Streamline MacFusion menu

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Upcoming UI change not otherwise mentioned in issues:
Change the MacFusion menu to not have a separate seubmenu for favorites.
Mounted favorites will be displayed at the root of the menu, with check
marks. Unmounted favorites will be displayed without them. After these and
a separator, quick mounted filesystems will be displayed.
Or will this take up to much space?

Original issue reported on code.google.com by mgorb...@gmail.com on 27 Apr 2007 at 1:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Quicker access to favourites: good idea. 

Checkmark: good idea. 

============
Suggestion 1
============

MacFusion menu: instead of separate menu sections for favourites, and for 
mounted volumes, merge the two.

Logically, releasing the mouse over a checkmarked item might:

a) open a new Finder window
b) with the sidebar visible
c) and focus on the volume in the sidebar.

(Or if a Finder window with those three criteria is already open,  bring that 
window to foreground.)

This will effectively highlight the eject icon. (In this context, 'eject 
volume' can be synonmymous with 'un-
check MacFusion menu item'. Probably not perfect adherence to Apple guidelines 
but it seems intuitive 
enough.)

Mounted volumes that are not favourites can be interspersed amongst favourites.

============
Suggestion 2
============

MacFusion menu: alphabetical order for Favourites.

If suggestion (1) is good, then mounted non-favourites should be interspersed 
alphabetically.

============
Suggestion 3
============

MacFusion Favorites window might evolve to a five-tabbed 
MacFusion application window (or preference pane or whatever).

[ Connect | Connected | Favourites | Preferences | Advanced ]

[tab 1: Connect]
----------------

I shy away from the word "mount" only because ordinary users think in terms of 
being 'connected to' or 
'disconnected from' something.

Arrange 'quick mount' (quick connect) features within this first tab.

Include an [Advanced] button.

A successful mount should:

a) bring tab 2 to foreground

b) open a Finder window to the root of the volume, with or without the sidebar. 

If possible, layer that Finder window immediately behind (but not obscured by) 
the MacFusion window. 

[tab 2: Connected]
------------------

Alongside each connected volume: three buttons

[button 1, two states]
Add to favourites / Remove from favourites
Adding to favourites should bring tab 3 to foreground.

[button 2]
Disconnect
If there are connected volumes lower in the list, then have a suitable pause 
before the gap closes. To cater for 
people who double click when a single click is appropriate. 

[button 3]
Advanced

[tab 3: Favourites]
-------------------

Alongside each favourite: three buttons

[button 1]
Remove from favourites

[button 2, two states]
Connect / Disconnect

[button 3]
Advanced

[tab 4: Preferences]
--------------------

Start MacFusion on login
Check for updates on startup
Sleep/wake behaviour
Default protocol [ AFP | FTP | SMB/CIFS | SSH ] *
Advanced
...and whatever else you have in mind.

On _first_ launch of MacFusion: 

a) this [Preferences] tab should be brought to foreground

b) [OK] or [Cancel] button should take the user to the [Connect] tab.

On _subsequent_ launches of MacFusion: 

[OK] and [Cancel] buttons need not take the user to any other tab, unless it's 
appropriate.

* food for thought ;-)

[tab 5: Advanced]
-----------------

This last tab greyed normally greyed out.

Brought to foreground only if requested in the context of:

a) an unmounted connection or

b) MacFusion-wide preferences.

[OK] or [Cancel] buttons should return the user to the context [tab] from which 
they chose [Advanced].

============
Suggestion 4
============

If suggestion 3 is good, then remove from MacFusion menu two items -- 'Quick 
Mount' and 'Favourites'.

The inclination here may be to cling to the two-step 
Quick Mount | SSH routine, but I'll suggest that 
Preferences | Connect is as easy. 

The first-time user will be presented with the [Preferences] tab and a very 
clean MacFusion menu:

| globe + arrows
| ---------------
| About MacFusion
| ---------------
| Preferences...
| ---------------
| ---------------
| Quit Macfusion

(Empty third segement will be populated with favourites and mounted 
non-favourites.)

==================================================
Population of menu and placement of Quit Macfusion
==================================================

In extremely rare circumstances -- if a user has many favourites -- then the 
Quit item may be invisible (below 
the bottom of the display). But let's assume that users with so many favourites 
will have the common sense to 
scroll down :-/

<http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/OSXHIGuideli
nes/XHIGMenus/
chapter_16_section_4.html> the final separated menu item should be 
Quit MacFusion

###

Keep up the great work!

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 29 Apr 2007 at 12:41

[GoogleCodeExporter]

All those suggstions aside: 

I could work perfectly happily without a MacFusion menu. 

A few days ago, the idea of a Preference Pane was appealing, but I sometimes 
dislike the width and height 
constraints of System Preferences. 

I prefer a resizeable window, as we already have with MacFusion Favourites.

All things considered, my current thoughts are: 

a) MacFusion should be a normal applciation, with a Dock icon and a face

b) people who use MacFusion often can leave the application running (and what 
we're visualising *beneath* 
the menu extra can instead appear *above* the Dock icon; this should satisfy 
Apple guideline purists)

c) stepping back from all the fun/technical stuff: in their purest forms, 
MacFUSE and MacFusion simply make 
things available to us, system-wide (hurrah!) -- so there's definitely a place 
for a preference pane. Maybe the 
preference pane should be nothing more than two columns and one button: 

-- left hand column, list of favourites
-- right hand column, checkbox for connect at login
-- button, Assist me... (which launches the MacFusion application).

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 29 Apr 2007 at 1:07

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 4 May 2007 at 7:28

• Added labels: Component-UI

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 4 May 2007 at 7:28

• Added labels: Usability

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 7 May 2007 at 2:09

• Added labels: MenuExtraIcon, menus

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Re my ramblings in comment 1 (which were way off-topic from the original 
summary 'Streamline MacFusion 
menu')

It should be noted that my thoughts have moved on considerably since that time 
(and this particular issue is not 
the forum in which I should share them).

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 12 May 2007 at 8:24

[GoogleCodeExporter]

As a frequent user of this great app I have one request (and hope it's going to 
the right issue);

Please enable re-arranging of items and possibly even making folders and 
subfolders.
I currently have over 15 items as favorites and those are just the ones I use 
very much. Being able to arrange the items to their own 
subfolder wouldn't only help to keep the dropdown list clean, but would bring 
some sense to the listing.

Original comment by ivuori...@gmail.com on 29 Jun 2007 at 8:48

[GoogleCodeExporter]

In the context of this MacFusion issue 15
<http://code.google.com/p/macfusion/issues/detail?id=15> consider also 
<http://code.google.com/p/macfusion/issues/detail?id=204#c3>:

> Neither the Bonjour menu or the EditController use any values from 
> favorites, nor do they reflect the current state of mount from the services 
listed.

Original comment by grahampe...@gmail.com on 3 Jul 2007 at 7:39