New network interfaces KCM

[David Hubner]

  On 20/08/2010 02:40, Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> On Thursday, August 19, 2010, David Hubner wrote:
>> I have put a new KCM into kdeexamples that is for KInfoCenter to replace
>> the old network interfaces KCM.
> kdeexamples ->  kdereview :)
>
Opps, yes.. guess you can tell it was very late when I wrote this :)

> looking at the UI there are several things that might be able to be improved
> on. e.g.:
>
> * when i maxmize the window, the title "Network Interfaces ( Network
> Interfaces )" is given have the vertical space and the tab widget is given the
> other half
>
Its a bug, going to be fixed in 4.5.1. Its because I never set a 
QSizePolicy on the label. So if you don't set one on the KCM it goes 
half/half.

> * "Network Interfaces ( Network Interfaces )"<-- why doubled?
>

Yes, its Kcmodule.name ( Kcmmodule.comment ) the comment is meant to be 
more descriptive. I shall fix that

> * having the interface on the left and the status on the right with a big
> arrow means that i have to move my eyes from one side of the dialog to the
> other just to get the full picture. any reason why the status information
> isn't included below each item?
>
Someone posted on the blog about this, its a good point. I tried to use 
the whole of the frame so when maximized it looks as good as it does 
minimized. I am worried that it will all be left heavy. I was aiming for 
keeping the destination of the network interface separate as it can be 
expanded upon later. It also helps when you have two network cards in 
your PC on different subnets. I don't want to add a big lump of group 
text on the left without any kind of diagram model. This model shows the 
information all separate with some kind of flow.

also it took me ages to paint that arrow onto a QWidget. :)

> * the beveled grouping inside the tab widget looks very heavy visually: it's a
> frame in a frame in a frame (the interface group in a frame in a tabwidget)
>
True, I was looking to group all the information into boxes. Network 
interface box, destination box, etc so to separate the items. Kind of 
abstraction to the different elements.

> * how important is it to be able to filter between wired and wireless? (which
> is the reason for the tab widget's existence)
>

Depends on how many network cards I suppose. I added filters because its 
also going to have bluetooth network cards,  gsm and the like, I was 
also worried about screen size.
> * is it possible to show the strength of the wifi signal for a given AP?
>
Yes, I added the icon to change with the strength but it does not show 
very well. I shall add a strength label.

-- 
David Hubner
KinfoCenter Developer

E-mail: hubnerd at ntlworld.com
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