Make Bugzilla Pretty: A Contest

David Lawrence dkl at redhat.com
Mon Sep 27 18:53:58 UTC 2010


Something I would also like to see discussed along with this is how to also
unclutter the page as well of lesser used fields. I just don't want to see
this become a task of just moving fields around until it looks nice.

We are adding new custom fields at a pretty good pace and the show_bug.cgi page is
just getting bigger and bigger.

One thing to think about is maybe doing an approach similar to enter_bug.cgi
where you can flag certain fields as "Expert" of "Simple" and then have a way to toggle
them on/off from show_bug.cgi.

With the new changes to allow fields to be not visible based on product
value and other field values which is helpful, we still have some products
that need to see most of the custom fields anyway. So hiding by product is
not always a solution.

One problem with the toggle approach is that although people do not like
the page look cluttered they may still want to see that something is set
in a field at a quick glance. If the custom advanced field is completely
missing from the page view, they may miss some important information.

I propose to have the fields marked as "Advanced" to not appear *unless*
they contain set data, then appear as a read-only value until the the
"Show Advanced Fields" link is clicked. Then the advanced fields would
become editable.

Another thing discussed in Red Hat is about using user roles to determine
which fields are visible/editable. So whether the user is empowered, the
assignee, the reporter, etc. certain fields that are not appropriate for
them and/or a workflow would just not be visible.

Just a thought

Dave

On 9/23/10 5:00 PM, Max Kanat-Alexander wrote:
> 	Hello developers and designers! The time has finally come--we want to
> make Bugzilla *look nice*! Gone are the days when it is OK for
> open-source software to be functional but unattractive--we need a UI
> that not only works well, but also looks great!
>
> 	To this end, we are having a contest for designers, to see who can come
> up with the best new design for Bugzilla:
>
> 	http://wiki.mozilla.org/Bugzilla:Pretty
>
> 	You don't have to know anything about HTML or Bugzilla (though it
> helps), you just have to be able to redesign and submit an image to us.
>
> 	With your entry, you could be giving the world a great-looking
> open-source bug-tracking system, impacting the lives of millions of
> developers, forwarding the cause of open-source in the new decade, and
> getting some sweet promotion for yourself in the process!
>
> 	We are looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
>
> 	-Max

-- 
David Lawrence, RHCE  dkl at redhat.com
------------------------------------
Red Hat, Inc.    Web: www.redhat.com
1801 Varsity Drive Raleigh, NC 27606

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