[yast-devel] Supporting 80x24 resolution?
Hi, hackers I know this is not extremely popular topic to discuss, but as we keep getting new bug reports almost every other week that certain module has part of its widgets invisible in ncurses 80x24 screen, I can't help mentioning it *) So far, minimum supported screen resolution has been 80 columns x 25 rows for the text mode, probably due to serial console screen size. Now the thing is, many terminal emulators (xterm, Gnome terminal, to mention just a few) have 80x24 as their default size. Especially for inexperienced user it might be hard to figure out that (s)he needs to enlarge the screen to get access to the full functionality of the module. Any comment on claiming 80x24 as minimum supported resolution (and mentioning it in the style-guide)? Frankly, I have no clue how many yast modules would need to be adjusted, so far I know about network and (afair) ldap-client, and if it is a good idea at all, I'm just trying to gather some feedback. B. (*) I admit this is also partly my fault as I introduced the lower contrast status bar with function keys, taking yet another line off the screen -- \\\\\ Katarina Machalkova \\\\\\\__o YaST developer __\\\\\\\'/_ & hedgehog painter
Hi there, Right now there are in effect two title bars. You have the YaST@machine one and then the Wizard title. If you implemented the Wizard widget, you could put that information in the same space. (It would also be cool to tie the two bars through a border around the dialog... Especially now, without the help side bar, width is not an issue.) You could also simply merge the top bar into the right corner of the shortcut bar -- hiding it if there's no space left for it. That information doesn't seem important at all anyway. If you just present it in the control center it would be more than enough already. Cheers, Ricardo Qui, 2008-07-17 às 10:43 +0200, Katarina Machalkova escreveu:
Hi, hackers
I know this is not extremely popular topic to discuss, but as we keep getting new bug reports almost every other week that certain module has part of its widgets invisible in ncurses 80x24 screen, I can't help mentioning it *)
So far, minimum supported screen resolution has been 80 columns x 25 rows for the text mode, probably due to serial console screen size. Now the thing is, many terminal emulators (xterm, Gnome terminal, to mention just a few) have 80x24 as their default size. Especially for inexperienced user it might be hard to figure out that (s)he needs to enlarge the screen to get access to the full functionality of the module.
Any comment on claiming 80x24 as minimum supported resolution (and mentioning it in the style-guide)? Frankly, I have no clue how many yast modules would need to be adjusted, so far I know about network and (afair) ldap-client, and if it is a good idea at all, I'm just trying to gather some feedback.
B.
(*) I admit this is also partly my fault as I introduced the lower contrast status bar with function keys, taking yet another line off the screen -- "The plans differ; the planners are all alike." Frederic Bastiat
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Ricardo Cruz wrote:
Hi there,
Right now there are in effect two title bars. You have the YaST@machine one and then the Wizard title. If you implemented the Wizard widget, you could put that information in the same space. (It would also be cool to tie the two bars through a border around the dialog... Especially now, without the help side bar, width is not an issue.) You could also simply merge the top bar into the right corner of the shortcut bar -- hiding it if there's no space left for it. That information doesn't seem important at all anyway. If you just present it in the control center it would be more than enough already.
This sounds like a good solution for enlarging the contents area but we still have to cope with 80x25 vs 80x24 issue. Frankly, I'd rather vote for leaving 80x25 the ncurses frontend is rather used on console (which has minimally 80x25) and advise to use Qt/GTK instead of running a Gnome terminal or xterm from XWindows. Moreover, please, keep the status/help line in ncurses ;) It helps in cases when UI fails to show the control buttons (still one line more but often more than one line is missing due to wrong design anyway). Bye Lukas
Qui, 2008-07-17 às 12:28 +0200, Lukas Ocilka escreveu:
Ricardo Cruz wrote:
Hi there,
Right now there are in effect two title bars. You have the YaST@machine one and then the Wizard title. If you implemented the Wizard widget, you could put that information in the same space. (It would also be cool to tie the two bars through a border around the dialog... Especially now, without the help side bar, width is not an issue.) You could also simply merge the top bar into the right corner of the shortcut bar -- hiding it if there's no space left for it. That information doesn't seem important at all anyway. If you just present it in the control center it would be more than enough already.
This sounds like a good solution for enlarging the contents area but we still have to cope with 80x25 vs 80x24 issue.
Frankly, I'd rather vote for leaving 80x25 the ncurses frontend is rather used on console (which has minimally 80x25) and advise to use Qt/GTK instead of running a Gnome terminal or xterm from XWindows.
I'm sure they know the alternatives, and use ncurses for remote administration or something. I would like to blame it in the lazy modern window managers for having no intelligence whatsoever, but the fact remains you guys broke it. You introduced a new bar, shrinking the vertical space allocated to the actual interface.
Moreover, please, keep the status/help line in ncurses ;) It helps in cases when UI fails to show the control buttons (still one line more but often more than one line is missing due to wrong design anyway).
I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. The one that I said could possibly go the way of the dodo is the YaST@host one. The better solution however would be to put the wizard title there and align the host thing to the corner. The shortcuts bar is one of those insights of apparent simplicity but that easily leverage the usability and productivity of the tool to a whole new level. I don't have a need for the ncurses UI, but I'm sure I'm going to be praising the author of the bar if I ever come to need it. Cheers, Ricardo -- "The plans differ; the planners are all alike." Frederic Bastiat -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: yast-devel+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: yast-devel+help@opensuse.org
participants (3)
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Katarina Machalkova -
Lukas Ocilka -
Ricardo Cruz