[Done] Redesigning preferences dialog

[Wladimir Palant]

I hoped to get management of own filters usable before my vacation - unfortunately not there yet so these changes cannot go into development builds. I finalized what is finalizable so far (reordering filter subscriptions, adding filter subscriptions) and uploaded new screenshots. Here is how you would normally add a filter subscription:



If you click on "Add a different filter subscription" you get a simplified version of the current dialog:

[anonymous74100]

Have you thought about removing the second column from "Add a different filter subscription" dialog? It seems kind of useless and confusing.

[maybee]

you would be better to add 'total of filter' to preferences dialog.
total number of filter entries in the filter lists without comment entries.
the number has something to do with first starting speed of browser.
I think it is useful to manage filter lists.

[Wladimir Palant]

@anonymous74100: Some filter lists have multiple variants, hence the second column.

@maybee: The number of filters doesn't really tell you much about the performance. I could add a tooltip with some statistics still...

[Gingerbread Man]

Some filter lists have multiple variants, hence the second column.

Most of the second column does nothing but repeat what the first column says with slightly different wording. It's mostly just a lot of visual noise that adds confusion. I don't see why that stuff can't go in the first column.

Filter subscription name
• This is an alternative

Another filter subscription
+ This is a supplemental subscription

I also don't like the alphabetical order of the list (e.g. ABP Japanese Filter at the very top — is that what most people will be looking for?). The Known Adblock Plus subscriptions page does a much better job.

[anonymous74100]

I also don't like the alphabetical order of the list (e.g. ABP Japanese Filter at the very top — is that what most people will be looking for?). The Known Adblock Plus subscriptions page does a much better job.

I prefer alphabetical order, it's more fair. Using the order from "Known Adblock Plus subscriptions" would give EasyList yet another* unfair advantage.

* hosted on adblockplus.org; subscribed by default on ABP for Chrome

[Wladimir Palant]

@Gingerbread Man: "Known subscriptions" puts recommended subscriptions at the top - this makes no sense here because the user had the recommended subscriptions already and decided that something else would be more appropriate. Alphabetical order is best under the assumption that the user is looking for a name he/she knows already.

[Gingerbread Man]

I don't see why you would assume that everyone knows all subscriptions by heart. That seems decidedly uncharacteristic of Adblock Plus's userbase. Anyway, my problem isn't with the order of the list in particular, but with the fact that it's so disorganized and unwieldly.

If the idea is to make Adblock Plus more user-friendly, the list in its current state doesn't accomplish that. It would make much more sense to have major categories like Advertising, Privacy, Adult, Miscellaneous — all of them collapsible. However, such lists are supplemental, so at the moment they are tied to the respective main list. So maybe if the list was user-sortable, that would be best. Are you familiar with those tables that display information on Wikipedia (e.g. Comparison of layout engines)? They allow you to sort the list as you see fit. And you can already do the same with filters in the Preferences window, so this would be a familiar feature.

[Wladimir Palant]

I don't see why you would assume that everyone knows all subscriptions by heart.

I don't - this list is advanced functionality however. "Normal" users don't go there, they have their recommendations.

Categorizing the list is something that I do consider but not for 1.4. Once we have everything else out of the door we can start thinking about it.

[Wladimir Palant]

This is finally available in the development builds (usable but still needs some work). The final implementation deviates in some points from the designs but...

[alberto]

Took me a while to figure out how to use the 'Custom filters' tab as, by default, filters are not shown. Also there is no 'Show/hide filters...' option under 'Action...' in that tab. But I'm assuming these are part of the final touches you mentioned above.

[Wladimir Palant]

Thank you, fixed: https://hg.adblockplus.org/adblockplus/rev/9f99b9f1d008

[Hubird]

The new preferences dialogue is looking pretty good.

A few observations:

It does not seem possible to select multiple subscriptions and perform an action (Update subscription)

Perhaps adding an X to hide the filters in the right hand pane might be useful

I see "Preferences..." in the ABP context menu however it does not seem to do anything

I see an "Ad filter" buttin in the ABP preferences dialogue however pressing it does not seem to do anything

[Wladimir Palant]

It does not seem possible to select multiple subscriptions and perform an action (Update subscription)

Yes, that's explicitly a single-select list - making it multi-select would complicate things a lot.

Perhaps adding an X to hide the filters in the right hand pane might be useful

Actually, you can click the resizer (it has those arrows in the middle). While this isn't obvious, I'm not sure where one would put an X.

I see "Preferences..." in the ABP context menu however it does not seem to do anything

Ah, right - I meant to remove it after the merge and forgot. Thank you, fixed now.

I see an "Ad filter" buttin in the ABP preferences dialogue however pressing it does not seem to do anything

I mentioned this issue in the development build announcement: "Filter actions and “Add filter” don’t appear disabled even when they are unavailable". This button only works when a custom filter group is selected of course.

[Hubird]

Yes, that's explicitly a single-select list - making it multi-select would complicate things a lot.

This is a feature I (am I'm fairly sure many others) will miss greatly.

If a user does not know how to hold down ctrl / shift to select multiple subs then they get the current behaviour and nothing changes for them. The same however can not be said for users who do know how to use these features, It is very tedious for a user to have to individually select and update multiple lists.


Also I find myself wondering if editing the name of a subscription should be possible. It makes it more difficult to offer support in the forums if it is not easy for the user to tell what lists they are using.

Isn't the subscription name a choice the author should make rather than the user (it's like the user being able to rename the extension).