Manual partitioner: Icons 'Add', 'Remove', and 'Modify' are a bit confusing

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement]

Quantal Desktop 20120903.4

On the manual partitioner there are 3 small icons below the partition list: a plus sign, and minus sign, and a gear. But their meaning is not clear and tooltips like "Add partition", "Remove partition" and "Modify partition" would clarify their usage.

[Ubuntu QA Website (ubuntuqa)]

This bug has been reported on the Ubuntu ISO testing tracker.

A list of all reports related to this bug can be found here:
http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com/qatracker/reports/bugs/1045799

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

This is particularly true, and IMO critical, if a partition is highlighted and someone clicks on "-". At that point the highlighted partition is just deleted with no further warning!

This change could easily lead us back to a lost data/OS situation like we faced in Maverick :^(

I actually wonder if just a tooltip is adequate for "-"?

I suspect that if a potential Ubuntu convert inadvertently loses data during installation they're gone forever.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

per design spec all actions should appear as if they take immediate effect, but in actual fact are only executed upon clicking install.
.... but currently they are actually executed straight away with a delay. I will see if we can bring back tooltips or labels.

[Jeremy Bícha (jbicha)]

What? The actions on the manual partitioner take effect immediately instead of how it usually works?

Could you please mention that in the Beta 1 Release Notes as that fact is rather important.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

@ Jeremy, the most worrisome is that clicking on "-" does delete the partition selected w/o further verification or user4 interaction :^(

The potential for data or OS loss is substantial!

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

@ Jeremy
Sorry for miscommunication. The Revert button becomes sensitive and you can revert back.
There is no change in the actions.
Only appearance. "Add/Edit/Remove Partition" are now symbolic icons.
If partitioning (partman) decides that it needs to commit changes to disk, it shows a warning popup.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

Everyone needs to put their noob shoes on :^)

I just tried starting with this:

https://launchpadlibrarian.net/114858452/result.png

I selected /dev/sdb2 which is root (/) and clicked on "-".

At that point nothing appears to happen so I QUIT!

OK, nothing had happened that I can see after a reboot, but PUT YOUR NOOB SHOES ON!

NOTHING HAPPENED, so most noobs will start clicking on other things while that change is still pending!

THIS IS HORRIBLE!

IMHO Beta 1 should be held until the installer devs kick the living crap out of some stupid designers!

I realize that's a bit over the top but I will not be part of another of these fiasco's:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/652852

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/ubiquity/+bug/766265

They have many cousins!

Do as you wish, but I'd almost think the design team has been infiltrated by Win saboteurs ;^)

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

Erick, to maintain a respectful atmosphere, please follow the code of conduct - http://www.ubuntu.com/community/conduct/ . Bug reports and bug fixes are handled by humans the majority of whom are volunteers, and your rant adds no value to the issue reported here, so please bear this in mind.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

Sorry, I was a bit over the top. But I follow the forums a lot and I can assure you all that any bug that results in confusion regarding the installer will end up resulting in data loss.

And if trying to install Ubuntu the first time results in data loss it's unlikely you'll see that user again :^(

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

Sorry for miscommunication. The Revert button becomes sensitive and you can revert back.
There is no change in the actions.
Only appearance. "Add/Edit/Remove Partition" are now symbolic icons.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

@lbsolost

The screenshot you provided is from Gparted, not from the Ubiquity Installer.
What you are showing is not ubiquity's manual partitioner.
Please file a separate bug to avoid confusion.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

Here is updated UI:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/IX7RCztyVR5RU0OPsX2CXVh0btKKriD5FR8jiayHfxc?feat=directlink

No tooltips, but should be more clear & bigger buttons without outlines.

[Erick Brunzell (lbsolost)]

First of all I want to apologize again for my previous rant, that was clearly inappropriate.

Now on to the newest UI proposal;

You've dropped the gears icon in favor of the text message "Change" but my greatest concern is "-".

