What about having:
S: Pop a dialog, wait for OK, shot.
Ctrl+S: Assume last settings, shot.
R: Pop a dialog, wait for confirmation, mpeg.
Ctrl+R: Assume last settings, mpeg.

>=20
> Similar the "mpeg" plugin, it opens a small status window anyway. And
> since the a/v format config can be rather complex I pondered to store
> different configs under user supplied names. Think "videoclip" with lq
> video, hq stereo audio, "letterbox movie", "divx configured for modem",
> "mpeg-1 1/2 fps for cartoon", "archive quality", ... I'm not sure about
> the details, basically the status window would display [config
> menu][edit] and Rec/Stop/Pause buttons. Rec-Stop-Rec creates a new file,
> while Rec-Pause-Rec (or -Pause?) concatenates. One-click issue as above.
Great idea, i really like it.

That aside, imho we would still benefit from having all the config in a
central place. It's difficult enough managing many options in one
dialog, having them scattered through the program won't help with
usability.

>=20
> Another part of the GUI worth improving is the channel dialog. To me
> it's not completely obvious what the user's supposed to do next, or the
> relevance of the Standard and especially the Input menu. This should be
> somehow reflected in the channel list, and maybe Input should include
> Tuner, perhaps dis/enabling other widgets accordingly.
Yep, I agree. The current design is certainly confusing. Perhaps a
"wizard" helps, perhaps just annoys. I'll work a bit on it this weekend,
to see what can I improve.
I've though multiple times about splitting this dialog into multiple
dialogs, at first you only see the tuned channel list,
[Add][Modify][Delete][Search]
But i still can't find something I like. Sort of Emacs vs. something
sane, i guess. The current emacsish style (all in one) is great when you
know the thing, but it's scary at first.

>=20
> I think the naming "channel list" itself is unfortunate.
Could be. Not being a native speaker, and not familiar with the common
terms in the english-speaking countries, sometimes my brain-word
interface collapses. Anything english speakers in the list have found
weird/unusual/wrong/offending ?
[FYI, "channel list" is the straightforward translation of "lista de
canales", the way I call this concept in Spanish].

> What about referring to channels in this sense as "station", would it
> confuse U.S. users? If I understood correctly station memory numbers are
> unusual there. Maybe Zapping should automagically map U.S. channel
> numbers to channel list indices. Mind "Add all..." and us-bcast lacks
> ch#1 (eliminated by FCC in 1945) or more importantly station search and
> empty channels. What about empty list entries PgUp/Down would skip and
> the Channels menu wouldn't list? All TVs I've seen have and do. Am I
> right lirc refers to the indices?
That's right.

> Shouldn't the channel list display
> them for better orientation?
Yep, thanks for pointing.

> Is the term "Accelerator" (=3D keyboard shortcut) somehow ambiguous? I
> changed a few labels in the past to make them more consistent, but left
> this one alone, assuming it's a common Gnomeism.
At least in gtk is called that way, yes.
I've no problem changing it for "Keyboard shortcut".

> Frankly I couldn't
> figure what this is when I saw it first. Also the unlabeled accelerator
> entry at the bottom, maybe horizontal ordering would be clearer
> (somewhere I read it's better to design GUIs top-down instead of
> left-right anyway, although it may hurt the landscape geometry of this
> dialog):
> Station name: [_______________________________]
> (yadda-yadda, in the order of the channel list)
> Accelerator: [] Ctrl- [] Shift- [] Alt- [___][...]
Better, yes.

> The three dots in the latter widget, I saw that elsewhere, is it
> mandated by Gnome?
It's in glade, when you edit the available accels for a widget.

> IMHO it speaks there's tooltip "Open the list of
> known keys" to find out what it does. What about [List]?
Okee.

I=F1aki