When an interface changes, as JMRI does from time to time, it¡¯s really interesting how different reactions people have. I certainly don¡¯t know the best way to navigate the line between people wanting ¡°consistency¡± with something else vs with how it used to be vs some idea of ¡°make it simpler¡±. I do know that most incremental suggestions don¡¯t go anywhere good.
The following (from which I¡¯ve removed the name, because this isn¡¯t about a specific comment or commentator) is an example of this. One paragraph is about the current behavior not being what people expect from their other applications (basically, click to edit) and the _very_ _next_ _paragraph_ is a request for a behavior that¡¯s different from (standard HI compliant) other applications.
the clicking idiosyncracies can be avoided quite simply (and the roster entry method you describe is exactly what I usually do) but the fact remains that click/double-click behaviour is different in different columns of the Roster and that is peculiar to JMRI and not what computer users expect on the basis of their experience with other apps.
Would it not be possible to open a loco by clicking on ANY column in a row that has been selected and use right-click or CTRL-click to edit the text in the 3-4 columns where text editing is possible? That would more closely align with the way other apps work.
There are _three_ things going on, not two:
- how to select a line for e.g. a print or copy menu item
- how to open the line in a programmer
- how to edit a cell in the line
People tend to think through just the part they care about, leaving new problems behind: If you single-click on a row to open, how do you select?
They also tend to think in terms of gestures that don¡¯t really work: ¡°Clicking on a row that¡¯s already been selected to open" is ambiguous with clicking a different cell to select it.
If somebody wants to think through the _entire_ set of operations, that would be great. Perhaps we can come to a new consensus.
Bob
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Bob Jacobsen
rgj1927@...
Bob Jacobsen