Question: Usability - Show Vs Peep, Editing Attributes, And Histories
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Peter • 260 wrote:
Dear all,
I've just been sitting down with one of our biologists who is learning
to use (our local) Galaxy, and he ran into a few little issues, some
of which should be fairly easy to address. This is intended as
constructive feedback, and if anything is unclear please say and I'll
try to elaborate.
*Show data vs peep*
When wanting to look at an entry in the history, he would always click
on the title (which toggles the peep view), berate himself, then click
on the small eye icon. This is something that I used to do when first
learning to use Galaxy too. Viewing data is a very common task yet the
icon is tiny compared to the name, which is the most natural thing to
click on. Does this confuse most newcomers? I realise it would upset
existing users, but have you considered switching this functionality?
*Editing attributes (of a history entry)*
Several of the history entries had automatic names set by the tools,
and as a result some of them had the same name. We therefore wanted to
rename these entries, via the "pencil" icon for "edit attributes". The
attributes page has five (independent) blocks, each with their *own*
save or action button. He edited the name, and clicked on save -
Galaxy went back to the main view but nothing had happened. Why? He'd
clicked on the wrong save button.
The first thing I'd change is quite small: He'd clicked on the most
prominent save button, the "Change data type" block save button which
happened to be on the bottom of the visible screen. Part of the issue
is that the "Edit Attributes" block's save button is not last, but
second last. It is therefore somewhat hidden. So I'd move it below the
auto-detect button to ensure it is at the end of the block.
The second thing I'd suggest (and this applies to Galaxy in general)
is moving the save/commit/execute buttons to the right of the frame.
That way all the text and options are left aligned, but the "do it"
button stands out on the right (which is a common convention in
software in general - think of wizards and dialogue windows).
Finally I'd suggest (assuming it is possible) making the text of any
primary button (e.g. save/commit/execute button) bold to help it stand
out from all the options or buttons.
*Saving histories*
When the user had finished one task, and was about to start another, I
suggested we make a new history. There is no explicit "Save History"
option (since it happens automatically), so the correct action was to
click on "Create New". We were then left with two "Unnamed histories"
and everything was fine - but never the less a bit nerve racking for
the novice as there is no indication that the old history was saved. I
would suggest if the current history is still unnamed, having a prompt
along the lines of "You current history will be saved as: XXX" where
XXX is the current name (default being Unnamed as now), giving them a
chance to (re)name it.
*Renaming current history*
There is no obvious way to rename the current history from the "main"
page. Currently the only way I've found to do this is go to "history
options", "saved histories". I would suggest adding a rename entry
under the "history options".
Regards,
Peter
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modified 7.8 years ago
by
Dannon Baker ♦ 3.7k
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written
7.8 years ago by
Peter • 260
