54975 - Mac installer setup type dialog UI issues

Status: VERIFIED WONTFIX

(SeaMonkey :: Installer, defect, P2)

Description

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

The Mac installer has a number of UI issues that make it confusing for the user 
and unsightly.

* General appearance:

The installer should use the Appearance dialog background color of gray, and 
needs a higher quality PICT for the logo that works on a gray background.

* Screen 1 -- license

Can we soft-wrap the text?

* Screen 2 -- "Welcome"

The text here looks pretty ugly; can we use styled text, and make the header
bold, for example? It also contains the recommendation that the user should quit 
other applications. If we really mean this, then we should force other 
applications to quit, as most installers do. And why don't we just put the readme 
in this textfield on this screen?

* Screen 3 -- installation type, location

This screen is too busy; the user must deal with 2 important choices (where to 
install, what to install). The popup to choose installation type firstly too 
short to show the name of the default install ("Recommended Inst.."), and, since 
it applies just to the box below, should be part of the group box, not a separate 
item above it. The contents of the group box are also messy; we need to display 
that gets installed in a list or set of bullets, not a flat string which is hard 
to read. And why don't the contents of this list correspond to the checkable 
items in the Custom install screen?

I think what we should do here is not have separate 'custom install' and regular 
install screens, but combine both, as many installers do, having a scrollable 
list of checkboxes that are checked and unchecked automatically depending on 
whether you choose minimal, regular, or custom install. The user should also be 
able to check and uncheck the boxes at will, and we should warn them if they are 
installing a set of options that won't run. Currently, there is no way to use the 
installer to install an optional component over an existing installation (is 
there?)

The 'Installation location' pane looks cramped, and it would be nice to see the 
full path to the installation folder. Also, double-clicking on the folder/disk 
icon should reveal that folder in the Finder.

* Screen 4 (recommended install)

This screen has a popup with no label, containing a list of (I presume) download 
sites, and a text string saying "Click Install to proceed with this 
installation." Two issues:
i) the popup needs an explanative label
ii) the "click install" label should be BELOW the popup, since you only want to 
proceed after you've reviewed and selected a download location.

* Screens 4 & 5 (if custom install is selected)

This is the list box that violates a bunch of HIG recommendations. You need to 
drop the mouseover list highlighting, and enable arrow keys to move the selection 
in the list. I think this screen should be amalgamated with the previous one 
anyway. And the descriptions need work; they are much too short to be useful. For 
example, the Spell Checker description reads "For use with Mail & News and 
Composer."

Ohmygod, there is a second screen of options. Why not amalgamate this with the 
first list, separating these from those with a separator in the list? Again, 
descriptions are uselss. What is a "language pack"?

I won't comment on the download UI, which we know is awful. The rest of the 
installation process is OK, apart from the very end --

Once installation is complete, we now fire up the installed app with no user 
intervention. I think this is bad. I think the installer should have a final 
dialog that says "Installation is complete. To run <appname> now, click ...."
etc. I'm sure there are many users who would like to take defensive action before 
running the app for the first time.

Comment 1

[Matthew T (active 1999-2002)]

Simon, please report only one issue per bug report, otherwise it's impossible to 
track them.

* Using the Appearance background color: bug 28577.
* Using a logo with a transparente background: bug 33371.
* Soft-wrapping the license text: not currently reported (AFAIK).
* Ugly welcome text: bug 50485.
* Forcing other apps to quit: not currently reported.
* Combining the installation type and component listing pages: mentioned in
  bug 18674.
* Merging the component selection with the group box: not currently reported.
* Presenting components which will be installed as a list: mentioned in bug
  18674.
* Ugly display of installation location: bug 25755.
* Not showing the full path: not currently reported.
* Turning the installation location folder into a real live icon: not currently
  reported.
* Giving the list of download sites a title: not a Mozilla bug.
* Bad highlighting of components: bug 18674.
* Bad component descriptions: bug 47959.
* Awful download UI: not a Mozilla bug. (What der hey? I redesigned that for you
  before beta1. What's taken so long?)
* Automatically running the app: not a Mozilla bug.

Please file the Netscape-specific bugs as separate bugs in Bugscape, and the 
other bugs as individual bugs in Bugzilla.

Comment 2

[Samir Gehani]

Sorry for the dup info, mpt beat me to this.  I will respond now anyways.

General appearance:
Platinum appearance bug 28577.

Screen 1:
Not sure I understand the problem with the license.

Screen 2:
Welcome text is ugly bug 50485

Screen 3:
Different installs have different components which is why the
components shown for each type differ from what is checkable (and hence
different than what you see in the cutom install screen -- note that the custom
install description on the setup type dialog (screen 3) does not contain any
item enumeration. The installer is not designed to install
additional components, you are right. The thought goes something
along the lines that the user should return to Netcenter to use
XPInstall through the SmartUpdate site to install additional
components if they so choose. The marketing folks can better present the
justification for this, I'm sure. I just work here ;o)

Screen 4: (Recommended Install)
The real bug is that when the zippies are local the popup shouldn't appear. We
should fix this for RTM. Spun off rtm-nominated bug 54990.

Screen 4 & 5: (Custom Install)
HIG violation bug 18674. The text strings were provided by marketing.
The decision to have two dialogs: custom and then additions was requested by
marketing (I tried lobbying against this decision but was out-numbered:o)). I
am cc'ing Todd Pringle and Bijal Shah (CPM). If you choose to lobby against
this extra dialog they would be the appropriate folks to start a discussion with.

The language packs were requested by i18n. I believe Jaime would be the
appropriate product manager to start a discussion with regarding those zippies.

Launching the app was a profile manager and migration requirement. Steve Elmer
would be the appropriate person to take this up with. Spun off bug 54991 for
teh install completed dialog RFE (non-rtm nominated as of now).

The outstanding issue we can use this bug to track would be:
The setup type dialog (aka screen 3) is too busy.
1> Rearrange items in bullets.
2> Add a scroll bar to the item list.
If we don't do item 1 and 2 we should change the text and drop the item
enumeration.
3> Move the icon to correctly display the installation location folder/disk.
4> Grow the popup width to accomodate the largest install type string.
5> Double clicking on the disk/folder icon should open it in the Finder.

Comment 3

[Samir Gehani]

CC'ing the product managers I referenced above.

Comment 4

[Simon Fraser [no longer active]]

> Not sure I understand the problem with the license.

Right now you have hard-wrapped text that goes in there, so the text does not 
wrap to fit the width of the scrolling box. It should.

Comment 5

[Jaime Rodriguez, Jr.]

Adding danielmc, msanz and mcarlson to cc: list.

Comment 6

[Samir Gehani]

Over to Syd for installer bug triage

Comment 7

[Frankie]

Quoth Steve Dagley: "The Mac installer code was never Carbonized and there is no
intention to ever change that."

http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=yahoo_com-77F6E8.09344011022003%40h-204-29-187-156.netscape.com
http://groups.google.com/groups?threadm=avkj4k%24ihs2%40ripley.netscape.com

Comment 8

[Grace Bush]

per comment above