The symbolic icon "-" does NOT always mean "delete". In fact when you open the "change" dialogue to apply changes to a partition "-" clearly means reducing the size of the existing partition! This is true of many apps, typically "-" means shrink, lower, or reduce!

I've followed user errors a lot at Ubuntu forums down through the years and I'll assure you that anything that's even slightly confusing will ultimately result in user error, the worst of which is the loss of data or an existing OS.

So IMO using "-" to replace "delete" is a very bad UI change/decision :^(

BTW I only included that gparted screenshot in comment #8 to prove that if the installation process is "quit" no change is actually applied, but I fear that if someone were to click on "-" not knowing that it means "delete" they'd proceed with the actual desired changes and still end up deleting a partition they'd NOT intended to :^(

I hope that's clear, I really am getting old and tired, and I've been almost begging for someone else on the end-user end of testing to jump up to the plate to replace me.

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

The icon names used are "list-add-symbolic" and "list-remove-symbolic".
While generic + and - may have different meaning, they have consistent meaning across Gnome and defiantly in all the main Gnome applications. See for example system preferences. It's always add or create a new item, and remove or delete an item.

I do not see how this leads to data loss:
- revert button is offered
- the top segmented bars clearly indicate what is happening

Ubuntu forums is self-selective and not representative.

BTW including screenshots of unrelated software is confusing. As gparted is never used as part of the installation process. That screen is never shown.

No, it's not clear. Please wait for these fixes to be released. Wait for a daily image to be published and then test this out in a VM. And take screenshots cause there are plenty of visual clues and warnings given. If that is not the case, please open a new bug report.

This is not a discussion forum.

[Jean-Baptiste Lallement (jibel)]

I agree with Dmitrijs. In the previous design, the contrast between inactive/active state was not strong enough and it was not clear to which component of the UI the controls applied to. When the user changed from a device to a partition, the user didn't immediately noticed the change of state of these controls. Furthermore, the cog is more often seen for functions like "Settings" and more global rather than modify a specific item.

My opinion is that the new design is more consistent with the rest of Ubiquity, the outline make the add/remove controls more visible, and the label "Change..." is clearly unambiguous.

Thanks all for your work and forgive my mid-90s concepts of design with tooltips ;)

[Dimitri John Ledkov (xnox)]

I am just a coder, mpt did the design =) I implemented it poorly first time around.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package ubiquity - 2.11.31

---------------
ubiquity (2.11.31) quantal; urgency=low

  [ Colin Watson ]
  * Buffer reads from debconf-copydb. Python 3 defaults to unbuffered reads
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  * Port oem-config-remove-gtk to Python 3, now that
    python3-aptdaemon.gtk3widgets exists; the final piece!
  * Remove Python 2 support. We aren't going back now.
  * Remove the rest of the long-dead PS3 port.

  [ Dmitrijs Ledkovs ]
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  * Correctly apply styles to the title & progress sections and not the
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    & requirements for non-standard color definitions. (LP: #744283)
  * Make lables in the segmented bar use the same colours as normal labels.
  * Changing the "Add/Remove/Change Partiontion" buttons to mixed
    symbolic/text buttons should make the screen comply with Ubiquity
    Design spec ( http://goo.gl/Kokw5 ) and address confusion about the
    updated screen. (LP: #1045799)
  * Fix the disappearance of crypto password field (LP: #1045716)
  * Fix misallignment of crypto password fields (LP: #1045712)
  * Make setup security key page go back to ask page (LP: #1045698)
  * Remove powerpc/ps3 low-memory profile, as it doesn't do anything any
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    want a low memory profile, which ubiquity-only mode now.
  * ubiquity-wrapper: Add support for udisks2 inhibit, drop devkit-disks
    inhibit. (LP: #719338)
  * Prevent progress label to expand & shrink the window (LP: #1046241)
  * Automatic update of included source packages: base-installer
    1.122ubuntu9.

  [ Dylan McCall ]
  * Fixed slideshow_get_available_locale missing new locales in
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 -- Dmitrijs Ledkovs <email address hidden> Sat, 08 Sep 2012 00:47:54 +0100