[Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs

Tue Nov 26 22:03:44 UTC 2013

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Einav Cohen" <ecohen at redhat.com>
> To: "Malini Rao" <mrao at redhat.com>
> Cc: "engine-devel" <engine-devel at ovirt.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:19:55 PM
> Subject: Re: [Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs
> 
> Hi Malini,
> 
> > This could work but I am not a big fan of simply adding iconic columns
> > preceding the name. This is actually a good example where 2 icon columns
> > are
> > already there and adding another column is making the primary column ( i.e
> > the name column) not seem like the first column the eye focuses on.
> 
> not sure that I completely agree with that: if I am taking my e-mail client,
> for example - it has a lot of icon columns that precede the primary columns
> ('From', 'Subject'), however I don't think that it makes the primary columns
> any less 'catchy' (see attached
> 'e-mail-client--a-lot-of-preceding-icons.png').
> Having said that - it may depend on the actual content of the icon columns
> (i.e. in my e-mail example, the icon-columns are mostly empty, whereas in the
> VMs main tab example, at least the 'status' and 'vm-type' icon columns are
> expected to always contain some icon), so not sure.

Einav, I do take your point. That said, I don't think the screenshot you sent me would be considered a good example of something well designed - at least not in terms of the number of columns with icons. Also, it kind of works because the subject column which is possibly what the user will focus on is the widest. 

> 
> > I understand that it is not as easy implementation-wise but in the effort
> > to
> > start moving towards a more elegant solution, I am wondering if we can cash
> > in on what users may have learned in spreadsheet software and use a dog ear
> > image at the corner of the name cell ( See attached). This way, we are not
> > dedicating any more space and it does not take away space allotted to the
> > text string either. The visual details of the icon are not final and this
> > is
> > sent to communicate an idea only. If we agree on this, I will send the
> > final
> > icon to use.
> 
> this solution is nice and elegant - I like it;
> my main concern is that I am not sure how will we be able to sort the items
> by that field if we won't have a dedicated column for it (once column sorting
> will be available in general, of course).

That is a good point. I guess the question is if sorting will be necessary on comments since it is available on hover only anyway and I am not sure an alphabetical sort would be very useful in finding a particular comment. In general, once we have that feature, it may be worthwhile to consider what columns need sorting and not necessarily have every available column in the list have that ability. What could be useful in this case is to sort by all the rows that do have a comment on them and that could potentially be incorporated into the sort sequence - for e.g, unsorted, alphanumeric Asc,alphanumeric desc, presence of comment on top, unsorted.

> my other concern is indeed the implementation effort that would need to be
> involved in it.
> 
> Question is if it is something that is worth considering if we decide that
> the
> extra-icon-column solution is acceptable.

The extra-icon-column solution is not whacky or unacceptable but it creates these empty spaces or tiled patterns depending on whether it is filled or not and it also takes up space all the time. 

> 
> Another option (at least for the short term) for solving the real-estate
> problem
> without changing anything in the primary column area is to keep the 'Comment'
> column in its current location, only replace its textual title with an icon
> title
> (see attached 'move-comment-column--option-1-variation.png').

I was thinking along these lines as well. Maybe if we decide not to implement the recommendation I sent earlier, we could move the comment column to display after the name column. This way it is not lost at the very end esp because its presence is known only via a small icon. If the comment is relatively unimportant, then I think it would be reasonable to leave it where it is today.

