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:
I'm not averse to a splash screen, so long as you can turn it
off quite easily! By all means give it a go.
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)
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