Closed Bug 150251 Opened 22 years ago Closed 22 years ago

Preferences window not resizeable.

Categories

(Mozilla Localizations :: bs / Bosnian, defect)

Product:
Mozilla Localizations
Component:
bs / Bosnian
Platform:
x86
Windows 2000
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
normal

Tracking

(Not tracked)

Status:
VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 93400

People

(Reporter: dimentiy, Assigned: mpt)

Details

Subj. Used Mozilla: 1.0 release, russian localization from mozilla.org.
This is by-design.  Dialogs should not be resizable. Panel designers should make
sure their panels fit the default dialog size.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 22 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
And how are you planning to do this when I'm running 640x480 and
my home URL is very long ? This makes NO sense.

Yes, in the absence of anything else, the dialogs should be designed
as you mention. This is irrelevant to the ability to resize the dialog.

Add to it the fact that behaviour differs between platforms (it works fine on
Linux, apart from the problem that there is no sensible minimum geometry for
the dialog).

Besides, isn't this a dupe ?

(I suspect that in fact the reason this hasn't happened might be technical
difficulty, but I can't be sure of that)
> my home URL is very long

How does this affect this bug?

> This is irrelevant to the ability to resize the dialog.

Indeed. The dialog is not resizable because it's a dialog.  It needs resizing
because the Russian localizers likely translated the text to be too long.

> it works fine on Linux

Not if you have a recent windowmanager that actually pays attention to whether
the app asked the window to be resizable.  Most older WMs do not do that.

> there is no sensible minimum geometry for the dialog

Yes there is.  Something that will fit on a 640x480 screen.

> Besides, isn't this a dupe ?

Yes.  Feel free to find the invalid original and dup; I do not have the time to
do that at the moment.

> technical difficulty

There is none.  Just set the window flag to make it resizable in the
openDialog() call in navigator.js....
> How does this affect this bug?

Because it is convenient and natural to want to see more of the
text entry, without needing to scroll.

>  the Russian localizers likely translated the text to be too long.

in which case this bug should be re-opened for that. Dimentiy, is
this the case ? Why do you want to resize the dialog ?

> actually pays attention to whether the app asked the window to be resizable.

What method does Mozilla use exactly ? Other applications are
able to disable resizing perfectly well, when appropriate.

> Yes there is.  Something that will fit on a 640x480 screen.

You have missed my point. I am fully aware of the need for this,
I am pointing out that Mozilla is allowing resizes to smaller than
this size. Again, this works perfectly with other applications.
I am using KDE2 kwin, by the way.

> There is none.  Just set the window flag to make it resizable in the

For a dialog to be usefully resizable, it should not allow resizing below
a certain minimum size, as dictated by the geometry of the widgets.
I don't know how good XUL is at geometry management, which is why I
made that (I assume incorrect) guess.

Comment 1, sentence 3 is true, but it is not relevant as to whether
resizing is allowed or not. The sentence remains true in both cases.

So can you please explain why the dialog should not be resizable ? Are
you saying that allowing it to be resized encourages the introduction
of the well-known problems with this dialog being too large ? Or something else ?

If you're saying this, isn't there a better method of encouraging
good design in the dialog, i.e. one that does not impact usability ?
I'm saying it should not be resizable because

1) It's a dialog and dialogs (unlike windows) should not be resizable per most of
   the UI guidelines in existence.
2) Making it resizable would encourage developers to write too-big panels (which
   they are tempted to do as-is).
Okay, Boris. I accept your opinion. "Preferences" window resizing - not actual, 
it's true.

