1045088 - Revisit WebIDE's menu layout

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(DevTools Graveyard :: WebIDE, defect)

Description

[Jan Keromnes [:janx]]

As a user, I expect "View" to show/hide interface elements (e.g. the left file tree, or the toolbox, etc) whereas its items don't do that at all.

I suggest we:
- remove the "View" menu
- remove the "Toggle editor" item (which can be done from the preferences)
- move the "Manage simulators" item into the "Runtime" menu, where it would make more sense

Comment 1

[Jan Keromnes [:janx]]

Attachment: Remove WebIDE's View menu.

Comment 2

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

Comment on attachment 8463442 [details] [diff] [review]
Remove WebIDE's View menu.

We should keep the Toggle Editor item. I don't really care where it moves, but the user needs to be know he can hide the editors. This needs to be discoverable.

Comment 3

[Soledad Penades [:sole] [:spenades]]

I would suggest keeping the View menu with the Toggle Editor item. Don't hide it down in preferences! Just look at the "View" menu in Firefox: it allows the user to configure the UI. Imagine how tedious it would be to go to preferences each time you want to hide/show a toolbar.
Maybe in the future you want to add more "view" options to this menu.

Manage simulators shouldn't go under "runtime" because that option is specific to the *current* runtime. See my comments here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1043361#c2

Comment 4

[Jan Keromnes [:janx]]

Attachment: Runtime menu after the patch

Ok, I was not sure why "Toggle Editor" needed to be so visible (because you can use WebIDE with the editor active and not care about it, doing changes from another editor), but maybe I'll leave it.

However, the "Manage Simulator" doesn't shock me in the "Runtime" menu, especially since there is a separator. The menu is for all things Runtime: some are for a specific runtime, some are for runtimes in general.

Comment 5

[Paul Rouget [:paul]]

I would encourage you to rename this bug "revisit WebIDE menu layout", and see how you can re-order the different items in the right submenus. It's not just about the "view" menu.

And as mentioned in a different bug, we need to move "Preferences" into "Edit" on Linux.

Firefox Desktop works that way:
- Windows: Tools → Options...
- Linux:   Edit → Preferences
- Mac:     Firefox → Preferences...

Comment 6

[J. Ryan Stinnett [:jryans] (Use needinfo, replies may be slow)]

Jen, you may have thoughts about this problem too.

Comment 7

[Alice]

Attachment: Reorganised menu contents in a more logical manner

Hi there! I have added a patch in which I have reorganised the three menus within the WebIDE. 

My changes are: 
Moving showPrefs and showAddons to View
Reorganised Runtime menu to match the layout to the right
Placing Debug before Stop in the Project Menu

I have ran the tests for Devtools and all passed

Comment 8

[J. Ryan Stinnett [:jryans] (Use needinfo, replies may be slow)]

Thanks for looking at this!  I am at a work week so it may be a few days before I can take a look.

Comment 9

[J. Ryan Stinnett [:jryans] (Use needinfo, replies may be slow)]

Comment on attachment 8696452 [details] [diff] [review]
Reorganised menu contents in a more logical manner

Review of attachment 8696452 [details] [diff] [review]:
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thanks, it does seem like an improvement!  I've noted several questions in more detail below.

Also, the current patch has no commit message.  Please take a look at the commit message format[1].

[1]: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Tools/Contributing#Creating_a_patch_to_check_in

::: devtools/client/webide/content/webide.xul
@@ +69,5 @@
>          <menuitem command="cmd_importHostedApp" accesskey="&projectMenu_importHostedApp_accesskey;"/>
>          <menuitem id="menuitem-show_projectPanel" command="cmd_showProjectPanel" key="key_showProjectPanel" label="&projectMenu_selectApp_label;" accesskey="&projectMenu_selectApp_accesskey;"/>
>          <menuseparator/>
>          <menuitem command="cmd_play" key="key_play" label="&projectMenu_play_label;" accesskey="&projectMenu_play_accesskey;"/>
> +        <menuitem command="cmd_toggleToolbox" key="key_toggleToolbox" label="&projectMenu_debug_label;" accesskey="&projectMenu_debug_accesskey;"/>

I think this was probably better where it was, since it matched the order of the 3 buttons in the main center toolbar UI.

@@ -81,5 @@
>      </menu>
>  
>      <menu id="menu-runtime" label="&runtimeMenu_label;" accesskey="&runtimeMenu_accesskey;">
>        <menupopup id="menu-runtime-popup">
> -        <menuitem command="cmd_showMonitor" accesskey="&runtimeMenu_showMonitor_accesskey;"/>

We should keep Monitor somewhere in the menus.  It's a pretty hidden feature, but this menu item is the only way to use it, so let's keep it somewhere.  I am open to different ideas for where exactly it goes!

@@ +96,5 @@
>          <menuitem command="cmd_zoomin" key="key_zoomin" accesskey="&viewMenu_zoomin_accesskey;"/>
>          <menuitem command="cmd_zoomout" key="key_zoomout" accesskey="&viewMenu_zoomout_accesskey;"/>
>          <menuitem command="cmd_resetzoom" key="key_resetzoom" accesskey="&viewMenu_resetzoom_accesskey;"/>
> +        <menuseparator/>
> +        <menuitem command="cmd_showPrefs" label="&projectMenu_showPrefs_label;" accesskey="&projectMenu_showPrefs_accesskey;"/>

I agree it's good to get these out of the Project menu, as they don't really fit there.  However, View menu isn't so logical either...  Maybe a new menu entirely.  Any ideas for a name if we did that?

Comment 10

[J. Ryan Stinnett [:jryans] (Use needinfo, replies may be slow)]

We don't plan to alter the WebIDE interface at this stage, since it's planned for removal (bug 1314811).