> 
> > 
> > Thoughts?
> > 
> > -Malini
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Einav Cohen" <ecohen at redhat.com>
> > To: "Daniel Erez" <derez at redhat.com>
> > Cc: "Malini Rao" <mrao at redhat.com>, "Mike Kolesnik" <mkolesni at redhat.com>,
> > "engine-devel" <engine-devel at ovirt.org>
> > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 11:44:49 AM
> > Subject: Re: [Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs
> > 
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Daniel Erez" <derez at redhat.com>
> > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 11:24:30 AM
> > > 
> > > 
> > > 
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > From: "Einav Cohen" <ecohen at redhat.com>
> > > > To: "Malini Rao" <mrao at redhat.com>, "Mike Kolesnik"
> > > > <mkolesni at redhat.com>
> > > > Cc: "engine-devel" <engine-devel at ovirt.org>
> > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 6:17:18 PM
> > > > Subject: Re: [Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs
> > > > 
> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > From: "Malini Rao" <mrao at redhat.com>
> > > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 11:06:17 AM
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > > From: "Eli Mesika" <emesika at redhat.com>
> > > > > > To: "Mike Kolesnik" <mkolesni at redhat.com>
> > > > > > Cc: "engine-devel" <engine-devel at ovirt.org>
> > > > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 4:05:37 AM
> > > > > > Subject: Re: [Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > > > > > From: "Mike Kolesnik" <mkolesni at redhat.com>
> > > > > > > To: "engine-devel" <engine-devel at ovirt.org>
> > > > > > > Sent: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 8:44:34 AM
> > > > > > > Subject: [Engine-devel] Remove Comment column in main tabs
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Hi,
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > When the comment RFE was added (in 3.3), there was also a column
> > > > > > > added
> > > > > > > to
> > > > > > > many main tabs.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > I would like to propose to get rid of the column (which can only
> > > > > > > house
> > > > > > > one
> > > > > > > icon or no icon),
> > > > > > > and instead if there's a comment on an entity just display the
> > > > > > > icon
> > > > > > > with
> > > > > > > the
> > > > > > > tooltip adjacent to the name.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > In this case the icon should probably be scaled down a bit since
> > > > > > > its
> > > > > > > huge.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > I think this would be a good alternative and save us some valued
> > > > > > > screen
> > > > > > > real
> > > > > > > estate.
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Thoughts, opinions?
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > +1
> > > > > 
> > > > > +1. But isn't there a limitation on appending an icon to a column
> > > > > that
> > > > > already has content? Also to fully consider pros and cons - if it is
> > > > > possible, we have to think of where to append this icon - prefix or
> > > > > suffix.
> > > > > If we prefix, then it is likely that some names will be preceded by 2
> > > > > icons
> > > > > because many of our lists have an icon already in the first column.
> > > > > If
> > > > > it
> > > > > is
> > > > > suffixed, the relative position on the icon will change based on how
> > > > > long
> > > > > the name is and if the object names tend to be long, then
> > > > > potentially,
> > > > > the
> > > > > icon is taking some room away.
> > > > 
> > > > see attached two options (both comparing the current state and a
> > > > suggested
> > > > state in the VMs main tab) - not sure which one Mike had in mind.
> > > > option #1 is easy to implement while option #2, as Malini mentioned,
> > > > may
> > > > be more difficult to implement.
> > > > also need to keep in mind that the today, the comment column
> > > > real-estate
> > > > is
> > > > taken mostly by the column title; therefore if we lose the title, we
> > > > should
> > > > indicate in some other manner that this is the comment field of the
> > > > object
> > > > (e.g. within the tooltip - also demonstrated in the attached).
> > > 
> > > +1
> > > I think that an image header might be a good solution.
> > > E.g. an image of a post-it note instead of the title.
> > 
> > good idea - we can display a "comment" tool-tip when hovering on the
> > title-icon
> > and, like today, display only the comment value within the tool-tip when
> > hovering
> > on the regular-row-icon (see attached).
> > [we already have icon-column-titles in the application, e.g. "shareable",
> > "bootable"
> > in the Disks grid, so it shouldn't be hard to implement]
> > 
> > > 
> > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > Also worth considering is the fact that if we prefix the icon only on
> > > > > the
> > > > > rows where it is needed, it will be in a position that will
> > > > > definitely
> > > > > grab
> > > > > attention. So, it may be worthwhile to see if this is the icon that
> > > > > we
> > > > > should place here or if there is any other icon that deserves this
> > > > > attention
> > > > > in a consistent manner across entities.
> > > > > 
> > > > > While on the topic, it will also be a great idea IMHO to take a look
> > > > > at
> > > > > our
> > > > > various lists and see what columns are actually valuable for a
> > > > > default
> > > > > display. I think we are working on adding the ability to select
> > > > > columns
> > > > > for
> > > > > display and so the columns that we remove can be added back in by
> > > > > users
> > > > > when
> > > > > they want but do not sit there taking up room permanently. If anyone
> > > > > has
> > > > > ideas on what the default columns should be for one or many of the
> > > > > lists
> > > > > in
> > > > > our product, do send it to me. I will be willing to compile and
> > > > > consolidate
> > > > > the list and then post it back to the group for consideration.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Regards,
> > > > > > > Mike
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > 
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> > > > > > > 
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