[maemo-developers] Application manager category view proposals

[From: Ryan Abel]

CCed from Bugzilla

https://bugs.maemo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=3103

I was having a discussion with X-Fade today on the repository category  
mess, and the possibility of having usable categories besides  
"All" (sadly, I haven't even looked at anything but "All" since at  
least OS2005 :\) made me consider some of the issues with the current  
category setup in Application manager.

The current category view has an awful lot of wasted whitespace. My  
initial reaction here was that a grid view in place of a the current  
list-view would make better use of space and improve the thumb-ability  
(ordering is badly messed-up in my mock-up—it should be left-to-right  
rather than top-to-bottom). The number of packages in each category  
should be noted parenthetically for each category (shown in the tree- 
view mock-up).*

The grid-view is probably the most straightforward and immediate  
solution, but some extra options wouldn't hurt. Some sort of tree view  
(while mildly ungainly) could give a nice overview alternative to  
"All" while reducing the number of screens the user needs to click  
through. Show all the categories as collapsible branches, and indicate  
the number of packages in each category parenthetically.†

Finally a column view could be another useful alternative for reducing  
the number of screens to click through and providing a better  
overview. Put a column of categories on the left (again, with the  
number of packages in each category indicated parenthetically) and  
display the packages in that category in the right column.††

*http://www.legacyoflies.com/devuploads/general_antilles/gridview.jpg
†http://www.legacyoflies.com/devuploads/general_antilles/treeview.jpg
††http://www.legacyoflies.com/devuploads/general_antilles/columnview.jpg