[rkward] [Bug 358942] New: Usability: Package search in installation dialog does not provide status feedback

[Thomas Friedrichsmeier via KDE Bugzilla]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=358942

            Bug ID: 358942
           Summary: Usability: Package search in installation dialog does
                    not provide status feedback
           Product: rkward
           Version: unspecified
          Platform: Other
                OS: Linux
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: NOR
         Component: User Interface
          Assignee: rkward-devel at kde.org
          Reporter: thomas.friedrichsmeier at ruhr-uni-bochum.de
             Flags: Usability+

Aaron reports:

Also, this is something I just remembered that bugs me: You put your search
term in the "show packages matching" text field, and then seemingly nothing
happens. In older versions, the drop-down arrows in the list to the left
would disappear if nothing was returned for that search term, leaving only
"New Packages" in the case of a new install. Now nothing happens and you
have to go searching in them.

However, even with the old behavior, many people, even me, instinctively
just hit "enter" after putting in the search term, which just dismisses the
dialog completely.

I think it would be easier if either the relevant packages would display on
the left (i.e., the relevant section would expand itself to display the
package), so that the user knew something had happened, and/or the search
is not begun until the user hits enter/return.

What would also really help would be a little activity indicator next to
the search box. One of these guys:

https://cdn3.iconfinder.com/data/icons/pictofoundry-pro-vector-set/512/LoadingIndicator-512.png

Right now there is no feedback whatsoever to tell the user that something
is happening. This is especially confusing since you don't really go in
here that often. You do it once when you need something, maybe struggle
with it, but ultimately get what you need, and do your analysis, never to
think about it again. Since it's not a part of the program that people use
that much, it needs to be super-clear on how it works, I think.

---Session Info---
-- Frontend --
RKWard version: 0.6.4z+0.6.5+devel1
KDE version (runtime): 4.14.13
KDE version (compile time): 4.14.13
Qt build key: x86_64 linux g++-4 full-config
Local KDE directory: /home/thomas/.kde/
RKWard storage directory: /home/thomas/.rkward/
Backend version (as known to the frontend): 3.2.2

Debug message file (this may contain relevant diagnostic output in case of
trouble):
/tmp/rkward.frontend.j19881

-- Backend --
Debug message file (this may contain relevant diagnostic output in case of
trouble):
/tmp/rkward.rbackend.J19887

R version (compile time): 3.2.2  (2015-08-14 r69053)
R runtime session info:
R version 3.2.2 (2015-08-14)
Platform: x86_64-pc-linux-gnu (64-bit)
Running under: Ubuntu 15.10

locale:
 [1] LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8          LC_NUMERIC=C                 
 [3] LC_TIME=de_DE.UTF-8           LC_COLLATE=en_US.UTF-8       
 [5] LC_MONETARY=de_DE.UTF-8       LC_MESSAGES=C                
 [7] LC_PAPER=de_DE.UTF-8          LC_NAME=de_DE.UTF-8          
 [9] LC_ADDRESS=de_DE.UTF-8        LC_TELEPHONE=de_DE.UTF-8     
[11] LC_MEASUREMENT=de_DE.UTF-8    LC_IDENTIFICATION=de_DE.UTF-8

attached base packages:
[1] stats     graphics  grDevices utils     datasets  methods   base     

other attached packages:
[1] rkward_0.6.3

loaded via a namespace (and not attached):
[1] tools_3.2.2

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