431371 - Context Menu "Clear List" item has been removed and should be present

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Toolkit :: Downloads API, defect)

Description

[Al Billings [:abillings - ex-MoCo]]

When the "Clear List" button was added back to the Downloads dialog, the option to clear list via the context menu was removed. It should still be there. Users should have the option of using *either* the button or the context menu. As someone who had been using the context menu every day for a while, it was rather annoying to have it suddenly disappear. There is no good reason to remove the functionality.

Comment 1

[Kai Liu]

(In reply to comment #0)
> There is no good reason to remove the functionality.
> 

They were given, just buried deep inside bug 400495's comments:

1) It's semantically inconsistent.  The context menu should operate on the individual item selected; everything else in the menu when you right-click on an item operates on that one item, except for Clear List.

2) There were reports of people mis-selecting that item when trying to get another item on the menu--usually resulting in them accidentally clearing the entire list when they only intended to remove one item.  The clear list button is harder to mis-click.

Comment 2

[Shawn Wilsher :sdwilsh]

(In reply to comment #1)
> 1) It's semantically inconsistent.  The context menu should operate on the
> individual item selected; everything else in the menu when you right-click on
> an item operates on that one item, except for Clear List.
Which was also pointed out as not being accurate in the bug.

> 2) There were reports of people mis-selecting that item when trying to get
> another item on the menu--usually resulting in them accidentally clearing the
> entire list when they only intended to remove one item.  The clear list button
> is harder to mis-click.
Given that folks were arguing that the button shouldn't be included in the context menu because nobody uses the context menu, the number of people affected by this issue should be ridiculously small.

This is a regression - it should be added back.

Comment 3

[Mike Beltzner [:beltzner, not reading bugmail]]

(In reply to comment #2)
> This is a regression - it should be added back.

I don't know if I agree, actually. Select All and Remove From List combine powerfully to yield the same operation, and those are far more consistent ways of clearing a list of objects in a window. Also, as mentioned, context menu items usually act contextually on the selected object (Select All being a notable exception, I suppose).

I actually think this is WONTFIX, but I'd like to hear from Madhava, since he's been leading this design effort. It should also be noted that I've always thought that the need for "Clear List" was a hack because multiple selection didn't work; now that it does, I'd expect that UI to work like every other list based UI in the world, with select all and delete, not with some special button or entry that wipes out everything.

Regardless, this won't block.

Comment 4

[Al Billings [:abillings - ex-MoCo]]

Select All and Delete is two actions versus one for Clear List. Why would I, as a user, want to double the work to clear the list of items?

I use this all the time because, personally, after a download finishes, I don't really need or want a list of previous downloads. Since they show up anyway and tend to clog up my UI, I use clear list to get rid of them at least once every day or two.

Comment 5

[Madhava Enros [:madhava]]

(In reply to comment #4)
> Select All and Delete is two actions versus one for Clear List. Why would I, > as a user, want to double the work to clear the list of items?

Absolutely.  By extension, why would you want to right-click and select an option in the menu (two clicks) when you could click on the "Clear List" button (one click)?

Don't get me wrong -- I'm the one who put "Clear List" in the context menu in the first place, and I think I'd still prefer to have it there rather than in button form.  But if there's a button to do something in primary UI, I guess I don't understand why we'd also put it in the context menu unless it's connected to a selection task (which this one isn't).

As for there being no good reason to remove it from the menu, to me it comes down to simplicity and trying hard to avoid clutter.  Every extra item we put in that context menu competes for attention with the items that really have to be there, given that they're not being represented elsewhere.

If I'm missing something here, please do reply!  I don't want to undermine usability here, but I really don't get the rationale for leaving it in once there's a "Clear List" button in primary UI.

> 
> I use this all the time because, personally, after a download finishes, I don't
> really need or want a list of previous downloads. Since they show up anyway and
> tend to clog up my UI, I use clear list to get rid of them at least once every
> day or two.
> 

Comment 6

[Shawn Wilsher :sdwilsh]

Alright, you've swayed me.  I'm inclined to WONTFIX as well now - baring any new feedback.

Comment 7

[Shawn Wilsher :sdwilsh]

WONTFIX per comment 5 and comment 6