Description of problem: This was brought up in the discuss mailing list: Some of the columns in the various drakxtools are sortable, but this is not obvious to the user. Even the help files don't mention it. Userdrake was the example discussed on the mailing list. It was suggested that a"v^" indicator be added to the column headings to indicate that they are sortable, with of course a "v" or "^" to indicate the active, sorted column. This would greatly enhance the users' experience, making it easier for them to get the most from the tools. Filed against Mageia 7 Cauldron, but it would be nice if it could be added to Mageia 6, too.
Assignee: bugsquad => mageiatoolsCC: (none) => marja11
Excellent idea. A shorter alternative for sortable (but not sorted) columns might be "+" or "*", if space could be a factor. In any case, it should be implemented identically everywhere it is implemented. Once this change is accepted as policy, there is no reason not to start implementing it everywhere, as packager time permits. (Even in mga6)
CC: (none) => andre999mga
Now that I look at them, I'd suggest that solid triangles, such as those used now to indicated sorted columns, would be better than the easily-typed characters I used in Comment 0. But I'm sure you all get the idea.
Excuse me while I smack myself in the forehead yet again for not thinking of this sooner than this morning: If we use solid triangles pointing upward or downward to indicate the direction of a sorted column, then the symbol for unsorted (but sortable) should be a solid diamond - upward-pointing and downward-pointing triangles stacked on each other.
I like the idea of triangles pointing up or down if sorted and diamond if otherwise sortable. They could be outline figures instead of solid.
The sorting, and the display of the triangles, is done by the GTK3 toolkit, so that's really the place this would need to be implemented. If it were done in the Mageia tools, I think all you could do would be to modify the label to show the column was sortable, but that wouldn't change when you sorted a column. It's actually really easy to implement this in the GTK3 toolkit (I say with confidence, as I've done it). The only time consuming thing is that the triangles are implemented by icons (in /usr/share/icons/Adwaita), and you need to generate lots of different sizes (I avoided this by using an existing icon, but that isn't ideal). Whether this change would be considered acceptable I don't know - it would affect all applications that use GTK3, not just the Mageia tools. Maybe someone would like to take this idea upstream, and persuade the GTK developers to do it for us!
CC: (none) => mageia
(In reply to Martin Whitaker from comment #5) > The sorting, and the display of the triangles, is done by the GTK3 toolkit, > so that's really the place this would need to be implemented. [...] > It's actually really easy to implement this in the GTK3 toolkit (I say with > confidence, as I've done it). The only time consuming thing is that the > triangles are implemented by icons (in /usr/share/icons/Adwaita), and you > need to generate lots of different sizes (I avoided this by using an > existing icon, but that isn't ideal). Whether this change would be > considered acceptable I don't know - it would affect all applications that > use GTK3, not just the Mageia tools. > > Maybe someone would like to take this idea upstream, and persuade the GTK > developers to do it for us! There is no disadvantage if it applies everywhere GTK3 is used. As long as it correctly indicates that a column is sortable, and sorted if so. It would be a plus if available elsewhere. If it is easy to implement, why not do it here and send the patch upstream ? To simplify the icons, couldn't 3 svg icons work ? svg is at least required for drakxtools. Also, for applications using Qt, maybe it could also be implemented in Qt, so it would apply everywhere with Mageia apps ?