| [orion-dev] selection model changes in master.... |
hi, everyone.
For those of you picking up the latest changes (perhaps from tonight's build) there have been changes in the explorer selection model that will affect navigator, git log, etc.
This will change the way you use lists, so please read.
In bug 377018 [1], Libing has removed the checkboxes and instead supplied an "extended select" style experience where you use the mouse to click to make a selection, ctrl+click to add to the selection, etc. The key point here is that now that the checkboxes are gone, you need to click in a row, *outside of the links or buttons* to make a selection.
In bug 367458 [2], I have moved the command contributions in the navigator from the individual item rows to the "More" selection menu. This means that you must first select an item to make a selection, and then click More->some action vs. using the chevron menu.
Visually, you'll find the navigator much less cluttered, given the checkbox and chevron are gone. (Favorites will move to this selection model soon.) I also corrected a default font size problem in the CSS so the navigator (and other unspecified) fonts. All of this hopefully results in a cleaner presentation.
The selection model changes were not purely visual, the idea was to deal with inconsistencies and questionable behavior caused by mixing the chevron/implied single selection context menus with a bulk selection model.
We are very interested in feedback on these changes. I suspect that your Orion muscle memory will probably cause problems at first. I found myself several times today clicking on a link thinking I was selecting it, rather than clicking in the white space next to it. I'm keen to separate complaints about "muscle memory goofs" from the experience afterward. Please let us know what you think about it, and whether you think this is an improvement.
You will need an extra click and a mouse move to the toolbar for some actions that before required a single click next to the item. This ergonomic cost (I expect to hear about it from jjb!) is a tradeoff against the confusing nature of the chevron/context menu, especially when there is a selection model in play. I'm finding that single click/single item actions are a tad more cumbersome in this model, but the bulk operations are much simpler, because I no longer have to click next to each item for items that did not previously appear in the "More" menu. I also plan to implement some of the more common keybindings (delete, rename, etc.) which should reduce the number of mouse trips needed for the more common actions.
There are some bugs still present, mainly involving empty More menus. If you select no items at all, you'll get an empty More menu. I will fix this bug ASAP. Complicating matters, though, is that a change in the selection model broke the sites page ability to save [3]. I had deleted my self hosting site today intending to regenerate one and now am unable to create a new one in order to fix the other bugs.
Presumably tonight's build should fix that problem, and I'll be able to fix the empty More menu tomorrow.
Your patience is appreciated while we work through this!
thanks,
susan
[1] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=377018
[2] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=367458
[3] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=379041