[Users] Setup Host Network dialog - actions availability [ux][BZ#984737]

[Jason Keltz]

On 08/22/2013 01:43 PM, Lior Vernia wrote:
>
> On 22/08/13 20:04, Einav Cohen wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> This is about attempting to address the difficulty of finding the edit-action in
>> the Setup Host Network dialog, as documented in "Bug 984737 - usability: webadmin
>> difficulty in assigning client ip, no gateway possible" in bugzilla.
>> We have a suggestion from Eldan (see attached "HostSetupNetworks-HoverPopUp.png")
>> which was described in the BZ (comment #3) and seemed acceptable by the reporter
>> (comment #4), however IIUC - one of the main pain points described in the BZ was
>> the fact that the user could not find the option to Edit the connection properties
>> since he was looking in the wrong place, and needed to hover on the correct place,
>> in order to find that option.
>> So although the idea is somewhat helpful, my concern is that this solution is not
>> enough (comment #5).
>>
>> Another proposal from Malini (comment #6) is to add an "actions" drop-down menu in
>> the form of a small "gear" icon-button - see attached "HostSetupNetworks-DropDownMenu.png".
>> This proposal addresses my concern, however I have a question about another concern
>> with this solution:
>> would the actions-drop-down menu-items panel be revealed appear upon click or upon
>> hover?
>>
>> if it will be upon hover, it might seem weird/be conflicted/be somewhat confusing
>> with the hover functionality that reveals the logical-network details pop-up.
The suggestion from Lior did include redesigning the tooltip frame to 
include an "Edit" command, which is certainly more intuitive than a 
pencil.   That being said, I do agree that the gear solution which has 
been proposed is *more* intuitive and honestly more in line with what I 
was expecting.  I didn't complain about Lior's response even though it 
didn't completely address my issue because it came from a designer, and 
I realized, looking at my desktop, that configurable elements often *do 
not* have hints that they are configurable.

> If this proposal is accepted (see my comments below about both
> proposals), one solution might be to get rid of the network details
> tooltip. Most people probably don't use MTU, and the rest is just
> explaining the network role icons; so maybe not that useful.
>
>> if it will be upon click, it means that in order to edit a logical network, two
>> clicks will be required in order to get to the edit dialog, as opposed to one click
>> in the current state and in Eldan's suggestion.
>> maybe having two clicks in order to get to the edit dialog is acceptable, however
>> there may be some solutions for that:
>>
>> one possible solution would be to combine both attached suggestions, i.e. the actions
>> within the hover pop-up, as well as the actions drop-down menu, however it means that
>> there will be some redundancy of the actions availability.
> That sounds bad to me regardless of the other alternatives.
>
>> another possible solution is to keep only the gear + down-arrow icon (or maybe only
>> the down-arrow icon), without the actual drop-down menu there, just in order to indicate
>> that there are some options available in that area, and have Eldan's pop-up appear when
>> hovering on that icon (or even on the entire logical-network area, as happens today with
>> the current details pop-up)
>>
>> thoughts?
> I like the gear icon because it's noticeable and easily recognizable.
> However, keep in mind that bonds should also have the same icon to keep
> a consistent design. Now imagine a configuration with several bonds on
> the left-hand-side and quite a few networks on the right-hand-side; I'm
> no designer, but it could get cluttered with all those gear icons.
>
> It MIGHT be preferable to use the other design (tooltip with action bar)
> and risk the odd person not easily finding it (no disrespect intended,
> Jason). I have no idea, however, if it's gonna be just the odd person or
> most people. I'd love to hear others' opinions.
Having not used bridging/multiple VLANS prior to my experimentation with 
ovirt, it's always been the network interface itself that I have 
configured with IP/subnet/etc (eg. 
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0).  Most of my machines 
(hundreds) have single network interfaces, and I've never needed to use 
bonding/bridging/etc which kept my network configuration very simple.  
After experimenting with oVirt, and doing my share of reading, I 
certainly understand the concept of logical networks and their 
configuration with oVirt, and yes, it all makes a lot of sense NOW 
(well, except for the fact that really when it comes down to it, the 
Linux configuration for anything but basic networking is, in my opinion, 
anything but intuitive.)  Nonetheless, please keep in mind that a 
concept which might be completely crystal clear to someone who uses it 
on a daily basis might be a little less intuitive to someone who is 
using it for the first time.  Fortunately, I've got *plenty* of patience. :)
>> ----
>> Regards,
>> Einav
>>

Thanks for your help!

Jason.