picpak
August 19th, 2007, 03:50 PM
Summary:
This is an idea I had over 2 years ago, and still haven't seen any progress in it yet. The idea is that search results in Synaptic are broken up into 3 tabs: Programs, Development, and Libraries. Of course, an All tab can be implemented too to keep the search results the way they've always been.
Rationale:
It will be easier to find the programs you want in Synaptic, and search results will be less overwhelming to new users.
Scope and Use Cases:
Programs:
All Suzie wants to do is install Java. She gets confused between all the lib* and dev* programs and doesn't know what she wants. By sticking with the Programs tab, she can instantly get to Java.
Development:
Jimmie is compiling a program, and he gets errors. They tell him that he needs libpng, but he doesn't know exactly which program to install. So he opens up Synaptic, searches for png, clicks on the Development tab, and instantly gets to the program he wants: libpng12-dev.
Libraries:
Arnold is exporting an MP3 file through Audacity, but it tells him he needs libmp3lame.so. So he opens up Synaptic, searches for lame, clicks the Libraries tab, and instantly gets to the program he needs: liblame0.
Implementation Plan:
I imagine it'd require a lot of hacking in Synaptic's part, and each and every program would need to be classified under the 3 categories. It might be more work than it's worth.
This idea could be implemented even further into the Search dialog, where one could choose a default tab to search in. Why search for thousands and thousands of programs when you're only looking for one?
Here is a mockup:
This is an idea I had over 2 years ago, and still haven't seen any progress in it yet. The idea is that search results in Synaptic are broken up into 3 tabs: Programs, Development, and Libraries. Of course, an All tab can be implemented too to keep the search results the way they've always been.
Rationale:
It will be easier to find the programs you want in Synaptic, and search results will be less overwhelming to new users.
Scope and Use Cases:
Programs:
All Suzie wants to do is install Java. She gets confused between all the lib* and dev* programs and doesn't know what she wants. By sticking with the Programs tab, she can instantly get to Java.
Development:
Jimmie is compiling a program, and he gets errors. They tell him that he needs libpng, but he doesn't know exactly which program to install. So he opens up Synaptic, searches for png, clicks on the Development tab, and instantly gets to the program he wants: libpng12-dev.
Libraries:
Arnold is exporting an MP3 file through Audacity, but it tells him he needs libmp3lame.so. So he opens up Synaptic, searches for lame, clicks the Libraries tab, and instantly gets to the program he needs: liblame0.
Implementation Plan:
I imagine it'd require a lot of hacking in Synaptic's part, and each and every program would need to be classified under the 3 categories. It might be more work than it's worth.
This idea could be implemented even further into the Search dialog, where one could choose a default tab to search in. Why search for thousands and thousands of programs when you're only looking for one?
Here is a mockup: