While I was working on the fix I submitted for the issues raised in #363 I observed some areas where the Yad interface could be changed to improve the user experience and reduce some of the confusion I saw in #363, and possibly some other tickets. The changes I'm proposing only affect the dialogs shown when starting the app, not the installation dialogs.
If my proposed changes don't align with where you're going in the development branch, happy to make changes.
High-level changes
Visual signposts (icons) used to help the user understand the purpose of the specific Yad dialog boxes during the app startup.
Consistent button labels used for the different dialog types, inline with the type of dialog it is.
Switched a progress panel to a question panel to fit the intended action better.
Detailed changes
Icons and buttons:
Where the dialog is for information (ie: there is no choice to make):
Dialog shows the information icon.
Dialog only shows an 'ok' button rather than "ok" and "cancel". The cancel button did the same thing as the 'ok' button.
Where the dialog is asking a yes/no question:
Dialog shows the question icon.
Dialog shows 'no' and 'yes' buttons. The previous 'cancel' and 'ok' buttons are slighly ambiguous responses to the questions.
Where a warning is being issue:
Dialog shows the warning icon.
As with the information dialog, dialog shows an 'ok' button only.
Modified panel type:
Switched the 'Connecting to the server ...' progress bar panel to a question panel. This progress bar isn't showing any real progress - it uses built in timers to move the progress bar. The 'ok' and 'cancel' buttons cause the script to look for updates to Fusion 360 or skip that step. This isn't clear behavior.
Changes to this dialog panel:
Panel now shows a question: 'Would you like to check for updates to Fusion360 before launching?'.
The dialog shows a question icon.
As with the other question dialog boxes, the dialog shows 'no' and 'yes' buttons.
Implications of changing the panel for 'Connecting to the server'
The proposed changes have an impact on the locale files:
3 unused lines have been removed from all locale files. The last 2 messages never actually appeared in the progress dialog.
# Progress messages removed from all locale files
UP_PROGRESS_LABEL_1="Connecting to the server ..."
UP_PROGRESS_LABEL_2="# Check all files .."
UP_PROGRESS_LABEL_3="# All files are checked!"
1 line has been added to all locale files. I've used Google translate for each of the languages used.
# New question added to all locale files
UP_WANT_TO_CHECK_FOR_UPDATES="Would you like to check for updates to Fusion360 before launching?"
📑 Context
Reduce confusion through clearer more consistent dialogs.
Reduce "noise" in tickets created by confusion around these dialogs.
Better user experience.
The proposed improvements to the 'Connecting to server' panel will speed up start up (no simulated progress bar delays), cause less confusion for those expecting the progress bar panel to vanish when it reaches 100% like the others do, better communicates the choice that the user is making with that dialog, and it may also reduce issues being lodged on GitHub from confused users.
📝 Description
While I was working on the fix I submitted for the issues raised in #363 I observed some areas where the Yad interface could be changed to improve the user experience and reduce some of the confusion I saw in #363, and possibly some other tickets. The changes I'm proposing only affect the dialogs shown when starting the app, not the installation dialogs.
If my proposed changes don't align with where you're going in the development branch, happy to make changes.
High-level changes
Detailed changes
Icons and buttons:
Modified panel type:
Changes to this dialog panel:
Implications of changing the panel for 'Connecting to the server'
The proposed changes have an impact on the locale files:
📑 Context
✅ Checklist:
📸 Screenshots
Current progress panel:
...proposed to be replaced with: