jamulussoftware
Add tooltips to connectdlg
Short description of changes
Add tool tips to the Connect Dialog to improve useability. I've aimed to keep the same translation strings as "What's this?" uses, as with the other dialogs.
CHANGELOG: Add tooltips to connectdlg
Context: Fixes an issue?
No.
Does this change need documentation? What needs to be documented and how?
No
Status of this Pull Request
Will need translations updated.
What is missing until this pull request can be merged?
Ready to merge.
Checklist
- [x] I've verified that this Pull Request follows the general code principles
- [x] I tested my code and it does what I want
- [x] My code follows the style guide
- [x] I waited some time after this Pull Request was opened and all GitHub checks completed without errors.
- [x] I've filled all the content above
Hmm, I've just tried this out, compiling on my RPi. I must admit I found the tooltips continually popping up in the connect window rather obtrusive, particularly the tooltip within the list of servers, which would pop up anywhere I stopped moving the pointer.
Not sure what to suggest, but to my mind, such tooltips are hand-holding for the unfamiliar user, but obtrusive to anyone who has become familiar with the program, which doesn't take long.
Agree. Other places are maybe not that obstructive. Would you be ok with a shorter version or would you still be bothered by it?
The reason I did this is we have tooltips on all the other dialogs, with the text the same as the "What's this?" text - so I felt we should be consistent in our approach. If it's wrong / unhelpful / distracting here, why is it working elsewhere? Just because those other places aren't used so much? Is it distracting there when they are used?
Do people even think of the "What's this?" function? (It's not particularly common.)
I wonder if the tooltip delay can be made longer?
I haven't yet explored to see where else tooltips are used in Jamulus (I was going to do so as part of this review). But to my mind, "What's this?" and tooltips should provide different functions:
- "What's this?" is a user-initiated action, and it's very appropriate for the pop-up to provide some detailed explanation or description, over several lines.
- A tooltip pops up uninvited, and is intended to provide a short handy hint as to the identity or function of something that is otherwise non-obvious, such as an unlabelled icon. I don't feel that a box of explanation is appropriate for a tooltip, and it would rapidly become annoying.
I also wouldn't use a tooltip to describe a large area, such as the list of servers in the connect dialog. That was what I found the most annoying: the tooltip popping up every time I moved the mouse within the server list. And the tooltips for the Directory selector and filter box were also more explanatory than tooltippy to my mind, although definitely appropriate for "What's This?"
I understand the desire for consistency, but don't think it should trump benefit and usability. I've been struggling to understand who would benefit from the changes in this particular PR, and for how long.
A tooltip pops up uninvited
To me, it's meant to be quasi-invited - only if I hover long enough for it to be obvious that I'm unsure what the control does were I to use it.
I'd agree they serve different purposes, though. I'd expect "What's this?" to redirect the user to the appropriate paragraph in the manual, to be honest, to avoid redundancy in documentation. The tooltip should be a "hint" as to usage. We don't follow this approach, though.
One of the users I work with really liked the hover feature to explain the usage - so it's valuable. Most likely what's this is much less often used.
One of the users I work with really liked the hover feature to explain the usage - so it's valuable.
I can understand this for someone who is new and learning to use Jamulus. But as an experienced user, I would at least want the ability to turn it off, particularly for the wordy ones like in this PR.