Re: [gnome-network]Remote Shell UI Mockup

[Rodrigo Moya <rodrigo gnome-db org>]

On Sat, 2003-12-27 at 08:31, Emil Soleyman-Zomalan wrote:
> Hi Folks,
> 
> I've been thinking about the UI for a while and playing around with
> Glade for that long too. I've tried to keep the UI simple as we can
> currently see with Remote Shell but at the same time added a few things
> that are missing for a full fledged GNOME application.
> 
> You can see the mock-up at http://www.nishra.com/files/rs-mockup-1.png
> 
it looks pretty well, except for the 'Connect' button. I don't know what
the HIG says about this though.

> I would appreciate any feedback on this design. 
> 
> ......................................................................
> 
> ADDITIONS AND MODIFICATIONS
> 
> * Menubar
> * Statusbar
> * Preferences window
> * Re-implementation of the window elements
> * "Quick connect" handlebar
> 
what would this do? That is, I guess the option menu in this bar will
contain the bookmarks, and when you select one, how exactly would it
work? It would still need to ask for username, I guess.

> 
> WINDOW
> 
> I have removed the "window size" portion of the main window and will
> place it in Preferences.
> 
sounds good

> The "Method" portion has been consolidated under "Connect to remote
> host" heading. As such, it is now modeled as a options menu, renamed to
> "Mode", and placed before all other elements.
> 
ok

> I have placed the "User" combo-entry box before the "Host" box. I take
> this cue mostly from web browsers where we have the user placed ahead of
> the password.
> 
I don't think this is correct. As you say, it's usually username, then
password, which means a lot of users will just type their passwords in
our 'Host' entry. I think it should be the other way round.

> I have removed the "Help" and "Cancel" buttons as they no longer make
> sense in a GNOME application. Only "Connect" exists.
> 
ok

> I have added a "Quick connect" handlebox right below the menubar to
> facilitate multiple, rapid host connections. The advantage of the
> handlebox is that it can be separated from the application and placed in
> a convenient location without having the entire application shown.
> 
that sounds good. Still, when you select one connection, as I said, it
should probably ask for the user name to use, in which case we need to
display the main window. Or are bookmarks supposed to always include a
user name?

> 
> MENUBAR DESCRIPTION
> 
> Remote Shell	Edit		Bookmarks	Help
> ------------	----		---------	----
> Connect		Cut		Add Bookmark	Contents
> Quit		Copy		Edit Bookmarks	About
> 		Paste
> 		Manage Keys
> 		Preferences
> 
> 1. Edit -> Manage Keys
> 
>    This will be a separate application from Remote Shell and will focus 
>    on managing a user host keys and identity file, a host's keys, and 
>    distribution of such keys to remote hosts or individuals. I have not 
>    created a UI for this application. Your thoughts will be valuable in 
>    this regard.
> 
this tool is what we talked about recently. I haven't had time to even
start it, but I guess it should be part then of the gnome-remote-shell
tool (as a separate binary, of course) so that we can call it from it.

> 2. Edit -> Preferences
> 
>    This portion of the application will handle a terminal's window size,
>    foreground color, background color, ssh compression level, ssh 
>    compression algorithm, etc. We can specify as little or as many 
>    options as we believe are a good fit for Remote Shell.
> 
I would start with the most obvious settings, and leaving the others out
until we get many requests to add them.

> 3. Bookmarks
> 
>    I've been thinking of a name besides Bookmarks for this top level 
>    menu but haven't found any that would be as easy to remember or to 
>    understand at first glance.
>
gnome-remote-desktop uses Profiles for this, so I guess we could use the
same.

>   
>    I have switched to using the "Sessions" name on a few occasions but I
>    think it will confuse a new user or beginner as to the purpose of 
>    this function.
> 
>    Any hosts bookmarked will show up after the "Edit bookmarks" element 
>    and will also show up under the "Quick Connect" options menu.
>
sounds good

One thing probably worthy could be to have gnome-remote-shell not finish
itself when you open a connection. That is, it could have a list of open
connections, and let you switch between them. What do you think about
this?

cheers