Re: What is necessary if we are to keep dpkg/dselect

[Craig Sanders <cas@taz.net.au>]

On Sat, 22 Feb 1997, Fabien Ninoles wrote:

> On Fri, 21 Feb 1997, Siggy Brentrup wrote:
> 
> > On Fri, Feb 21 1997, Bruce Perens wrote:
> > 
> > Taking Bruce's analysis in 1. above as valid IMO we should start
> > out with designing a user interface that is consistent with that
> > presented on the install disks. This doesn't necessarily mean we
> > must build on dialog, we may decide to change look and feel of the
> > base install too.
> >
>
> I aggreed entirely with Bruce and you on this issue. I think Manoj
> work on some libraries too. If we can make dpkg independant from the
> UI, may be we will see more different interfaces (for more different
> people) appear.

I think that improvements to dselect should be done in two stages. The
first is immediate tweaks which will improve the current user interface.
The second is an overhaul of the design.

for now, i'll leave the second stage to further discussion and
concentrate on the immediate tweaks:

 1. help systems should be there when requested and keep out of the
    way when not asked for. Like any user, if i want help i'll
    bloody-well ask for it when i need it...getting it thrust in my
    face at every possible opportunity is not only annoying, it is
    disconcerting and jarring - it MAKES dselect seem much harder and
    to use than it really is.

 1a. get rid of that damned help screen which appears as soon as you enter
     Select mode. replace it with a message "press ? for help" on the
     bottom line of the screen. keep that message there - consider it a
     static part of the 'status line'. Make the '?' blink or standout
     or something if you really must (it's not necessary though - most
     users are quite adept at scanning a screen for the "Help" option).

 1b. stop bringing up that help screen for every unrecognised keystroke.
     a simple beep or flash of the status line is enough.


 2. instead of the initial Select mode help screen, have a section list.
    It should contain all of the Sections, plus "All", "New",
    "Updated", "Available but not installed". Finally, there should
    be a "Save changes and return to main menu" and "Return to main
    without saving" option.

    Preferably, this should be hierarchical. e.g. If user chooses "New",
    then it presents a sub-menu of "All sections", "section", "section",
    ... "section".

 3. make it look and feel more like other curses-based tools.  One of the
    biggest problems with the current dselect is that it is not consistent
    with other tools.

    This means navigation from menu to menu should be solely via arrow
    keys or vi hjkl keys. Navigation should be as similar as possible
    to other menu based programs (lynx is a reasonable navigation
    model), and more importantly, navigation should be 100% consistent
    within dselect.

    "Enter", specifically, should NEVER be used to return from Select
    mode. going into and returning from select mode should be achieved
    only with arrow or vi navigation keys.

    Instead, enter should (perhaps) toggle install/dont install status. 
    This would bring up the usual dependancies checker screen, listing
    only unresolved dependancies.
     
    Also, pressing "right" (arrow or vi "l" key) should bring up the
    dependancy screen, this time showing all packages which either
    depend upon or are depended upon by the current package.

    navigation flow should be something like:

    dselect main --> sections --> packages list  ( --> dependancies list...)




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