Modification to Bugzilla

[Christian Reis]

On Mon, Jul 21, 2003 at 10:39:53PM +0100, Gervase Markham wrote:
> Christian Reis wrote:
> >Has anybody ever considered ideas to make show_bug.cgi more `scalable'
> >wrt to features and fields? The current layout is quite a bit
> >constrictive, and it's not easy to imaging fitting extra features into
> >it without hurting overall usability further (it is scary as it is!).
> 
> Yes - ditch Netscape 4.x support, and move to a CSS-based layout which 
> allows you to show/hide individual fields without ripping the page 
> apart. This would also allow people to configure Bugzilla to show only 
> the fields they wanted (Developer view, QA view, manager view.)

I was thinking more in the lines of ripping the page apart; I'd prefer
that to configuring what bits you want to show. I think the page is
complex enough to warrant some serious UI reconsidering, and we haven't
done enough of that.

I think the fact that there is a lot of data on that form is not a bug
(and not going away), and offering a good, structured UI to display it
is more important than prefing away bits you don't want to look at right
now (since that can change arbitrarily).

But maybe we are agreeing, actually. So you suggest a layout that would
allow us to show and hide bits dynamically? Something like "disclosure
triangles"?

I was thinking of a way to reorganize that data in a way it was easier
to find. People have already suggested moving to Redhat's layout for
show_bug.cgi which I do like (over our default layout). I think more in
that line could make sense.

       Bug 343455: [ show_bug.cgi needs better UI       ]  *_Add Alias*
          Product: [ Bugzilla    |v]       Component: [ Bugzilla-General     |v]

         Reporter: Christian Reis <kiko at async.com.br>
      Assigned to: [ <gerv at gerv.net> ]    QA Contact: [ <matty at chariot.net.au> ]

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  ---  Comments section ---
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  Additional Comment:
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  [>] Platform and Version Details
  [v] Bug Scheduling
         Priority: P1    Severity: Blocker    Target: [ Bugzilla 2.19        |v]
  [>] CC List
  [>] Attachments
  [>] Dependency Details
  [>] Flags and Votes

  < > Resolve as [      |v] < > Reopen < > Verify < > Close < > Dupe: [       ]

  (( Commit ))

Sure, it takes a long time to scroll to be bottom, but:

    a) <Enter> in a textfield commits (and expert users know it)
    b) Non-experts end up reading all the comments and avoid adding a
       "me too".

One thing I do say: I think that page is *far* too verbose. "Mark bug as
Verified" could really become "Verify" with improved understandability.

Take care,
--
Christian Reis, Senior Engineer, Async Open Source, Brazil.
http://async.com.br/~kiko/ | [+55 16] 261 2331 | NMFL