[Done] Post-install page improvements (was: Some feedback..)

[Wladimir Palant]

@Hubird: I agree, manual entry isn't very useful for the first-run page - but it is what people will mostly expect when going to "Add subscription" from preferences. Not sure what would be a better solution here other than making the two variations of that dialog behave differently (undesirable).

I think the solution is a better integration of the complete list of subscriptions. So if the user chooses "Add a different subscription" Adblock Plus should still show the fields for manual entry - but it should also download a list from adblockplus.org (all subscriptions minus the recommended ones that are already being displayed) and show it above these fields. The user can then click one of the lists and that will fill the fields for manual entry - click "Subscribe" and you are done.

The main problem: this requires some changes to the way the data is organized on adblockplus.org. But these changes are necessary anyway, as some people certainly noticed I am again behind with updates for the list of subscriptions because updating it in three languages takes too much time.

Edit: This is done now, the subscription list is stored in its own repository - that's where both en/subscriptions and list of recommendations in Adblock Plus get their data from. Now I need to get an additional XML file generated and make Adblock Plus download it to get the data for all subscriptions.

[Wladimir Palant]

New screenshots (development build should be out in an hour):

"Add filter subscription" dialog after being opened from preferences (extra vertical space is gone):


User chooses "Add a different subscription", list is being loaded:


List loaded successfully, user can select an entry and text fields will be filled automatically:


List failed to load, user still has the option to go to the en/subscriptions:

[Michael]

When "Add a different filter subscription..." is chosen and the window is maximised, the content only use the top half of the form. Would it be possible to make the information use the same proportion of space as when it is not maximised?

In addition, one thing that I'm also not particularly fond of are the subscriptions that are combinations of others. Would it be possible to add two separate subscriptions from one option? I find that it helps with troubleshooting false positives, as it means that I can disable one list while leaving the other active.

[Hubird]

I think the expanded filter filter subscription page:



Could do will being cleaned up. Perhaps it would be easier to use if it was in the same style as this



Maybe just a little tick box or something that says "show only recommended subscriptions". If unticked all subscriptions are vissible.

[Wladimir Palant]

When "Add a different filter subscription..." is chosen and the window is maximised, the content only use the top half of the form. Would it be possible to make the information use the same proportion of space as when it is not maximised?

Actually, I didn't know it can be maximized
Maximizing the window breaks the resizing logic, I need to do something about it.

As to combined subscriptions: adding two subscriptions instead of one increases server load, I do not really want to encourage it. I think that people who would disable individual subscriptions could also check the filters matching on the page.

Could do will being cleaned up. Perhaps it would be easier to use if it was in the same style as this

Drop-down lists aren't the ideal choice for large selections. A regular list is better to get some overview.

[Hubird]

Drop-down lists aren't the ideal choice for large selections. A regular list is better to get some overview.

Now that you mention it I can see that a drop down list is not ideal for such a large number of items. I still feel the list you have now could do with some more / different formatting (not exactly sure what yet though). Also a way to view all available subscriptions for a certain language might be useful.

[Wladimir Palant]

Also a way to view all available subscriptions for a certain language might be useful.

I think about marking subscriptions that match user's browser locale - maybe simply make the text bold there.

[Wladimir Palant]

@Hubird: Here we go, that's how the list looks for a Polish user now:

I am also hiding the "Add a different subscription" button now when the user is already selecting a custom subscription.

@Michael: Resizing issues should be fixed now, the window is officially resizable and the size of the list will adapt.

Edit: And one more change: the new dialog is being used for subscription editing and abp: links now. This shouldn't be very noticeable however, the look/text changed slightly and the "enable filters" checkbox is gone - that's it.

I am marking this a "done", no big changes expected now.

[Hubird]

What about if the subscriptions were grouped by language / region and instead of just making the matching language bold it could jump straight to the matching language section ?

[Michael]

I am no longer able to open the "Add filter subscription..." link on the latest development release of Adblock Plus. Every time I select the option nothing happens, with the CPU usage remaining regular. When I click OK within Preferences to close the window again nothing happens, and I instead have to use the cross in the corner.

[MonztA]

Dr. Evil's list is not bold in the drop-down menu with a German Firefox version.

[Hubird]

It seems that we can not use the "view filters" when subscribing from a link on a we page.

For example if you choose one of the lists from

http://www.fanboy.co.nz/adblock/alpha/

you are not given the option to preview.

I think it would be nice to be able to preview regardless of how you came to find the subscription.

[Wladimir Palant]

@Michael: Does chrome://adblockplus/content/errors.html show something? It seems that the dialog opened but didn't become visible in your case, pressing Alt+F4 will do to "revive" preferences. Are you using an en-GB Firefox version?

@MonztA: What about the other German lists? What is the general.useragent.locale preference set to for you?

@Hubird: I agree, preview would be nice - but it is out of scope for this change. forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=4146 is the relevant discussion.

[Michael]

I have checked chrome://adblockplus/content/errors.html both before and after attempting to add a filer subscription; on both occasions it reports that it has not found any errors. My browser is the default en-GB localisation of Firefox provided for Fedora 11, and is currently version 3.5.6.

[Wladimir Palant]

Michael, what if you open chrome://adblockplus/content/ui/subscriptionSelection.xul in the browser directly?