Re: [Gretl-users] Recent menu changes
Sorry for acting a bit impetously earlier. I do like the new menu
changes. They definitely give a cleaner and more consistent look. Here
is a bunch of comments and suggestions. I hope you take these into
consideration also:
1)- How about renaming all the "... data" items (open data, append
data, save data, etc.) items in the file menu simply open, append,
save, save as, etc. (and "Clear data set" will be renamed close)? This
would be an improvement because we already have a "data" menu and
secondly this way is consistent with the naming scheme of other
programs (openoffice, gnumeric, etc.).
2)- How about consolidating the "Add observations" and "Remove extra
observations" items into one "Dataset size" item next to the "Dataset
structure" item?
3)- How about consolidating the "Display values" and the "Edit
values"
items in the Data menu into one "Edit values" item which will give the
spreadsheet for the whole data set as in the "Data set" item in the
icon view?
4)- Modern programs do not have a "Working directory" setting because
the various open and save dialog boxes remember the last directory. I
for one find it rather annoying that gretl does not do this. If
implemented, I think Sven would appreciate this feature as well.
5)- What is the relationship between the two "Set missing value code"
items in the Data and Variable menus? I find this rather awkward and
confusing. What will happen if one sets a NA code for a single
variable and then chooses something else from the data menu? Is it a
good idea to have different missing value codes for different
variables? Plus, it is a fundamental GUI design principle that there
should not be duplicate menu items.
6)- RNG seed is not a tool.
7)- Spearman's rank correlation is not a model. How about putting this
as a checkmark into the "Correlation matrix" dialog? Instead of having
the rho value computed each time for two variables, we would have a
nice matrix of all the values. This is what Eview does.
Best regards
Talha
On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 3:56 AM, Allin Cottrell <cottrell(a)wfu.edu> wrote:
In case anyone's wondering, "Where did that menu item go?", here's
an account of the changes I've made in the main window menus
lately (some in response the comments of Talha and others, some
prior to that). (This is all without prejudice to any larger
scheme for reorganizing things, but might be helpful if we do
decide to go that way.)
Data menu:
- Consolidated "Read info" and "Edit info" into "Dataset
info"
(you just get to read if it's a packaged data file; you can edit
if it's your own data file).
- Consolidated "Add markers" and "Remove markers" into
"Observation markers". The choices you get depend on whether the
dataset has observation markers or not; it it does, you get a new
option to export the markers to file (enabling you to "clone" the
markers from one dataset to another).
- Moved the items "Set missing value code" and "Count missing
values" to here from the Sample menu; moved the item "Find
variable" here from the Variable menu.
- Removed the old "Print report" item as redundant.
Sample menu:
- Consolidated the items "Restrict, based on dummy" and "Restrict,
based on criterion". Using a dummy is now an option in the "based
on criterion" dialog, if there are dummies available.
- Moved out items that are not specifically related to the sample
setting (see the Data menu).
- Moved the item "Show status" to the end, as the odd man out
among the entries.
Variable menu:
- Moved up "Set missing value code" so it's not beneath the time
series-only options.
- Moved out all items that are not specifically related to the
currently selected variable (see Data menu).
- Consolidated the "Frequency distribution" and "Frequency plot"
items. (The Frequency distribution dialog now has a checkbox for
showing the plot.)
Tools menu:
I experimented today with a couple of the suggestions made by
Talha, namely moving the Working Directory dialog and the font
selectors from positions in the menu structure into the
Preferences dialog box. I have now reverted both of these
changes. I reverted the working directory move on account of
Sven's objection that this is not a "relatively settled" choice
for some users. I reverted the font selection items because the
move gave rise to a confusing situation with two levels of buttons
("OK"/etc.), the relationship between which was unclear.
Allin Cottrell
--
Allin Cottrell
Department of Economics
Wake Forest University
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