Usability

On the dynamic properties form, you have keyboard shortcuts for the buttons. (this is good!)
Could you add shortcuts for the Name/Description/Type fields as well? Or at least make the name field active on opening so I don’t have to click it all the time?

(I suffer from RSI and really hate clicking the mouse)

Good call. This is done for 3.3.2. The name field gets initial focus and it has a focus accelerator of Alt-N.

UI consistency and accessability is something that we strive for, but certainly have room to improve in. Let us know when nagging little things like this are bugging you - they are typically easy to fix.

Other nagging things:

When in a edit window (eg: expression editor), to exit I have to use the (hated) mouse or ctl-tab, enter.

Most other programs use control-enter to exit the edit window and click the default button.

+/- doesn’t work in tree view (eg: Project Browser) to expand/collapse a node

Enter doesn’t open selected window in Project Browser

Up/Down arrows select and jump to the item making it impossible to scroll through the Project Browser.

Following the usability theme, I would like the designer to “remember” which event I last focused on in the “Configure Actions” editor. For instance, if I have programmed two events (a mouse click and property change), when I do a Ctrl-J, it always opens with the focus on the mouse click event even if I was editing the property change event the last time I was there.

It’s not a huge deal, but if I am doing a lot of changes to the property change event, it would save a lot of mouse clicks after the Ctrl-J.

All good ideas. I can’t guarantee they’ll all get implemented immediately (some have some confusing implications, such as the interplay of focus between the project browser and the components), but keep’em coming none the less! I’ll post back to this thread as they get implemented.

Return doesn’t always click default button. You have to use space bar. eg Configure Actions screen.
And well you at it how about some alt-?? short cuts so we don’t have to tab to the correct button? (alt-o,alt-c,alt-a)

Java Error screen:

Show Details has the focus on open but the Close button is pulsing causing you to think it has it.

Error window is always two small to show error.
If there are multiple errors, clicking next resizes the windows back to the too small default forcing you to expand it again and again and again and again…

It never remembers where/what size it was :imp:

I do like the “send to IA” button

On the topic of the ‘Send to IA’ button, it would be nice as an integrator to be able to point this at one of our email addresses. This means a customer’s reports would come through us, rather than straight to IA whom they may not have had any previous contact with. We would normally support our customers and not expect them to go straight to the developers.

Al

Yes, and we would like this as well. Actually, we expect it. Good idea.

I was doing a bunch of work with tables for a demo, and I think it would be nice to have a shortcut for the table’s data component. It seems that 90% of my interaction with the tabe was working with the sql query binding, so it would save a bunch of mouse clicks.

You mean a shortcut to the property binding window for the table’s data property? I see what you’re saying but I think this might be hard to accomodate in a consistent way across different components…

Another useability suggestion…

When working with module scripts, it would be nice if the scrolling stayed where it is after I hit “Apply”. I use modules to create my paint component drawings, and some are quite long. I can see how changes to the script affect the drawing, so if I didn’t have to scroll down again after each ‘apply’, it would speed up development a lot.

Sounds reasonable. This thread is becoming quite the punch list for my rainy day tasks.

The ability to have user error reports sent to an email address rather than to us was added in Ignition v 7.1.4