| [udig-devel] Feedback on docs, 0.8rc1, and svnClipse |
Hey all, Congratulations on all your work, uDig is the germ of an interesting app. I got both 0.8rc1 and svn code up and running on mandrake cooker (gnu/linux on x86). Thought I'd give you some feedback. The Docs: -------- The doc content is *fantastic* and yet the layout is *horrific*. To begin with there are a million entry points, all un-alike. http://udig.refractions.net/ http://jira.codehaus.org/browse/UDIG http://docs.codehaus.org/display/UDIG/Home >From there, thinking "i want to learn to code uDig" I eventually find the tab in the upper right that says "developer" leading to http://docs.codehaus.org/display/UDIG/Developer but what I need happens to be on http://docs.codehaus.org/display/UDIG/Project and was very good once I found it. So it took me a *while* to figure out the various web site layouts and find what I needed. I would encourage you to rectify this situation. Each of your web sites should clearly indicate what it's doing with regard to the others: e.g. corporate, homepage, documentation page. The initial choices need to be much simpler. For example, on http://docs.codeh... at top left is the logo and, right below, a list of hyperlinked locations. Given that uDig is layered deep into the site, seeing these links is distinctly *un*helpful to the newcomer, since it suggests clicking on them. Also, 'Project' needs to be renamed: it means nothing to the outsider. Okay, enough on that theme. On running 0.8rc1: ----------------- 0) What's your concept of available perspetives? I presume we are mimicking ArcMap on that front which had a catalog, maping, printing, and one other perspective if I remember right. Is the catalog view going to be a separate perspective, one in which users manipulate, inspect, and obtain spatial data? 1) Registration error question: (postponed pending further investigation) 2) Echoing the earlier mailing lists posts, uDig *needs* a getting started "Cheat sheet". 1) Make a new project 2) Make a new map 3) Import data to the catalogue 4) Add a layer to the map very clean and simple. Since uDig ships with some data, using that would be recommended. 3) The "My Projects" root note is actually confusing. This is presumably used to distinguish local from non-local or shared projects. However, having it present before any projects have been declared seems strange. Eclipse projects don't behave this way. 4) The map needs to provide user feedback when it's drawing. If you add a layer to a blank map and that layer takes a while, it's not immediately clear that something happened. (The console fires off log messages but the user feedback comes from pretty little details, rather than obvious changes.). 5) The connecting to WMS has to happen in the background, with the progress bar shown in the catalog view. There is no reason to block all user interaction while connecting to a catalog source which may or may not eventually become available. 5.5) On launch with such a layer, uDig 'hangs' on the splash screen with the console saying: [acuster@downdraft eclipse]$ ./run.sh WMS http://oceanesip.jpl.nasa.gov/?SERVICE=WMS Again, this seems bad from a user point of view. 6) Drag and drop w/in the "Projects" view, doesn't re-order the maps. Probably a bug, I'll have to learn to file those eventually 7) Is there a way to "remove" a resource from the Catalog? After using a particular shapefile, it may be desirable to stop using it and not have any references to it. Given that the resource was 'imported' it seems like 'export' is the inverse but that doesn't sound right semantically. "Access" and "Disconnect" or some similar terms seem more resonable. A basic rule is *everything* should be reversible so a user can create a massively complex setup and then back all the way out to a blank project. 8) Why are .udig files utf-16? Wouldn't utf-8 be more readable, compact and generally desirable? On running uDig-svn from eclipse: --------------------------------- 1) A new map takes around 15seconds and only appears with the console message: Checking EPSG authority against European Petroleum Survey Group is EPSG in [EPSG] ...true Lookup EPSG:4269 authority class org.geotools.referencing.crs.EPSGCRSAuthorityFactory Checking EPSG authority against European Petroleum Survey Group is EPSG in [EPSG] ...true Lookup EPSG:4269 authority class org.geotools.referencing.crs.EPSGCRSAuthorityFactory Is uDig going to the network to create a blank map? If so that's *broken*. 1.5) Restarting with an existing workspace containing an empty map also takes a long time. 2) Import... doesn't seem to allow import of spatial data types. The default choices are: 'Archive file', 'Existing Projects into workplace', 'File system'. Is this a recent bug or a misconfiguration on my system. enough for now, thanks for any feedback, adrian
Attachment:
tseShapefiles.tgz
Description: application/compressed-tar