Public SourceMage Discussion List

[Remko van der Vossen <wich AT stack.nl>]

On Tue, Aug 05, 2008 at 02:37:12PM +0200, "Andraž 'ruskie' Levstik" wrote:
> On 14:35:10 2008-08-05 flux <flux AT sourcemage.org> wrote:
> > I don't want to start a flame-war, but I do want to get a general
> > consensus. A lot of people have voiced that they don't like the way the
> > installer presents the "todo" information, that it is actually confusing
> > and hard to find the text the installer is currently outputting versus
> > what was already on the screen from before (since we don't clear the
> > screen first). I'm not opposed to modifying the behavior to clear the
> > screen, but it made me think. First of all, I know some users just plain
> > don't like having the screen cleared after they run commands (unless
> > they are explicitly executing clear themselves). However, more important
> > I think, it might make it easier for newer users to follow what they are
> > doing, since they can see the commands they just did if the screen
> > doesn't clear, and hence get a sense for the flow of the whole process.
> > However, if the screen isn't cleared, it's definitely harder to pick out
> > what's current compared to what's old, and they could get lost in the
> > text.
> > 
> > What's the consensus from all of you on this? Please don't just answer
> > "clear +1" or "no-clear +1" or whatever. I would like some real
> > constructive feedback :-D.
> > 
> 
> Just put:
> ###########################################################################
> 
> 
> ###########################################################################
> 
> Between steps... should be clear enough what's old and what's current...

Exactly what I thought, just put an obvious marker between steps, that
should make it clear to everybody without annoying many others. Clearing
the screen upon executing next however isn't all that bad either. I mean
it's not like your screen will get cleared just after you press the
enter key to do the format leaving you guessing whether the format went
allright or not. The screen will only get cleared when you excute next,
i.e. when you are completely done with what you were doing and are ready
to proceed to the next step. At least, I think that's what you
intended... Personally it doesn't matter much to me whether we'd use a
clear upon next or a marker upon next, with perhaps a minor preference
for a marker since a marker does not rely on the correct escape sequence
being sent by clear. If you were to have incorrect terminfo/termcap data
either from having an incorrect TERM value or some weird terminal, a
marker will still work while a clear might not.

Regards

Remko van der Vossen.

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