Squirrel.windows: ui is inadequate

[mark-hahn]

Installing the github atom editor takes up to a minute. Everything looks broken because a graphic just sits there.

• no progress indicator
• No indication what is happening
• No window border which causes it to get lost when overlapping windows
• No icon to click on the taskbar

You paradigm of the install being instantaneous sounds good in theory but it isn't feasible.

[anaisbetts]

Did you see the window with the GIF? Or is this in spite of the GIF

[50Wliu]

In spite of the GIF (at least for me). Once the GIF is no longer the foremost 'window' on the screen (and please don't force it to stay on top of everything), there's no way to see it again unless 1) you minimize whatever's blocking it or 2) alt+tab to it.

[50Wliu]

*That's in addition to having no progress bar (like @mark-hahn said).

[anaisbetts]

The way to fix all of these things is to make Atom install faster, not to add extra progress bars to inform the user just how much we suck.

Making the window show up in the Taskbar is a reasonable idea though

[bennor]

If it shows up in the taskbar, you could always use the progress bar in taskbar effect you get on Win 7+ for file copies, etc, to show progress.

Maybe make both an option in Squirrel that's disabled by default, so fast installs don't get it?

[BarryThePenguin]

You can also have ProgressState in TaskbarItems. But the problem then becomes measuring progress ;)

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.windows.shell.taskbariteminfo.progressstate(v=vs.110).aspx

[mark-hahn]

to inform the user just how much we suck.

Looking crashed with a stuck graphic makes it look more sucky.

On Mon, Nov 24, 2014 at 4:19 PM, Paul Betts [email protected]
wrote:

Closed #137 https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows/issues/137 via
483e5b5
https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows/commit/483e5b513ff1a30b01127d8d91c79a453ec7e3d8
.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub
https://github.com/Squirrel/Squirrel.Windows/issues/137#event-197970663.

[sguergachi]

The way to fix all of these things is to make Atom install faster, not to add extra progress bars to inform the user just how much we suck.

Inform who sucks? The Installer or the thing that's being installed? I don't see how it matters how fast or slow the installer is, if the payload is big (like say a multi gigabyte game) it will take a while to install, and users want to know how long they have to wait for the thing to install. If installation _requires_ some time to install due to the payload, there should be some affordance to indicate progress, not just a heartbeat indicator through the gif. Unless you plan on implementing some magical way of making the installer finish installation for _any_ payload, regardless of size, in the time it takes to refresh this page, a gif should not be the only indicator of progress.

Also, are we saying that the gif animation animating will 100% guarantee progress is being made? Is there _absolutely_ no possibility of the installation stopping due to an installer issue in the background but the gif animation still animating? Because if that's a possibility, a progress bar would prevent this from being a frustration to users. Users can _see_ that no progress has been made after X time, while the gif could just be animating the whole time, essentially lying to users.

Unless I'm completely missing something about how Squirrel works (which I admit to being a possibility): Honest design > Fear of informing users how much we suck.

[sguergachi]

I think a good compromise is what @bennor said:

• Allow for Windows 7 style progress to show up in taskbar (subtle and always visible even when gif is overlapped by other windows)
• Default this behaviour to false for installations that are fast but allow for it to be enabled for larger installations.