Re: [libreoffice-design] RE: Document Recovery Mockup

Hi Mirek, Andrew, Bernhard, ...

Am Montag, den 29.11.2010, 08:04 +0100 schrieb Mirek M.:
> Hi Andrew,
> I really like the mockup -- it is certainly an improvement over the current
> document recovery.

Yes, it is a good start. More on that a bit later.

> However, my problem with Document recovery lies in the way it works.
> Ideally, I should be able to recover my documents at any time, not just the
> one time I launch LibO after it is closed.

This is a very good point - great if this would be rather unobstrusive.
For example, this behavior (looking at MSO 2003) might be annoying as
well, since it is very hard to simply get rid of recovered documents ;-)

At least, my MSO 2007 crashed today (caused by some kind of external
extension) and I think it didn't even ask for the recovery - it simply
reloaded the file and saved it with another name. I might be wrong, but
it seems they changed that behavior.

And by the way, the OOo guys talked about this (today): "@CD: As
discussed today, we should simplify this and make use of the new pane
framework instead of fixing the current design." [1]

Maybe something to share experiences / thoughts ...

[...]

> When opening existing files that have not yet been recovered, the Recovery
> dialog should automatically pop up and offer the recovered version, as well
> as a comparison between the recovered version and the saved version.

Good point as well! Besides the fact that this might drive our
developers nuts (*g*), this might also be helpful for the export (...)
functionality.


> 2010/11/28 Andrew <rugby471@gmail.com>
>
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > I was reconsidering the approach that LibreOffice currently takes
> > towards Document Recovery and I have created a few mockups as well as
> > describing issues with the current workflow etc.
> >
> > You can see it all here:
> > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/Mockups/Document_Recovery

Cool, thanks for the wiki page and also the explanations - it helps a
lot to see the rationale for your work! But one question, did you have a
look at the issues for the document recovery? [2] Maybe there are even
more good thoughts ...

Additionally, I think it would help to also add links to the original
OOo specs:
      * http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/errorreporter/error_report_2_0_ui_specification.sxw
      * http://specs.openoffice.org/appwide/recovery/Autorecovery.sxw  

> > Comments are welcome!

Okay, since you asked for it ... just a list of comments, please decide
what is helpful for your ongoing work.

If LibO crashes and the user is (later) faced to the document recovery
dialog, we may assume that this is a "related workflow". Thus, might it
be helpful to also have a look at the message (text) stating that the
documents are being saved after the crash. Mmh, may it be an idea to use
very similar looking "Document Recovery Save" and "Document Recovery
Load" dialogs?

I propose to revise the formulation a bit. For example, I'd like to
explain/avoid terms like "crash" or "recovery" - if possible. Moreover,
we should use the chance to say "we're sorry" to the user ... something
we've missed all the years :-)

And, concerning the formulation - it is good manner to avoid "negative
formulations" like "Are you sure you don't want to recover..." and use
something like "Are you sure to abort/dismiss the recovery?". Something
like that. We might even add a nice graphic to soften the mood in this
certain case. And ideas? :-)

"Select the document(s) you wish to recover below." What is the default
for that; I assume all documents, or?

The buttons within the dialog a re a bit inconsistent. I know that OOo
currently ignores the usual button order in Gnome, but the "Cancel"
button changes its position within the different dialogs. The longer I
think about it ... in this case, it might be more helpful if we replace
the "Cancel" button with "Cancel Recovery" / "Delete" to make really
sure that user understands what it is about.

I don't know whether the progressbar is helpful here - first, it is
unused (you mentioned it). But during recover, the user might not know
what document might cause further issues when recovered (crash, restart,
crash, ...).

I see the "straight to the recovered documents", but what if some of
these documents could not be recovered (does this happen)? In such a
case, feedback is essential - and the already available dialog should be
used for that. Moreover, some people even rely on feedback if everything
went fine ... many people feel more safe (and this is what we talk
about) if they can "double-check".

Another idea that comes up - if people "stare" at this dialog, and the
documents are recovered, and this dialog is still open, then it could be
even used as a kind of "task switcher" to change to the corresponding
document. The user had plenty of time to look at his/her important
document, so it is faster to use this dialog than to use the task bar
(or whatever).

Moreover, people sometimes use similar names for the documents being
stored in different locations. Here, it seems essential to also provide
information with regard to the storage location (either directly, or
indirectly).

Similar issue - you wrote "treeview should ellipsize (at the end) text
too wide". Here, it might be more helpful to ellipsize  in the middle of
the string (or even avoid any ellipsis). Rationale: Many people simply
add a number at the end of a document name to create different versions.
Thus, we should avoid to omit this information.

Versions. Mirek already mentioned that it may take some time until
people restart LibO and are faced with the dialog. How about adding some
"human readable" timestamp for the "auto saving"?

Some minor issues: The warning dialog misses a dialog title, and it
seems that the margins are a bit large (given the Gnome HIG for
example).

Okay, at a brief glance ... that's it. Of course, just comments without
that much proposals :-) So please bear with me, since I just miss the
time to provide more details.

Thus, thanks a lot for your work! I'm curious to see how this will
evolve :-)

Cheers,
Christoph


[1] http://www.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=104466

[2] http://www.openoffice.org/issues/buglist.cgi?Submit+query=Submit
+query&issue_type=DEFECT&issue_type=ENHANCEMENT&issue_type=FEATURE&issue_type=PATCH&issue_status=UNCONFIRMED&issue_status=NEW&issue_status=STARTED&issue_status=REOPENED&issue_status=RESOLVED&email1=&emailtype1=exact&emailassigned_to1=1&email2=&emailtype2=exact&emailreporter2=1&issueidtype=include&issue_id=&changedin=&votes=&chfieldfrom=&chfieldto=&chfieldvalue=&short_desc=recovery&short_desc_type=allwords&long_desc=&long_desc_type=allwords&issue_file_loc=&issue_file_loc_type=fulltext&status_whiteboard=&status_whiteboard_type=fulltext&keywords=&keywords_type=anytokens&field0-0-0=noop&type0-0-0=noop&value0-0-0=&cmdtype=doit&order=Reuse+same+sort+as+last+time



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