Improving the KDevelop UI

[Lasse Kärkkäinen / Tronic]

> It seems that you're using KDevelop 3.0.x, right? Because modern KDevelop 
> already has solutions to some problems you mentioned. I will point that
> out in comments.

You are right in that I partly based my comments on 3.0. However, I also 
checked 3.2.0 before sending, trying to remove those things that were no 
longer relevant, and also getting ideas from it. The window mockups in 
particular are based on that.

I used the default settings (possibly it inherited something from older 
versions, though, as I did not delete old settings).

However, I found out that the "tabbed pages mode" is very close to my 
proposition, after customizing a bit. I can't get the toolbars exactly the 
way that might be optimal, especially since the edit functions are included 
in the main toolbar. Also, I think that it does not do proper "mode 
switching" (read the rest of my message before replying to this). Automatic 
tab closing, as I proposed, is also missing, but I guess that one can live 
without.

Also, "Bookmarks", "Classes", "File Groups" and "File Tree" tabs, which are 
the only ones that got preserved after my customizations, still force the 
left panel to be pretty wide (using about 40 % of my horizontal screen 
space). File groups could probably be removed too, though.

Unfortunately I didn't find a way to add the right hand side tool views to 
the bottom panel. They just won't go in there.

Either way, now the environment looks significantly less hostile.
http://delenn.tky.hut.fi/shots/kdevelop-simplified.png

> You can choose between icon / text+icon / text modes. In "text only" mode
> buttons fit on 1024*768 screen.

Text only is not very good, as it is difficult to see where the next button 
begins (not enough space between buttons and/or too long text on buttons). 
Text under icons is fine, though. The problem with this is that many KDE 
applications tend to use that button text as a tooltip text only, not 
considering the possibility that someone would want to have the text visible 
  on the button.

> In KDevelop 3.2 there's a "simple ideal"

I couldn't find this "simple" part. Where can I get that? IDEAL was selected 
by default.

> No, some views are docked to the right because in typical workflow you'd
> want to have several views opened at the same time. Most common case
> is when you have "project manager" view on the right and "class view"
> or "file selector" on the left.

What is this "project manager"? I suppose that you mean "Automake Manager". 
I have hard time seeing why this would be something to keep open often. 
Thus, it could go to the bottom (and thus share same screen space with other 
things). Could you explain your workflow on this?

>>   * Tab title text is not displayed
> It is displayed by default from KDevelop 3.1.
>>   * Setting it to display the title (of the selected tab) makes the
>>     situation even worse
> Can't agree. The text is readable. What is the prob?

This seems to depend on the screen size. If there is enough space to display 
the title text on every tab, then everything works fine. If not, it will 
only display text on the selected one. This is a problem. The tab sizes will 
change whenever the selection changes, thus moving the tabs around on 
screen, making them difficult to click quickly.

Also, right hand side tabbar has text in "wrong" orientation. People can 
still read vertically from bottom to top, but doing it the other way is much 
harder (apparently because this is seldom done anywhere).

>>- UI is very dynamic (panels pop in and out all the time)
>>   * Confusing and possibly annoying
> 
> This has changed since 3.0.x. Now no actions lower views and only
> build actions raise bottom messages or similar views.
> In KDevelop 3.2 in "simple ideal" mode views can't slide automatically.

Actually this was better in 3.0. In 3.2.0 (with default settings) I get 
popup panels that go over the edit area, and that instantly go away when the 
edit area is clicked.

> VCS plugins should probably just use messages window.

Yes, if you don't need anything more complex for them (proper conflict 
handling, displaying diffs before commit, etc).

> Disagree, embedded terminal emulator is pretty useful and it exist in most
> IDEs as well.

I fail to see how it is more useful to have it embedded than in another 
window. They are, after all, pretty much the same thing anyway. However, I 
don't think that it would be that big problem to keep the embedded one by 
default either, it just feels odd. By same logic you should also embed KHTML 
for web browsing (viewing online documentation).

> As from KDevelop 3.1 debugger views will appear only while the debugger
> is executing.

I get breakpoints, debugger toolbar, etc. even when not in debugger. This is 
in 3.2.

> IIRC new file view is disabled by default now  and the corresponding
> functionality is available from the toolbar.

It is still enabled by default in 3.2.

> I'd opt a complete redesign of file viewers. But that's probably for
> KDevelop4. But please note, you can disable some file viewers
> in KDevelop settings (they are just plugins that you can unload).

I don't see ways to improve it much over what I displayed (and what can be 
done currently, in proper mode, btw).

> Try to add bookmarks to several files in the project and you will see.
> Also point at the bookmark and observe a nice tooltip ;)

Ah, I get it now. Bookmarks to lines, not to files, is certainly useful.

> Didn't we move watch window to the bottom?... I have to check.

It's now called "Variables", but still on the left side.

> It was removed in 3.1 and replaced by function selector which shows current
> function under the cursor.

Yes, so I noticed. However, it still doesn't seem more useful.

Btw, I have to point out that 3.2.0 currently refuses to work on my system 
for some reason and thus I cannot compile anything with it. This 
significantly limits which features I can test. Autotools are having trouble 
with libtool, it seems.

- Tronic -
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 256 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
URL: <http://mail.kde.org/pipermail/kdevelop-devel/attachments/20050416/4e464d9e/attachment.sig>