[Phpmyadmin-devel] Usability problems in SVN trunk

[Marc Delisle]

Garvin Hicking a écrit :
> Hi!
> 
> The first time for maybe 2 years I am in need of using phpMyAdmin intensively
> again, and now had a closer look on the current SVN trunk (3.2.0-dev), where I
> was surprised to see some common usage cases changed in a way, that makes my
> life harder to use phpMyAdmin.
> 
> I would like to put some work into that, but first ask for the reasoning behind
> if, and if my work on that is appreciated. Mind me that I have not yet read the
> sourcecode on these issues, so I might not be aware of any hidden config options
> that toggle this changed behaviour.
> 
> 
> * On the table structure page, the indices have been hidden by default. For me
> and for many others, Indexes are REALLY important for MySQL administration.
> Having an additional click on "+ Details" (which needs some specific
> designing/icon for the future) to expand those details is slowing things down.

Hi Garvin,
I think this directive will help you:

$cfg['InitialSlidersState'] string
    If set to 'closed', the visual sliders are initially in a closed
state. A value of 'open' does the reverse.

But to confirm your point, we got another feedback that it's not a good
idea to hide something if it's already at the bottom of screen.

> 
> I suggest to either add a config option to be able to turn on the Details by
> default again, with the values "Yes, No, Cookie". When choosing Cookie, a
> per-table cookie would be created that indicates if the indices are shown by
> default or not.
> 
> Also, the "Details" link appears below the repeated navigation for tables with
> many keys. I suggest to have Details BEFORE the repeated navigation.
> 
> Plus, when clicking on "Details" on tables with many keys, the browser jumps to
> the top of the page, and I need to scroll down again to see the actual indexes.
> 
> 
> * Much more problematic for my own work is that when I browse tables, the
> "FULLTEXT" icon was removed. What was formerly one click to reveal larger table
> contents is now three clicks, and needs to be performed for every pagination
> resultset. That really curbs down easy access to table contents.
> 
> I suggest to re-add the Fulltext toggle icon. The other content of "+ Options"
> when browsing can stay how it is can stay, I think those options are used fairly
> rarely.
> 
> Plus, when expanding the "+Options", the browser cuts of the last 2-3 pixels of
> the box, so no ending border remains and it makes the whole dropout appear a bit
> ugly. ;)

Yes, please provide us a patch ;)

> 
> 
> * The actions for browsing a table and viewing the structure from the left frame
> has been reversed. What is the reasoning behind this? I think many users got
> accustomed to that, so switching it is hard to understand, as I also see no real
> benefit to the change other than creating confusion?

The reasoning is that browsing a table is (probably) more common than
accessing the structure, and clicking on the table name is easier than
clicking on the small icon. But then, you have

$cfg['LeftDefaultTabTable']  // for the icon
and
$cfg['DefaultTabTable'] // for clicking on table name
> 
> 
> I'm eager to hear your feedback on this. :-)
> 
> Best regards,
> Garvin
>