"Fixed" pagination.

kylev

Joined: 2005-09-30
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri, 2005-09-30 20:32

There is one thing that I don't like about Gallery2 pagination: the next/previous links disappear a page before I feel they ought to. Yes, dropping them is more "normalized" in that you don't have a redundant link (on page n-1 both "next" and "last" refer to the same page). But I feel that this creates confusion and is a break from the vast majority of user interfaces in existence.

As an abstract example of pagination, consider flipping through a PDF. When you get to the second-to-last page does your "Page Down" button key stop working? Do you then have to hit "Ctrl-End"? No. People expect to be able to hit one button repeatedly to be able to page through an entire document, or (I assert) an entire g2 album.

More damning than that: Gallery's own forums agree with me. Go to the second-to-last page in the topic list for this forum. You'll find it has both "next" and "last" links.

You'll find this all over the place. This is the accepted usability standard. As such, I consider this a bug. I have attached a patch to fix it.

AttachmentSize
g2-pagination.patch.txt1016 bytes
 
valiant

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 32509
Posted: Fri, 2005-09-30 22:36

our forums are drupal forums, and i don't like them. so much about the forums :)

but you're right. i too find it confusing. if we remove a link in the n-1 page, then it should be the last link (maybe grey it out, inactive). the next / previous links should always work.

feel free to file it as a bug on http://sf.net/projects/gallery/ and it will be changed at some point when someone has time.
thanks.

 
h0bbel
h0bbel's picture

Joined: 2002-07-28
Posts: 13451
Posted: Fri, 2005-09-30 22:54

Valiant: Is this Codex material, you think?

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kylev

Joined: 2005-09-30
Posts: 3
Posted: Fri, 2005-09-30 22:58

I do like "greying" or "inactive" links, that's a good point. Maybe I'll try to work that into my patch as well... That's a pretty common UI cue: We're all familiar with greyed out choices in menus and such. With the current proposed patch my "next" and "last" links completely disappear on the last page. Similarly, "first" and "previous" don't show up on page 1, and no links appear on an album with a single page.

But I think this is a step forward regardless. I'll give this discussion a bit of time, then officially file it as a bug.

 
valiant

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 32509
Posted: Fri, 2005-09-30 23:00

h0bbel, well, why not.
i'd like to change the g2 pagination style though. i find myself wondering about the missing next / previous links again and again.

 
nivekiam
nivekiam's picture

Joined: 2002-12-10
Posts: 16504
Posted: Sat, 2005-10-01 01:35

I'd also like to see it changed and was planning on doing so with the custom theme I'm working up in my head and in the exactly the same manner you're thinking about. Grey out/disable the next/previous links when at the second to last or second pages.

kylev, just go ahead and file a bug as valiant mentioned. You'll probably get around to it first, but if not I'll be doing this in a few months time anyway :)
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valiant

Joined: 2003-01-04
Posts: 32509
Posted: Sat, 2005-10-01 10:49

but i'm talking about keeping the next link on the second last page, maybe greying out the last link there, because it has no meaning.
i mean, usually i find myself clicking next, next, ... on every page. i don't wanna be confused on the second last page.

 
nivekiam
nivekiam's picture

Joined: 2002-12-10
Posts: 16504
Posted: Sat, 2005-10-01 16:53

Ah, I see. And that makes more sense too. Because you can keep clicking on next to get to the next page and don't have to move the mouse :)
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kylev

Joined: 2005-09-30
Posts: 3
Posted: Mon, 2005-10-03 18:44
 
h0bbel
h0bbel's picture

Joined: 2002-07-28
Posts: 13451
Posted: Mon, 2005-10-03 18:56

We don't vote for bugs, we squash them ;-)

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mindless
mindless's picture

Joined: 2004-01-04
Posts: 8601
Posted: Thu, 2005-10-06 05:15

you can also use hybrid theme and just hit left/right arrow keys :)

 
mindless
mindless's picture

Joined: 2004-01-04
Posts: 8601
Posted: Fri, 2006-01-20 23:57

when some people first complained about this i restructured things to make this easy to change in the tpl (as shown by your small patch).. guess we've heard about this a few times, so i'll change the default now. i'll leave the additional "if" conditions in there, commented, for those who want to restore this behavior. i'm not graying anything out.. please file a feature request or a new patch if you'd like that (take the microthumbs feature into account).