[Synaptic-devel] "Synaptic is what I call nice" initiative

[Renate]

Hello list,

I am working on some minor ui issues:

* Search
 - The quick find in the upper right corner will be converted to a
   filter of the package list. This will give the user instant reply
   in the case of not matching packages, since in this case no packages
   will be shown in the list. So we also don't need the buttons in the
   find toolbar anymore
 - The search dialog will be a default search dialog: It will be always
   on top of the main window and provide the function to jump to the
   next matching package.

* Status bar
 - The pseudo status bar makes the gui look more compact so that the
   package control buttons don't hang freely around in hpaned mode
 - the always visible progress bar will avoid gui resizes when updating
   the package cache. Perhaps it could also be used for other
   purposes, too: e.g. overall download

* Filter button
 - From the user replies it seems that this button is more confusing
   than helpful to new users. I think that it isn't used very often, so
   I would remove the button from the main window

* Toolbar
 - The new icons are fully themable. The update and execute button use
   stock gtk icons.
 - The buttons are grouped by function. The execute and update commands
   are separated, since the upgrade button is just a "greater" upgrade
   function of the ones in the single package controls

* Package Details
 - I am not sure about showing the description of the package in the
   vpaned mode by default. This is an inconsistency compared to the
   hpaned mode, but I think that this information is more helpful and
   less irritating to the average user than all the details, especially
   since the version numbers are already shown in the package list

Screenshots of these ideas and suggestions can be found here:

vpaned mode:
http://pimpldrive.pimpzkru.de/renate/synaptic/Bildschirmfoto.png

hpaned mode:
http://pimpldrive.pimpzkru.de/renate/synaptic/Bildschirmfoto-1.png

I hope that this will make synaptic's appearance more clear and better
integrate it into the gnome desktop. Input and comments are welcome.

Regards,

Sebastian

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