marticliment
[ENHANCEMENT] WingetUI v3.0.0 UI improvements
Please confirm these before moving forward
- [X] I have searched for my feature proposal and have not found a work-in-progress/duplicate/resolved/discarded issue.
- [X] This improvement refers to an existing feature. If you want to suggest a new feature, please use this template
- [X] This improvement is not a bug. If you want to report a bug, please use this template
Describe the improvement
HI @marticliment,
Thanks for this useful app. I appreciate the work.
I just updated to V3 and I've noticed some improvements, but there are a few things I would like to share about the UI. I've read some issues where people are complaining about it but without being specific about the things that caught my attention, let me know what you think about it :
Text labels
I don't like that icons get a text label under/next to them. It just takes useless space and could be improved by keeping the buttons icons only and showing the text on hover. This problem is especially annoying on the V3 with the sidebar that shows text labels under all the icons. Also, these icons all have big page titles that clearly indicate what they are.
Side filter menu
That new filter menu that you can slide to the left to hide it isn't visually appealing, what about a "filter" button with a pop-up window.
Remember window position
On V2, WingetUI used to remember the last window position and size it was left in on launch. It doesn't seem to be the case anymore on V3.
About button
The new "about" sidebar button is not really that essential imo, could be moved to the "More" menu to simplify the sidebar
Describe how this improvement could help users.
In my opinion, it would simplify the interface, make it more visually appealing and consistent.
Hello @realgooseman,
The Remember Window Position has already its own issue. You may want to subscribe there to get new updates about it.
Regarding the rest of the features, I will take them into account
Personally, having text next to primary actions such as updating makes sense. For the sidebar, maybe it could do the thing where clicking on the menu button shows the text, or shorten everything, like having the text be "Discover, Updates, Installed, Bundles", and only have it show the full thing on hover.
Maybe the filters could be moved to the right, and the button to show/hide it from 2.0 seems useful.
Honestly, I like the text labels. Otherwise, I find it always difficult to remember what each icon stands for. The hover state is also not available for those who navigate the application on a touch screen or using only a keyboard. Hiding useful information so that it appears only on hover is bad for accessibility in general.
It could be an opt-in setting though, for those that really want to remove the text labels.
I like having the filters on the left permanently. I think it's pretty functional. You can hide it if you don't like seeing it........
I don't think you can hide it anymore
You can drag it to the right on 3.0.0.
However, I will create a show-hide button
I am sorry, I meant to the left. there is a separator bar used to resize the filter panel, move it to the max left and the panel should hide
Hi @marticliment, I want to join the discussion, and I have two comments regarding the interface design.
- This doesn't quite relate to the current topic, but rather to the appearance of the installer itself. However, I didn't want to create a separate topic for this. So, to the point. In my opinion, the existing picture in the installer should be replaced with the application's icon to give it more seriousness. Because currently, it looks somewhat childish for such an app.
- Separator on the left looks more like a scroll bar, and that's not very good in my opinion, as it disrupts the coherence. It's worth completely abandoning this, since panels already have their own edges/boundaries, and the size can be adjusted by dragging them, it's more logical. Or at least make this divider not just a short stripe, but a line spanning the entire height of the panel, to make it look more like a separator.
3. Separator on the left looks more like a scroll bar, and that's not very good in my opinion, as it disrupts the coherence. It's worth completely abandoning this, since panels already have their own edges/boundaries, and the size can be adjusted by dragging them, it's more logical. Or at least make this divider not just a short stripe, but a line spanning the entire height of the panel, to make it look more like a separator.
I'm afraid this is the default WinUI expander, but I'll see what I can do
- This doesn't quite relate to the current topic, but rather to the appearance of the installer itself. However, I didn't want to create a separate topic for this. So, to the point. In my opinion, the existing picture in the installer should be replaced with the application's icon to give it more seriousness. Because currently, it looks somewhat childish for such an app.
New imagery is planned when WingetUI becomes UnigetUI
@marticliment Does it need to be called UnigetUI? it needed to be called wingetUI because winget did not have a UI. But now that it's establishing itself with a new name. Even Uniget will suffice. What do you think?
Yes, I feel like UnigetUI is redundant. Uniget is a software of itself now with multiple sources (including Winget) + it sounds better.
WingetUI will not use Uniget, and the UI at the end distinguishes it from the other projects that use the Uniget name
Winget and scoop search shows no matching packages for Uniget. Why are you making the decision ? Marti will be the one that'll make the final decision anyways.
I'm not making the decision, I'm saying what I think, just like you. https://github.com/SaladLab/UniGet is in NuGet (and is popular despite being outdated) and then there's https://github.com/uniget-org/cli in Go, a bit less popular and for *nix. I don't think people would appreciate getting slammed with a Windows software when searching for a *nix container software. Martí has also already stated that they've decided on UnigetUI.
Yes, basically what @aaronliu0130 said is right. And it is still a graphical interface, not a package manager, so UI makes sense.