editlanguages language list unusably small

[era]

In https://launchpad.net/~era/+editlanguages the list of available languages is needlessly contained in a scrolling box which is only filling a fraction of the available space. Moreover, the box is much too small; scrolling the list with the scroll bar is very hard, because a tiny movement of the scrollbar already scrolls more than a screenful (at least if you're not extremely precise with the mouse); thus moving to the language you want is a major usability problem. Few users speak more than half a dozen languages, but the list is likely to eventually grow into several hundreds of items more (the current list seems to have 374 entries; by one conservative estimate, there are some 8,000 languages in the world, although certainly not all of them have a writing system, much less a need to be listed in Ubuntu's database).

What's the design rationale for a nested scrollable box anyway? Could the list not simply be displayed as the main content of that page?

See http://launchpadlibrarian.net/12148892/editlanguages.png for a screenshot (attached to unrelated bug 194143)

It may save time to fix bug 235857 at the same as this bug.

[era (era)]

As a workaround, the isearch mode in Firefox allows me to quickly move to English by typing /Engl with the cursor in the main body of that page.

Tangentially, see also bug 29621 and bug 93637.

[era (era)]

You can also click on the first language to select it and move the focus there, then hit space to deselect it (assuming you don't want to select Abkhazian, of course) and scroll down the list with the down arrow key. Space toggles checkmarks on the currently focused checkbox. Good good.

[era (era)]

> Space toggles checkmarks on the currently focused checkbox. Good good.

Except Abkhazian remains focused, even as you scroll it out of view. )-:

[Dan (SeVeNeLeVeN) Evans (seveneleven-de)]

Opinion:
This needs to be just a simple list (no frames) with check boxes.

Fact:
Not all devices even allow scrolling through the language list.
Tested:
As on ALL my Android smartphones, no such scroll bar is even existent.
I use Android devices to program and develop on Android devices, but do have a dual boot PC with Ubuntu 12.04 and Win XP Home (No internet connection now).

Need:
I want to simply add a language listed beyond the 3-4 lines in "A". If a simple Url rewrite "Url Bend" is needed to manually add a specific language (eg; La2=en for english or La2=ja for Japanese),please give example with a full list of supported languages.

[Dan (SeVeNeLeVeN) Evans (seveneleven-de)]

Here is a mobile screenshot, notice there are NO scrollbars visable?

Opinion:
This issue should be quite simple to correct by just removing the box & scrollbars, then posting in full without frames.
Removing unused languages will also help suffice a resolve for both mobile & pc.

[Dan (SeVeNeLeVeN) Evans (seveneleven-de)]

http://db.tt/TiqBTqxY

[Dan (SeVeNeLeVeN) Evans (seveneleven-de)]

Quotes: import this

"Although practicality beats purity.
Errors should never pass silently.
Unless explicitly silenced."

"Simple is better than complex.
Complex is better than complicated."

"Flat is better than nested.
Sparse is better than dense.
Readability counts."