[Geany-devel] Build system branch 2.0

[Enrico Tröger]

On Sat, 06 Feb 2010 13:47:33 +0100, Dominic wrote:

>Am Samstag, den 06.02.2010, 21:21 +1100 schrieb Lex Trotman:
>> Hi All,
>> 
>> I have created a branch for further development of the build system
>> called bs2.
>> 
>> I have added the current state of the design spec to the doc
>> directory and a temporary Python prototype implementation of the
>> configure dialog in scripts (since I know how much you all hate
>> reading GUI descriptions).  It is intended to delete this before
>> merge but it will be useful to get ideas on making it usable, for
>> example which fields should be visible normally and which only in
>> advanced mode.
>> 
>> @Nick as the padding guru you might have some suggestions, in my
>> opinion applying padding to rows containing buttons or combo boxes
>> makes a disproportionate increase in size, so for now I've taken it
>> off, see what you think.
>> 
>> Running the script (python build_dialog_prototype.py) produces a
>> window with two buttons, one produces the dialog as it will be when
>> no project is open and one as it will be when a project is open.
>> Clearly the dialog has no code or data behind it, but the "advanced"
>> and "show all" buttons work. Apply, cancel and ok all close the
>> dialog.
>> 
>> Please be warned, if you havn't read the spec (which is the only
>> documentation until the manual is updated) that this looks complex
>> when you first see it in advanced mode.  But the dialog does no more
>> than bring together settings that already exist in various hidden
>> places in Geany.
>> 
>> Cheers
>> Lex
>
>Wouldn't it have had to be easier to design that with glade instead of
>writing python scripts? - Or alternative, a pen and paper? ;)
>
>When seeing this from a user point of view there is very much
>information to enter. A bit "overload" on the screen - in special the
>advanced mode. Yes, you warned me. ;)

IMO way too much information.
I already said that about the current build settings in the SVN version
and this one is even worse, IMHO. Yes, for users who want the ultimate
control of every single build option that could be useful but, as also
said multiple times before, the idea of Geany's build system was to be
easy to use and to just get the job done. From my experience, this was
much appreciated by users (getting lots of mail stating this). Well,
this feature we will loose with the current rework in the SVN version
and with the mockup in the new branch, it won't get better, IMHO.

Sorry when this sounds a bit hard and I do understand your motivation
to make it all more flexible. But it's maybe just not want
some/most/all users want.

>Please be warned, if you havn't read the spec (which is the only
>documentation until the manual is updated) that this looks complex
>when you first see it in advanced mode.  But the dialog does no more
>than bring together settings that already exist in various hidden
>places in Geany.

I skimmed over the docs but it didn't make it better. The dialog is
still heavily crowded and quite complex.


>As you said, this is a prototype which maybe needs more work. - Also
>from the user point of view and in GUI design. Just a suggestion: You
>could work with the GUI element from GTK which allows to extend the
>dialog via clicking on the arrow (as in the Find or Replace dialog in

Just for the record, iIt's called GtkExpander.


Regards,
Enrico

-- 
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