18674 - Custom install list box behavior is inconsistent with Mac OS HIGs

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: Installer, defect, P2)

Description

[Eli Goldberg]

* TITLE/SUMMARY
Custom install list box behavior is inconsistent with Mac OS HIGs

* STEPS TO REPRODUCE
0) Launch the Mozilla installer (Mac OS)
1) Press "Accept" to accept the license, and "Continue" to bypass the welcome
messages.
2) Select "Custom Install" from the pop-up menu in the upper-left hand corner,
and click "Continue".
3) Move the mouse pointer on across the components list box.

* RESULT
 - What happened

The list box selection tracks the mouse movement, without requiring a mouse click
event, in order to dynamically update the component description.

List box selections should not change without an explicit click on behalf of the
user.

 - What was expected

I suspect Simon could suggest a way to tweak the existing UI to accomplish your
intended purpose while retaining consistency with Mac users' expectations.

One easy (albiet cluttered & IMHO ugly) way would be to have an "information"
icon for each list box item, as I believe Apple's installer currently has.

* REGRESSION

 - Occurs On
        Mac OS Apprunner (1999111208-M12 optimized build)


* CONFIGURATIONS TESTED

- [Mac] Beige Power Mac G3 (266 MHz PowerPC 750), 96 MB RAM (VM on; 1 MB of VM
used), 1024x768 (Thousands of Colors), Mac OS 8.6

- [Win32] Vectra VL (233 MHz P2), 96 MB RAM, 800x600 (True Color), NT 4.0 SP5.

- [Linux] Vectra VL (266 MHz P2), 96 MB RAM. Red Hat Linux 6.0 (GNOME).

Comment 1

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

I mentioned this problem to samir already.

Comment 2

[Eli Goldberg]

BTW, Samir, when you're tweaking this, I'd encourage you to find a way to
eliminate the need to click 'Continue' after selecting 'Custom Install' to reach
the list of components.

(Every Mac installer I've seen will take you directly to the list.)

Comment 3

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Moving non-dogfood bugs to M13

Comment 4

[Samir Gehani]

Moving M13 bugs due to Samir's vacation

Comment 5

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

I've seen some installers have a little `i' button on the right of the item -- 
clicking it pops up a balloon which describes the component. However, it looks a 
bit cheesy, since it's effectively repetition of command buttons (which is hardly 
ever good UI design).

I think a better solution would be to restrict turning the component on/off to 
the checkbox itself. So:
* clicking anywhere in an item (or using Up/Down keys to get to the item) just
  shows the component description
* clicking on the checkbox itself turns installation of the component on/off.

As for Eli's second point, I agree that the decision on what kind of installation 
you want, and what components you want in the installation (if it's a custom 
one), should be in the same screen, since they're conceptually part of the same 
process.

So, I'd like to see something like this:

Installation type   Components in installation
+---------------+-+ +---------------------------------+-+
|(*) Typical    |A| |Mozilla base (XPCOM)             |A|
|( ) Complete   |:| |Navigator                        |:|
|( ) Custom     |:| |Messenger                        |:|
|               |:| |Composer:::::::::::::::::::::::::|:|
|               |:| |                                 |:|
|               |:| |                                 |V|
|               |:| +---------------------------------+-+
|               |V| Composer: allows you to create Web
+---------------+-+ Web pages and other HTML documents.

And if you choose `Custom', the items in the list get checkboxes so you can turn 
them on/off:

Installation type   Components in installation
+---------------+-+ +---------------------------------+-+
|( ) Typical    |A| |:*: Mozilla base (XPCOM)         |A|
|( ) Complete   |:| |[*] Navigator                    |:|
|(*) Custom     |:| |[*]:Messenger::::::::::::::::::::|:|
|               |:| |[*] Composer                     |:|
|               |:| |[ ] Chatzilla                    |:|
|               |:| |                                 |V|
|               |:| +---------------------------------+-+
|               |V| Messenger: lets you read, write, and
+---------------+-+ organize e-mail and Usenet messages.

Comment 6

[Asa Dotzler [:asa]]

updating mac mozilla installer QA contact to me

Comment 7

[timeless]

Ooh an installer bug m18 w/o nsbeta3. This is dead ;-)

Could someone update the status of the dialog?

On windows I have

( )Browser only
( )Complete
( )Custom
Next>
[ ]Mozilla Navigator
[ ]Mail & News
[ ]Chatzilla
Next>

Comment 8

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Status: The dialog is just as bad as originally reported, with the same 
components as the Windows one (modulo bug 33355).

Comment 9

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

What about the list select on mouseover that the reporter was originally 
complaining about? As one of the first bits of UI that the users sees, it does 
give a very bad impression.

Comment 10

[Samir Gehani]

Behavior unchanged.

Comment 11

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

A side effect of using custom System-7-style checkboxes in the list box is that 
they are buggy: if you mousedown on one of the items, then drag out of the 
listbox, the checkbox retains its mousedown appearance.

Comment 12

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

Those checkboxes are being drawn 'by hand', we're not using real controls. And I 
guess the tracking logic is broken.

Comment 13

[Samir Gehani]

Simon is on the money.  The tracking code is broken.  Sorry guys :(  Next 
release :)

Comment 14

[Daniel Veditz [:dveditz]]

Unsetting missed milestones to aid triage queries.

Comment 15

[Samir Gehani]

Over to Syd for installer bug triage

Comment 16

[timeless]

this is awful. i hit it while testing my nubus custom builds. 

Comment 17

[Frankie]

Mozilla CFM build is dead; should this bug go with it?

Comment 18

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

CFM is dead.