[Gretl-users] Menu re-structuring 2009

On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 11:17 PM, Allin Cottrell <cottrell(a)wfu.edu&gt; wrote: I think there is definitely room for improvement in the current gretl menu structure. Here is a humble proposal by yours truly: PROPOSAL FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE GRETL MENU AND WINDOWS STRUCTURE FOR A BETTER ACCOMODATION OF THE INCREASED CAPACITY AND FUNCTIONALITY SINCE THE VERSION 1.6.0 by A. Talha Yalta December 2 2009 In July 2006, the gretl-users mailing list has seen a lengthy discussion on how to restructure the gretl menus, which were perceived at the time by the users and the developers to have become too cluttered due to the increased functionality by the version 1.5.1. This discussion can be accessed from the archives at http://lists.wfu.edu/pipermail/gretl-users/2006-July/000829.html Thanks to the lead developer Allin Cottrell's efforts, the "menu re-structuring" discussion has resulted in significant improvements of the gretl graphical user interface (GUI) in the subsequently released version 1.6.0. Over the last three years, the gretl econometrics package has continued to advanced rapidly and significantly and with the new functionality came more and more menu objects. It is our understanding that by the current version 1.8.6, gretl is getting close to a point where there are too many menus and menu items and the placement of some of the objects are not necessarily optimal. The objective of this proposal is to present our views on how to achieve a slimmer and tidier gretl menu arrangement that can also accomodate the new functionality with further development in the future. The proposeal is tructured as follows: We simply list the proposed changes below. This is followed by a brief conclusion. 1)- The sample menu will be a sub-menu of the data menu. To accomplish this, it first needs to be slimmed-down as follows: a)- The count of missing values will be added to the status window. b)- The "Define based on dummy..." item will be removed since this can be easily (and even better) accomplished using the "Restrict based on criterion..." item and with simple criterions such as dummyname=1 or dummyname=0. c)- "Set missing value code..." item will be sent to the preferences menu and will be renamed as "Default missing value code for datasets." When the user changes this setting, gretl will ask whether the changes will be applied to the current data set. (The missing value code can be considered as dataset dependent, however, we see the above-described handling of similar issues in other programs as well. For example, in openoffice the default language settings for documents are in the preferences menu although this is also document specific.) With 3 less items, the sample sub-menu will be composed of the following: Sample status ----- Restore full range ----- Set a range... Restrict based on a criterion... Random subsample... Resample with replacement... Drop obs with missing values As an alternative to having a sub-menu, the above functionality can be offered in a single sample window accessed from the data menu. The sample window can show the status and and at the same time let the user make changes and see the results immediately in the updated status information in the same window. 2)- The "View" menu will be renamed as "Window" and will be composed of: Icon view Scalars Gretl console ----- (The list of all the currently open windows) ----- Refresh windows (if this item is really necessary) 3)- The "Data" window will: a)- Acquire the items abondoned by the former "View" menu b)- Have a new sub-menu entitled "Modify dataset," which contains the below items that are not accessed very frequently: Change data structure... Compact data... Expand data... Transpose data... Sort data... Add observations... 4)- The "Variable" menu needs to be slimmed down a bit. It will be composed only of those items regarding a single selected variable (Please note that it becomes ghosted when there are more than one variables selected): a)- The "Set missing value code" is already sent to the preferences as discussed in (1c) above. b)- The "Edit attributes" item will be moved to the "Data" menu next to the "Dataset info" and "Observation markers..." items. c)- The "Define new variable..." item will be removed. I understand that it is a very common task, however, it is a fundamental GUI design principle that there has to be exactly one menu item for a given task. Cut-copy-paste is very common too but we do not see this trio in more than one menus in a word processor or a spreadsheet program. Imagine what would happen if we had more than one set of the same buttons in an elevator or a plane cockpit. d)- The renamed "Find a variable..." item will be somewhere else (maybe in the tools menu?). 5)- The "File" menu is in pretty good shape except for the "Working directory..." item, which clearly belongs to the Preferences window. 6)- Regarding the "Preferences" sub-menu: a)- The "Preferences" sub-menu will subsume the "Fixed font..." and the "Menu font..." items and become one "Preferences" window. b)- It will also include a much needed "Check status" item which will list whether various functionality such as LaTeX support, Gnu Multiple Precision support, MPFR support, FFTW3 support, X-12-ARIMA support, TRAMO/SEATS support etc. are working in the current installation. 7)- The recently added "windows" icon (compass earlier) in the various windows will be removed in favor of a simple interface with less clutter. The restructured menus described above allows an easy reach to any window from the main gretl window via the new "Window" menu and the recently added right click menu item "Main window" now makes it very easy to go to the main window. 8)- As discussed earlier in the gretl-users list, the title of the various windows originating from different models should reflect the original model. For example, instead of having "gretl:ANOVA" for all ANOVA windows, the title will be "gretl: ANOVA (Model 8)." This is also necessary to prevent the proposed "Window" menu having various windows items with the exact same name causing confusion. 9)- Various open dialog windows waiting input from the user will stay above other windows. 10)- We believe that a gretl menu re-structuring process presents a very good opportunity to improve the LaTeX output options in the "Summary statistics" and the "Correlation matrix" windows as well. In conclusion, as a long-time user and a contributor of gretl, it is our understanding that the above described modifications will result in a significantly improved user interface that is not only relatively simpler but also more intuitive. We are sure that further comments and suggestions by the other users and developers will help us achive the excellent GUI expected from a high-quality software such as gretl. Best regards A. Talha Yalta -- “Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment.” - Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) --