Re: A different way to interactively pass options to commands

[Óscar Fuentes]

Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Yes, it does sound quite attractive.  For instance, in Gnus, when
> responding to a message, there's...  I don't know how many commands.
> Let's see:
>
> S F           gnus-summary-followup-with-original
> S L           gnus-summary-reply-to-list-with-original
> S N           gnus-summary-followup-to-mail-with-original
> S R           gnus-summary-reply-with-original
> S V           gnus-summary-very-wide-reply-with-original
> S W           gnus-summary-wide-reply-with-original
> S f           gnus-summary-followup
> S n           gnus-summary-followup-to-mail
> S r           gnus-summary-reply
> S v           gnus-summary-very-wide-reply
> S w           gnus-summary-wide-reply
> S B R         gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to-with-original
> S B r         gnus-summary-reply-broken-reply-to
>
> 13!  Geez.

I know that pain well enough ;-)

> Anyway, the interface you describe would fit this use case
> well, it seems to me: The choices are whether to include the original or
> not, and what subset of the To/Cc's to include in the set...  Currently,
> users are probably tapping `S C-h' and then learn what the binding is,
> and then using that.  And then forgetting until the next time.
>
> A Magit-like popup menu would probably be a much superior interface
> here, I think?

That case is a piece of cake for the Magit popup approach, it is almost
too simple. What you have there is just the beginnings of a little
combinatorial explosion.

But then come the long-term advantages: by using the popup approach, if
you wish to add a new parameter you don't need to define 13 new
commands, you just register the parameter with the popup (along with its
corresponding short description) and your UI problem is solved, but much
better: you have discoverability, the user is not overwhelmed by a long
list of commands (he just combines parameters and then starts actions),
you don't have to worry about menus that grow too long, exhausting keys,
etc. and the whole process is almost as fast as using the S** shortcuts
you have now (one key to start the popup, one key for activating each
parameter and one key for launching the action), but with an explicit
interface that shows what you are about to do.