88788 - Make queryhelp.cgi less intimidating.

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Bugzilla :: Query/Bug List, defect)

Description

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

The tables on queryhelp.cgi containing the information about the keywords, etc
is a bit intimidating. 

I thought I could do it in an iframe so it would make the page shorter, but does
ns4.x support iframes? of course not! #$#@$#@$.

Therefore, I am going to provide a group of links and when someone clicks on one
of the links, it will open a new window unless there already has been one opened
and insert the data into the page for each section (such as keywords).

This will be done with javascript.

The reason for this is a request to make it smaller. It isn't really that large
except for the perl-generated data (which also took most of my time in creating
it (besides the forms) so there is no way I'm going to remove it.

Besides, it is helpful for people writing bugs to know what component to put it in.

Comment 1

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

over to me myself and irene.

Comment 2

[Matthew Tuck [:CodeMachine]]

I might not understand this completely, but Javascript can't be used for
essential features.

Comment 3

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

Well, I have decided to make a few changes.

First of all, I am going to put in a table of contents.

Then I am going to break up queryhelp.cgi into a number of sections.
Each section will be accessable via a parameter i.e. /queryhelp.cgi?section=keywords

Each small section will have a copy of the table of contents (like on the main
page), but with its section expanded.

I will then make changes to query.cgi to reflect this.

Comment 4

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

This is not a "personal bug" any more - it's definitely a bug :-) Queryhelp.cgi
is currently about four times as long as it should be, and I've had several
users report it to be too intimidating.

We need to concentrate on explaining general principles, rather than an
exhaustive explanation of every field on the form. It also needs to be
templatised, and not to rely on Javascript or iframes.

However, this will not happen for 2.16.

Gerv

Comment 5

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

I've already started work on this in connection with Bug 114179 (which includes
templatising). Therefore, complaints specific to the layout or content of
queryhelp.cgi should have that bug in mind.

Comment 6

[Matthew Tuck [:CodeMachine]]

OK, it would be nice to get this in before customised resolutions (bug #94534).

Comment 7

[Oscar Manuel Gómez Senovilla]

How is this going? I could help to templatize if it's already rewritten.

Comment 8

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

Cool. I didn't have a Bugzilla system up cause I have been doing system
reinstalls and moving to a new ISP such. If I wrote it, you'd be able to
templatize it and make it work with the help system?

I'd first like to ask what you thought was wrong with the queryhelp so I don't
make the same mistake. 

The biggest complaint was its too long and intimidating.

The excerpts of the page being in HTML is probably not a good idea. Although it
is cute how it lets the user play with the page, it means it causes browser
inconsistancies.

Of course, its outdated now and sections need a bit of a rewrite.

The keywords section is way too long, and maybe should only provide a couple
examples or a comma delimited list with a link to the true keywords page.

Same with products and components.

I should probably have the general description of Bugzilla be on a separate
page, with only a very terse description on this page.


Does this all sound good? Can you think of anything else?

Comment 9

[Brian 'netdragon' Bober]

By the way, I meant the excerpts should be as .png images

Comment 10

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

The new popup-based Help system also provides reasonable help (and it could be
better if someone beefed up the text) for anyone with JS.

I think there's an argument for doing Help by linking directly to the
appropriate sections of the User part of the Bugzilla Guide...

Gerv

Comment 11

[Joel Peshkin]

Unloved bugs targetted for 2.18 but untouched since 9-15-2003 are being
retargeted to 2.20
If you plan to act on one immediately, go ahead and pull it back to 2.18.

Comment 12

[Gervase Markham [:gerv]]

We aren't doing this; we are doing bug 243549 instead.

Gerv