Re: Concerning history button

Molle Bestefich wrote:
> Stefan, thanks a lot for listening to all the bicker and trying to
> improve something that obviously a bunch of newbies are having
> problems with. I still think there's room for improvement however,
> here's a bit of analysis and some concrete suggestions:
>
> * Poster never requested the combo box be turned into a button control.
> He asked for it to go away completely and be replaced by an
> 'abort/retry' dialog.
> (Let's not do that :-).)

You evidently haven't read the whole thread as you seem to be quoting
only one poster. An alternative to the combo box was requested by Thomas
Hruska.

> * I'm a bit annoyed by having to click one more time now than before
> (it all adds up...), and

Click on combo, click on entry = 2 clicks
Click on history, double-click on entry. Does a double click count as an
extra click?

Anyway, how often do you really need to use the history in a day? Do you
really get that many problems committing?

> * The button opens a popup. The contents of the popup dialog flies
> into the original
> dialog. The popup dialog's only purpose in life is to contain a
> small list. My feeling
> is that this is not particularly good GUI-wise,

Why not? Actually, the original request included an additional edit box
which would display the complete message (the list box only shows the
start). That is still possible in future with a separate dialog.

> * A combo box control is more suited for the job...

There were lots of arguments on that thread. The one against combo boxes
is that its behaviour is non-standard/non-intuitive.

> * A good associated text should be fx. "Recently written" or "Recent
> messages" or "Recent entries" (I prefer "recently written").

That would have helped the combo box and could still help with the button.

> * It seems to me that standardized GUIs would layout the control on
> the right-hand, not the left-hand side.

Curious. It was originally on the right and someone complained that a
standardized GUI would put it on the left.

> Also, super-minor point:
>
> * I liked it better when the last message was per default displayed
> in the combo.
> That helped a bit to make it clear what the control does.

It's not super-minor because people are still not finding either the
button or the combo.

So, some suggestions:

Let's assume first of all that the button is here to stay.

1. History is perhaps not a good title because it means something
completely different in CVS, and to some people it suggests
already-committed messages. Enlarge the button and change the text to
"Recent messages" or something similar.

2. Use a tooltip for the recent-messages button which says something
like "Click here to select a recently typed message." and also displays
the most recent message.

3. We could possibly make it even more obvious if the last commit failed
or was cancelled, but that would require saving the success/failure of
the previous commit in the registry, and would probably just be an
annoyance for regular users.

Simon

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