[Gretl-users] Suggesting a new look for gretl.

Hi everybody: I have a few suggestions that I think has the potential to improve gretl significantly. But, first of all, as a newcomer, I hope you don't consider my continously suggesting things in a negative way. I just do my own thinking about how the program can be better and speak my mind about it. In the end, it is you who will decide what will be implemented because you guys are doing all the hard work. Anyway, here goes: 1- My first and most important suggeston is to make the gretl main window the icon view. The list of variables will be removed and turned into an icon itself. When the user double clicks on the "variables" icon, a new window will be opened with the usual vertical list of variables. Various reasons and advantages for doing this is as follows: a)- The icon view is a particularly important and intuitive feature of gretl and I think most people agree that it should be more central. b)- The list of variables, on the other hand, is not as central to devote the whole program window for. True, one can do various things by right clicking on each variable (boxplot, gini, spectrum etc.) but these can easily done using the pull-down menus. For many tasks such as modeling, graphing etc., the user already has to use devoted "dialog boxes" such as the "specify model" window or the "define graph" window anyway. Maybe there will be a need for some additional dialogs for some items but I think it is totally worth it. Besides, the existing functionlity can be kept in the new framework as well. That is, the user can still highlight a variable within the "variables" window and do certain tasks using the variables menu. The only difference is that now variables is a seperate window that can be opened and closed from the default icon view. c)- And, you don't even have to call it the "icon view" because if you think about it, there is no other view. The regression results are saved into the session as icons and there is no other view such as a list view or a console view to retreive the previous results. (of course results can be saved seperately as csv, txt, word etc. but that is something else). 2- My second suggestion is: the "file" menu can be modified so that the first items are "new session" "open session", "save session", "save session as" "close session" etc. This is because the main mode of working is through "sessions". There is no need for the "open data" item. After starting the program, the user is expected to select "new session" or "open session". If he or she selects "new session", a selection diaog can provide the options to create "null data" or open or import various existing data files. This will both simplify the file menu and keep things intuitive and logical IMHO. 3- I think splash screens are important. They have some usefulness and also give a nice and professional touch to the program. Most programs have them so it is something users expect to see. Allin says: IMO the splash screen can stay on the screen for just 2 seconds and can even be made disappear sooner with a single mouse click. I am happy to try a few desings so that you can select the one that you like the most. I can get started when I have the high resolution Gretel image. By the way where does this image come from? Can we get into trouble for using it? You guys are positive that should be the theme in the splash screen? 4- The new prefences screen that was proposed is a tedious task ti implement (as I understand it) but it is also very important because this way you are taking a good deal of functionality and make it accessible in the GUI not just the console. This is a way to make sure gretl not only becomes more powerful but also looks powerful and acts powerful since GUI is the main mode of working by design. 5- Related to (4), is there a way to make matrix functionality also accessible from the menus? This is also an important and powerful feature. I am not sure about know how to do this but as I see it, you guys are naturals for GUI design and I am sure you would come up with a very intuitive way for implementing this also. That is all I had in my mind. I would be very happy to hear what everybody thinks of these sugestions. They certainly make alot of sense to me and I think most of them can be implemented relatively easily. Finally I would like to share the good news that the review of the upcoming gretl 1.6.0 and its numerical accuracy that I coauthored with my wife is accepted to JAE for publication in the software section. Have a great day everyone... Sincerely, Talha -- A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. - Herm Allbright (1876-1944) --