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FS#744 - Look and Feel: Task list column editor
Opened by Morgan (Adraeus) - Friday, 18 November 2005, 10:20 GMT+1
Last edited by Mac Newbold (macnewbold) - Tuesday, 22 November 2005, 21:53 GMT+1
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DetailsThe task list should be more customizable via the provision of a task list column editor. The column editor would enable users to add, rename, and remove columns. In addition, the column editor would provide users an interface that allows the management of custom columns, and thus, dropdown menus that appear on pages, such as the “New Task” page. The custom column editor would feature the following settings:
* Edit Name This feature might necessitate AJAX unless, of course, there’s a more clever way of assigning the location of new checkbox sets and dropdown menus (e.g., via CSS.) |
Sunday, 11 December 2005, 01:00 GMT+1
Reason for closing: Will Not Implement
Additional comments about closing: The reporter has given up on us, saying that we're "incapable"... so we must be incapable of implementing his requests.
Um, wow. I’m speechless. This sounds really complex, and I’m not sure that it fits well in the simplicity that is Flyspray’s goal and reason for existence. Not only would this be really hard to implement, but it also sounds like overkill and seems unnecessary to me. I can’t help but think it would be hard to understand and use too, except for the most advanced users.
You have arguments for everything. This feature fits well within Flyspray’s simplicity aim. The idea is to simplify unintuitive processes for users. (A UI expands to the phrase “User Interface” for a reason, Mac.) I can just imagine some ancient Word programmer complaining about how a “Font Editor” would be too complex, “overkill”, “hard to understand”, and “difficult to use” for everyone except “the most advanced users.”
A non-programmer would find the editor much easier to use than sifting through mounds of source code trying to figure out how to add, rename, and remove columns.
The real complexity is in the programming, and if you’re not up to the challenge, then let it be.
I’m not trying to argue at all, Morgan (or do you prefer Adraeus?). I really am not. You submitted a task, I started discussing it. You don’t need to try to lecture me on the meaning of User Interface. Editing the appearance of a font is hardly comparable (from the user perspective or the backend perspective) to the editor you describe in this task.
If I understand it right, you would like each user to be able to add, rename, and remove columns from the task list. That doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me, other than doing it on a per-user basis instead of a per-project basis, like now, is debatable.
Additionally, you’d like the user to be able to define custom columns, with a name and type, and provide complex editability for checkboxes and dropdowns. I have no idea what you propose a user might do with such an ability were it to exist. This seems like you would like a user to be able to add custom characteristics to tasks and be able to view those on the task list. Task lists currently have no dropdowns, and except for the Mass Ops feature, no checkboxes or editable fields of any kind. This feature is the part that sounds to me very complex and hard to understand and use, hard to implement, and not widely useful.
In no way am I trying to belittle you personally or your ideas. I just have a different opinion it seems, and am trying to express it, and gain a better understanding of your perspective on the issue. I apologize if I’ve hurt your feelings or offended you by anything I’ve said.
I didn’t intend “per-user” for
FS#744. I don’t think enable each user to independently create custom columns would be appropriate or desirable. From a permissions perspective, administrators and managers should be able to add, rename, and remove columns via a custom column editor per-instance and per-project.FS#744is an enhancement that complementsFS#743. This editor facilitates management of the column view per-group.I also did not intend to request dropdown menus, checkboxes, or editable fields *on the task list*. Think about it: what would a column editor mean? You can’t just add a custom column to the task list without assigning what data the column would show. That’s where the custom column editor comes in. On the “New Task” page, you’ll find various dropdown menus. On a similar page, the custom column editor would allow administrators/managers to add, rename, and remove columns to pages such as the “New Task” page.
There are many types of columns that can be created, such as implementations of Orthogonal Defect Classification. For a general issue tracker, “Severity”, “Reported Version”, “Due In Version”, and “Operating System” could be removed, or renamed and reconfigured as the administrator/manager requires.
FS#744would also make Flyspray more intuitive in the sense that one project could be for software defects while another project for general issues, which is a lot simpler and easier for the Flyspray “user” to manage instead of installing another instance of Flyspray and customizing that instance to be a general issue tracker. But as I described, that’s not the only reason forFS#744.I read “Task list column editor” in the summary, and must have understood something different than what you intended. If you’re asking for custom columns on tasks, then I’d refer you to
FS#218which is about that very thing. Unless there’s something else that you are asking for that doesn’t fit in withFS#218, I’m going to recommend closing this task.