Re: Re: Merge dialog

On 19/10/2007, Alexander Klenin <klenin@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/19/07, Simon Large <simon.tortoisesvn@googlemail.com> wrote:
> >On 2007-10-18, Stefan Küng wrote:
> >> I thought of maybe implementing a wizard style dialog which guides the
> >> user through the necessary steps. But I hit a wall here: what shall we
> >> ask the user on the first page?
> >>
> >> Having a wizard sounds like a good idea to reduce the complexity of the UI.
>
> I agree that clutter should be reduced.
> However, I think wizard interface is not the answer, as it forces
> some unnecessary and arbitrary decision order.

Merging is one of the most troublesome areas for users, and I don't
mean non-technical people. If you use it a lot, you will have learned
how it works and have no trouble, but a lot of users (like me ;-) will
merge rarely and to them the merge dialog is a bit of a nightmare.

> In particular, I strongly dislike an idea that each time user requests a merge,
> he must answer some question *before* he can proceed.
> I perform about a dozen merges daily at work, it would certainly be
> very annoying.

That's why I tried to keep the number of pages to a minimum. Some
programs offer a Wizard or Classical interface choice. But the
'one-page' solution is getting so big that it is almost unworkable.

> How about tabs control?

That's a possibility. Have the wizard pages as tabs so you can just go
to the ones you want and leave the others at the settings you had last
time. The disadvantage is that you can't then see what the other
settings are. If you changed something last time (eg. depth) and
forget about it, you have no indication until the merge doesn't work
as you expected.

> As a first step, current 'From+To', 'Target' and 'Merge settings' group boxes
> can be converted to a separate tabs. I think this is cheap and easy start.
> After that, we can deliberate on further improvements at leisure. ;-)
>

Simon

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