But some dialogs need to be resizeable. For example - "Bookmark properties". 
This dialog is not resizeable too. But URL (or description) may be long. This 
window must be resizeable, I think ;)
Status: RESOLVED → UNCONFIRMED
Resolution: INVALID → ---
Summary: Preferences window not resizeable. → Some windows not resizeable (was: Preferences window not resizeable).
I've asked about this at

news://news.freeserve.co.uk:119/3D02BE6E.30309@compsoc.man.ac.uk

in netscape.public.mozilla.ui in an attempt to keep this bug free
from spam.
 I confirm that mozilla dialogs on linux are resizeable. I'm using
Enlightenment window manager - that's an advanced WM that is standards-aware.
 I also think that dialogs should be resiziable, because user may prefer
bigger font size for UI or use a localized version of the dialog with
strings of totally different widths.
 As for UI guidelines stating that dialogs are resizable - I think they
come from Mac or Windows UI designers, and Mac and Win32 widgetsets
don't have easy to use layout management. So they just cover thier butts
by stating that dialogs shouldn't be resizable.
Vlad, please don't comment on this bug (with wild guesses). I've
already done that :)

Instead read the newsgroup thread I started.

I don't know why Mozilla elected not to use the venerable
XSizeHints method of preventing resizing, but I'm sure there
was a good reason ...
Boris has it nearly right, but not quite. CCing Gerv, coz I've seen him get this
wrong before too. :-) First, definitions.

A dialog is:
*   modal (sometimes it isn't, usually as a workaround for a bug -- e.g. the
    Preferences dialog is non-modal to let you download more `content packs')
*   closed with the mouse by clicking a button along its bottom
*   closed with the keyboard by typing Enter or Escape or similar.

A normal window is:
*   non-modal
*   closed with the mouse by clicking a button in its title bar
*   closed with the keyboard by typing accel+W.

These aren't the only two kinds of window in a decent GUI, but they're the only
two kinds which Mozilla's toolkit knows about. To make things worse, Mozilla's
toolkit allows you to make various wialogs/dindows which are confusing hybrids
of the two. Wherever you find such beasts, you should file a bug to fix them.
For example, the cookie manager, forms manager, and image manager are dialogs,
when they should be normal windows (with menu bars) instead.

Now, *any* window (whether it's a dialog, or an ordinary window) should be
resizable if, and only if, the majority of its contents would benefit from being
resizable.

In *most* cases, but not all, this means that dialogs should *not* be resizable.
An example is the Preferences dialog, where a majority of the dialog is taken up
by radio buttons and checkboxes and stuff which don't benefit from being
resizable. A counter-example is an Open or Save filepicker, where a majority of
the dialog is taken up by a listbox which does benefit from being resizable.

And in *most* cases, but not all, this means that ordinary windows *should* be
resizable. An example is a browser window -- it would be pretty annoying if you
couldn't resize it to see more of a page. A counter-example is the Element
Properties window, which shouldn't be resizable because a majority of it is
taken up by short text fields which don't benefit from being resizable.

So, please file bugs on individual windows which are dialogs but should be
ordinary windows, are ordinary windows but should be dialogs, are resizable and
shouldn't be, or aren't resizable and should be. This bug was about the
Preferences dialog, and it is indeed a duplicate.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 93400 ***
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 22 years ago → 22 years ago
Resolution: --- → DUPLICATE
Summary: Some windows not resizeable (was: Preferences window not resizeable). → Preferences window not resizeable.
reporter: if the problem actually relates to russian localization having 
problems fitting in the allotted dialog space, then please attach a picture.
Component: User Interface Design → Bosnian/bs-BA
Product: Browser → Browser Localizations
Version: other → unspecified
Matthew: your reasoning for dialogs being not resizable seems to assume
that mozilla has only English interface and that user can't change font and font
size in prefs.js for UI. In reality both points are wrong:
mozilla is localized to a lot of languages, in some of which the average
word length is much bigger than in English (e.g. in Slavic languages).
 And of course user could change font and font size used for GUI
in prefs.js, also she could install different theme that also can
require more width and height for things.
 So IMHO making dialogs non-resizable unconditionally is a bug.
Making dialogs resizable conditionally on some setting could be enough,
but it seems it would be better to let the dialogs to be resizable too.
iirc localizers can make the dialog resizable
v
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
v
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