[IPython-dev] feedback on modal UI

[Sylvain Corlay]

Hello,

Some people trying the notebook environment for the first time around me
got confused by the modal UI, just because they did not notice right away
the green/gray line around the cell. Therefore we also decided to make it a
bit thicker.

Another 2 cents about the user interface: Some first-time users are
confused by the fact that the "run current cell" button only runs one cell
rather than the entire notebook. How about using the "step-forward"
font-awesome icon for this button?
Best,
Sylvain
 Thanks for sharing this. I think we prefer to keep the default styling
of this extremely simple and encourage users to customize to suite
their needs. Your feedback is helpful though - we will monitor the
situation.

Cheers,

Brian

On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 7:58 AM, Alistair Miles
<alimanfoo at googlemail.com> wrote:
> Sorry for spam, in case it's useful for anyone else here's a couple more
CSS
> tweaks which are helping me with the modal UI...
>
> div.cell.selected {
>     border: 3px #ababab solid;
>     background-color: #ddd;
> }
>
> div.cell.edit_mode {
>     border: 5px red solid;
>     background-color: #faa;
> }
>
> div.cell.selected div.output_subarea {
>     background-color: #fff;
>     margin: .5em 0 .5em 0;
>     padding: .5em;
>     border: 1px #ababab solid;
>     border-radius: 4px;
> }
>
> div.cell.edit_mode div.output_subarea {
>     border: 1px red solid;
>     border-radius: 4px;
> }
>
> div.cell.edit_mode div.input_area {
>     border: 1px red solid;
> }
>
>
>
> On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 10:44 AM, Alistair Miles <alimanfoo at googlemail.com
>
> wrote:
>>
>> P.S., adding this:
>>
>> div.cell.edit_mode {
>>     border: 5px solid red;
>>     background-color: #faa;
>> }
>>
>> ...to custom.css is my temporary solution to help me remember to enter
>> edit mode before typing :-)
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Mar 14, 2014 at 10:32 AM, Alistair Miles
>> <alimanfoo at googlemail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> In case this is helpful, here is some feedback on the new modal UI after
>>> a couple of days working with IPython 2.0.0-b1.
>>>
>>> I'm sure I will get used to it (I had become very fluent with the old
set
>>> of shortcut keys) but for now I am having a lot of accidents from
starting
>>> to type and forgetting I'm still in command mode. I've lost count of the
>>> number of times I've accidentally turned line numbers on or off,
randomly
>>> added new cells above or below, switched the cell from code to markdown,
>>> etc. Often I've got through typing a number of words before realising
>>> something is wrong, and so found several unintended things have
happened to
>>> my notebook. Fortunately there aren't many words in English with a
double d,
>>> that could be particularly confusing, maybe deleting cells should be
double
>>> [delete] key? Also having cut as a plain 'x' press is similar, maybe
>>> cut/copy/paste/undo should need a control key modifier?
>>>
>>> I know these problems may only be transient and when I'm fully used to
>>> the new UI they'll happen much less.
>>>
>>> I know this has been mentioned before, but think it might help if the
>>> visual distinction between edit mode and command mode is made stronger.
My
>>> eyes literally can't tell the difference between the green outline and
the
>>> grey outline on most screens. I'm sure others will have better ideas,
but
>>> maybe the box outline for edit mode could be a couple of points
thicker, or
>>> the cell background could be a different colour/shade of grey/white, or
>>> maybe lose the outline completely in command mode and indicate the
selected
>>> cell by some other means? I'm not a visual designer, I'm sure there are
>>> better ways.
>>>
>>> Hth, thanks for the revolutionary work!
>>>
>>> Alistair
>>> --
>>> Alistair Miles
>>> Head of Epidemiological Informatics
>>> Centre for Genomics and Global Health <http://cggh.org>
>>> The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
>>> Roosevelt Drive
>>> Oxford
>>> OX3 7BN
>>> United Kingdom
>>> Web: http://purl.org/net/aliman
>>> Email: alimanfoo at gmail.com
>>> Tel: +44 (0)1865 287721 ***new number***
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Alistair Miles
>> Head of Epidemiological Informatics
>> Centre for Genomics and Global Health <http://cggh.org>
>> The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
>> Roosevelt Drive
>> Oxford
>> OX3 7BN
>> United Kingdom
>> Web: http://purl.org/net/aliman
>> Email: alimanfoo at gmail.com
>> Tel: +44 (0)1865 287721 ***new number***
>
>
>
>
> --
> Alistair Miles
> Head of Epidemiological Informatics
> Centre for Genomics and Global Health <http://cggh.org>
> The Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics
> Roosevelt Drive
> Oxford
> OX3 7BN
> United Kingdom
> Web: http://purl.org/net/aliman
> Email: alimanfoo at gmail.com
> Tel: +44 (0)1865 287721 ***new number***
>
> _______________________________________________
> IPython-dev mailing list
> IPython-dev at scipy.org
> http://mail.scipy.org/mailman/listinfo/ipython-dev
>



--
Brian E. Granger
Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo
bgranger at calpoly.edu and ellisonbg at gmail.com
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