[Geany-Devel] Plugin manager interface

[Johannes Lange]

Hi,

On Wed 23 Apr 2014 20:58:07 CEST,
Pavel Roschin <roshin at scriptumplus.ru> wrote:
> Hello!
>
> There are some inconveniences in current plugin manager window:
> - plugin description is too long and is hard to read because of window width
> - too many actions user need to perform to get access to plugin settings
> - no plugin search feature
> - too many windows: settings - window, keybindings - window, help - window

I agree with your all your points, though I don't think the search too 
important, as there are usually not too many plugins.

> I tried to make some sort of concept of plugin manager interface design. Maybe
> you will find it interesting:
> http://pbrd.co/1jBUM4f
>
> Alternative (move description to bottom):
> http://pbrd.co/1jBUOJh

Looks nice, I like the second one better.

> I offer:
> - add search field
> - remove unnecessary labels
> - remove plugin description from list
> - show plugin description as tooltip or show it in status bar
> - show plugin settings immediately
> - show plugin keybindings as tab where user can check keybindings _only_ for
>    this plugin
> - show help as a tab (of course there should be API for help window with rich
>    text, maybe show readme)
>
> Any suggestions?

I think the plugin description as a tooltip is a better solution than in 
the status bar as some descriptions are quite long.
In your second layout there might be space at the right bottom for a 
multi-line widget for this.

Cheers,
Johannes