597631 - "Search for Duplicates" iframe on mozilla.org guided bug entry form is hard to use

Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE of bug 657317

(bugzilla.mozilla.org :: General, defect)

Description

[KitchM]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.8) Gecko/20100724 Firefox/3.6.8
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.8) Gecko/20100724 Firefox/3.6.8

Whenever a person uses Bugzilla, they are first prompted to query the database of bugs.  When the list comes back, the first column is not the most important.  The most important is the description of the bugs.  To make it worse, there is a horizontal scrollbar in the display window and that bit of information is off the screen.  The user can't reorder or resize the columns into a more useful layout.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.Try to query the bug database
2.See bad display
3.
Actual Results:  
Inconvenient display in small window.

Expected Results:  
There should be no window.  In fact, this function should be on an intraductory page before one even gets to the place to report a bug.  There should never, ever be a scroll bar.  The results should be based upon the category of search, and not everything in one line.

The current setup is a jack-of-all-trades/master-of-none type of setup.  It can be improved easily.  Please redo the interface and place it on a page between the intro screen and the bug report screen.

Who knows; maybe more people will be able to use the search function.

Comment 1

[Frédéric Buclin]

Which version of Bugzilla are you using? Because it's wrong to say that the user cannot reorder columns. This feature exists since Bugzilla 3.4. Also, power users certainly don't want to see an intermediate page with a buglist in it when reporting a bug. This feature already exists for newbies, known as the "guided form" bug report. I will let pyrzak, our UI guy, reopen the bug if he thinks this is something we want to address anyway.

Comment 2

[KitchM]

Sorry, I forgot to add the URL.

Comment 3

[KitchM]

I'm using Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.9.2.8) Gecko/20100724 Firefox/3.6.8

It appears that one is asked to check for existing bugs before using it, whether a "power user" or a "newbie".  Therefore, no one is supposed to by-pass this process.

With that said, I could find no way to re-arrange or resize the columns and/or get rid of the horizontal scroll bar.  If one could, I don't see how that could be saved for the user's next visit.

Thanks.

Comment 4

[KitchM]

By the way, did you notice how the process failed to ask for my browser information?  Maybe that's part of the problem.

I also would like to note that I would be glad to bypass the bug search process and let someone else look for duplicates, especially if I can graduate to power user status. ;)  That categorization doesn't work anyway, and normally just wastes our time.

Thanks again.

Comment 5

[Guy Pyrzak]

I actually think KitchM is totally correct and hopefully the new Dups detector in 4.0 will help solve the problem. KitchM, please check out https://landfill.bugzilla.org/bugzilla-tip/enter_bug.cgi)   try filing a new bug with the summary "stupid" and see what happens.

Let me know if this is more along the lines of what you were hoping to see.

-Guy

Comment 6

[Frédéric Buclin]

(In reply to comment #4)
> By the way, did you notice how the process failed to ask for my browser
> information?

Your browser information is not important here. I asked the version of Bugzilla, not the version of the browser.


> That categorization doesn't work anyway, and normally just
> wastes our time.

Some power users already know most bugs filed in their components, and do not need to search for existing bugs before reporting new ones. In no way should this intermediate page be mandatory. That's why we have the guided form.

Comment 7

[Max Kanat-Alexander]

What KitchM's original bug description is talking about is that the guided form that bugzilla.mozilla.org uses is hard to use--in particular, the format of the "Search for Duplicates" iframe.

Comment 8

[KitchM]

Thanks Guy.  That is very interesting.  I liked the idea of the simple search along with the advanced search.  That makes a lot of sense.

I did get the impression that the search was simply based on a key word.  It sort of shares part of the problem with the existing search in that the proper response may not be found if the user's choice of word is not the right one.

I did like the option right in the reporting form area, where the search quickly gave a few responses to consider prior to filling out the rest of the form.

But this may all be off topic.  Sorry for rambling on.

In any case, I agree with Frederic that the intermediate page is not mandatory.  However, newbies are made to feel as if they are cheating by not searching thru the hundreds of possible choices, and then having to scroll down the less than helpful listing, prior to reporting a bug.  Max was correct in point out that my intent was the format.  It is unnecessarily difficult to use.  (My question about the basic usefulness of the search function is reported elsewhere, in that it fails to categorize the bugs in an easier and more accurate set of categories to search.)

Thanks to all.

Comment 9

[:glob ✱]

the guided bug entry form on bugzilla.mozilla.org is getting a serious reworking, see bug 657317