Hierarchy Browser's Instance/Class switcher unreadable and unusable in some situations

[jtu...@objektfabrik.de]

How to reproduce:
Use a Vanilla image
Enable Theming on Vista / Win 7
Open a Hierarchy Browser
Try to select a Class Method.

Problem: The switcher below the Categories list is too small to show both the radio buttons for Instance and Class. In some situations you can not only not read the word Class, but also not Click on the radio button, because it's not fully visible. You have to resize the Browser first.

Possible solutions:
a) Make the Browser bigger by default so that there's enough space for the Class radio button
b) put less whitespace between the two radio buttons
c) replace the radio buttons with something that fits into the Browser at its default size (I know, the old buttons we had before the tabbed browser were hard to understand as well)

[John O'Keefe]

Joachim -

 

It's funny how our (well, maybe only my) memory fades. I don't remember what was there before. What about a button whose label changes depending on whether Class or Instance methods are being displayed?  Press the button and it changes its label and also changes what is being displayed.

 

John

[Marten Feldtmann]

HeHe :-))) ... buttons with changing labels are the most strange GUI elements I've seen so far. I never know, how they behave. If there is a button with "car brake fixed" I pressed this button because I think, that this will fix the brakes of my car - but saidly it had the reverse meaning :))))))))

[jtu...@objektfabrik.de]

John,

that's exactly what was there before: a Button that said "Class" when you were on the Instance side and vice versa. It was hard to understand because you always had to think about hat exactly it means. Does it mean I am looking at Class methods or does it mean I can use it to switch to Class methods. So it's not really a good replacement.

I think it would be best if it were notebook pages, but then there's the question where to put the public/private/all selection options. Me personally thinks that this should simply go away. Private methods are just some kind of label attached to a method and the word private has a completely different meaning in most other languages. Many Smalltalk environments have dropped private methods or never supported them. One of the first settings I change in my images is to have browsers display all. If VA ST really needs private methods, make it a less prominent GUI element (e.g. some drop down menu) and stick with the red indicators for private methods. Or introduce the notion of private in the form of a special category (hmmm.. not sure I really like this...)

There are probably less expensive alternatives:

* Use a drop down-list instead of Radio Buttons (By far not my favorite)

* Make the switcher so that it displays in two lines if both selections don't fit into one line (introducing new problems or small browser windows)

* Make Browser windows always open big enough for the switcher to be visible (cheapest but least sustainable because users can always make the winow smaller)

* Move the clas/instance switcher to the top (above categories and the method list). It probably even belongs there because the list of categories is different between class and instance side, so it switches both the contents of category and method list

  * Then it could possibly even be a notebook that includes both categories list and methods list, both in the context of either class or instanece

---> That's my favorite. Thinking about it even more, the selection between private and public (if it's really needed) is something that is relevent in the context of either class or instance methods.

To summarize: Put the categories and method list into a combined notebook/tab strip for the selection between class and instance side. Then, if really needed, the public/private/all selection can be made wihin the respective page/tab.

Joachim