Malone (and LP) navigability and structure

[Brad Bollenbach]

On 19-Jan-06, at 7:41 AM, Ian Jackson wrote:

>> Would it help if Malone had a perma-portlet that provided help links
>> on just about every Malone screen?
>
> These `portlets' are part of the problem, not part of the solution.

I agree.

> LP pages should be more different from each other.  In particular, the
> right place to put a link to the email interface documentation would
> be on a navigation page.  There should be few navigation pages, and
> they should be powerful - allowing a direct transfer to the intended
> target page.  Navigation pages should be largely static so that it is
> not possible to have the `wrong version' which doesn't contain the
> thing you were looking for.

[snip]

> Let's compare what passes in LP for a navigation page:
>  https://launchpad.net/
>  https://launchpad.net/malone
> with the corresponding pages for Debian and Bugzilla:
>  http://www.debian.org/Bugs/
>  https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/
>
> Note how the latter two have relatively little _content_; they contain
> mainly _references_ to other places (both inside and outside the
> relevant system).  Note how the references are organised by task (that
> is, by the task that the visitor is probably trying to perform).

I agree that Malone's front page lacks clarity, conciseness, and  
utility.

I agree that less content would be better. The list of "latest bugs"  
does more harm than good, IMHO.

[snip]

> Now let's look at some data display pages.  Compare:
>  https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/firefox/+bug/16554
> with:
>  http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=327251
>  http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/pkgreport.cgi?src=firefox
>  https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=307537
>
> Note how Debian and Bugzilla pack the page with useful and relevant
> information.  All of the screen real estate is used to good effect to
> convey the information the visitor is looking for.  The page is rich

[snip]

> Note the lack of sidebars (LP has two!) so that full use of the
> display area can be used for content.

I agree that Launchpad has little screen real estate to work with,  
because of the sidebars.

> Note how the Bugzilla bug editing UI puts all of the options for
> manipulating the bug report together.  (The Debian BTS is modified by
> email, so there is no need for anything similar on that page.)

I agree that your life should be made simpler by allowing you to make  
changes without requiring several page loads. The Ideal World  
solution to this problem is documented here:

<https://wiki.launchpad.canonical.com/BugWorkflow>

If you think this proposal worthy, you should add your name to the  
spec somewhere, like signing a petition. If you think it is flawed,  
your suggestions for improving the spec would be welcome.

Cheers,

--
Brad Bollenbach