tweak the BL menu?

hhh · 2021-06-20 05:23:08

johnraff wrote:

Not sure if we need another button just to kill all conkys though.

Let's try and avoid it. We're getting a little thick with menu entries and menu duplicates, aren't we?

johnraff · 2021-06-20 09:17:38

^yeah

The menu could be a bit simpler really.

hhh · 2021-06-20 10:03:05

Is Johan Malm still with us?

johnraff · 2021-06-21 05:54:50

I meant the BL menu as we configure it, no blame on Johan for that. O:)
And we can fix it up however we want - once we decide how it should be.

damo · 2021-06-21 07:27:15

I don't see a problem with the menu. The root menu isn't too big, and the sub-menus cover plenty of useful stuff.

Wasn't part of the thinking that the menu is as much of a one-stop-shop as possible, especially for new users? (Now if only we could get them to explore it before asking noob questions!)

johnraff · 2021-06-21 07:52:08

damo wrote:

Now if only we could get them to explore it before asking noob questions!

How true... sigh...

The menu is certainly packed with useful stuff if you bother to search round a bit.

And agree that we ought to avoid putting important buttons/launchers elsewhere than the menu. (Exception for the tint2 clock, because the calendar and alarm clock are such obvious extensions of it.)

Any tweaking of item names or location in order?

Anyway, let's focus on specific suggestions rather than a grand makeover.
Especially at this late stage!

Last edited by johnraff (2021-06-21 08:23:20)

hhh · 2021-06-21 08:48:00

Right, here's my issue with the menu as it is.

So conky is under "Preferences", but if I search-to-type "conky" I get conky Wiki, conky Archive, conky manpages, conky Manager Help, everything but the actual conky settings link. Same with tint2, I get Wiki links and help links but I want to change the fucking settings. So type in "Preferences". Nope. Type in "settings"? Well, that's getting closer. That gives me a 20 entry long menu of stuff that I'm not sure I'm looking for. It's in there, but I'm a n00b, how would I know what to look for? Appearance? The second entry for Appearance?

WM Preferences, iBus preferences, Input Method, Panel... Does "Panel" bring up actual tint2 settings? BZZZ, I get a window error message, some dbus shit. That shit's useless for setting conky or gtk or icons. I want Preferences, and I don't want resources and actual settings in 2 different menu locations. (Deep breaths...)

I have to scroll to "Preferences" to actually do anything, so what good is search-to-type in this case? And why doesn't "Preferences" appear when I search for it by typing? (Which is why I asked for malm here)

Last edited by hhh (2021-06-21 09:12:43)

johnraff · 2021-06-22 03:01:35

hhh wrote:

I have to scroll to "Preferences" to actually do anything, so what good is search-to-type in this case? And why doesn't "Preferences" appear when I search for it by typing? (Which is why I asked for Johan here)

Yeh this is the crux. Jgmenu can't search inside pipemenus because it has no idea what's there without opening them. The static items under "Preferences" seem to be searchable, but not the Preferences category.

Let's see if malm has any advice, but I rather doubt much can be done about it.

Remove the search function because it's too confusing? It's one option.

I'm going to split this topic off, because my question about bl-conky-session has got lost.

Last edited by johnraff (2021-06-22 03:04:47)

damo · 2021-06-22 07:07:20

johnraff wrote:

...
Remove the search function because it's too confusing? It's one option.....

Noooo! It's great for starting applications

johnraff · 2021-06-22 07:24:07

Would a compromise be to make the pipemenu top level names - the "entrance" like Conky or Tint2 - searchable and displayed in the search results as eg "Conky pipemenu", and which would open that menu when clicked?

@malm would that be reasonably easy to do?

hhh · 2021-06-23 03:46:02

damo wrote:

johnraff wrote:
...
Remove the search function because it's too confusing? It's one option.....
Noooo! It's great for starting applications

Agreed, it works pretty much flawlessly for everything but "Preferences". And knowing that, just scrolling the menu is a fine workaround for now.

johnraff · 2021-06-23 05:09:56

hhh wrote:

it works pretty much flawlessly for everything but "Preferences"

and any other pipemenus, like under the "BL Utilities" submenu.

malm · 2021-06-23 13:49:56

Hi, long time. Sorry I’ve been quiet for a while. I’m fine, but have had to focus a lot on work in order to keep up.

Regarding search pipemenus, a sensible solution might be to do what John suggested - to use the root of the pipemenu as the “searchable object”. The metadata field is not currently populated, but is there to enable more sophisticated search.

Could we produce keywords for some of the pipemenus and put them in the metadata field?

hhh · 2021-06-23 23:51:55

^ tint2, conky, etc... Would that bring the wiki entries and whatnot and the actual settings into the same search result?

johnraff · 2021-06-24 07:38:50

malm wrote:

...to use the root of the pipemenu as the “searchable object”. The metadata field is not currently populated, but is there to enable more sophisticated search.
Could we produce keywords for some of the pipemenus and put them in the metadata field?

Single words like "conky" or "configure" - things like that? If so, I can give you a list in a day or two. (About how many keywords per pipemenu would be appropriate? 2 or 3?)

malm · 2021-06-24 19:27:13

John, yes just space separated words
Can have lots of words - wouldn’t worry about limiting them.

hhh · 2021-06-24 21:08:31

Well, that sounds promising.

johnraff · 2021-06-25 02:26:51

OK I'm away a couple of days from tomorrow, but I can post up a suggested list of keywords for our pipemenus Tuesday or so. Anyone else feel free to jump in with your own.

johnraff · 2021-06-28 08:30:35

@malm, would something like this work?

Keywords to use as jgmenu metatags to make pipemenu root entries more easily searchable (assumed case insensitive):

bl-compositor
compositor pipemenu configure edit picom compton

bl-conky-pipemenu
conky pipemenu configure edit session manager

bl-install-pipemenu
install pipemenu utility package app application

bl-kb-pipemenu
keyboard pipemenu keybind configure edit openbox xbindkeys

bl-places-pipemenu
places pipemenu file

bl-printing-pipemenu
printing pipemenu configure printer install support

bl-recent-files-pipemenu
recent pipemenu file

bl-remote-desktop-pipemenu
remote pipemenu install vnc

bl-scrot-pipemenu
screenshot pipemenu scrot xfce4-screenshooter imgur upload

bl-sshconfig-pipemenu
ssh pipemenu configure install

bl-tint2-pipemenu
tint2 pipemenu configure edit manager

In each case the menu root title and 'pipemenu' are the first two keywords.

How would pipemenus be displayed in the search results? With a > on the right? Alternatively, adding 'pipemenu' to the root title, eg 'Conky pipemenu'? And I guess click to open the menu? Or hover?

Maybe this would be a refinement too far, but I also wondered about key phrases, ie things like 'conky manager' or 'remote desktop'? Not worth the effort maybe.

malm · 2021-06-29 19:23:20

John - I’ve just had a play to see if I can get this to work, but it’s turned out to be non-trivial. Ouch. Apologies for not thinking this through properly.
Need some time to ponder.

I guess the best solution would be to allow a submenu to be opened whilst in search mode.

#1 2021-06-20 05:23:08

tweak the BL menu?

#2 2021-06-20 09:17:38

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#3 2021-06-20 10:03:05

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#4 2021-06-21 05:54:50

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#5 2021-06-21 07:27:15

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#6 2021-06-21 07:52:08

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#7 2021-06-21 08:48:00

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#8 2021-06-22 03:01:35

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#9 2021-06-22 07:07:20

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#10 2021-06-22 07:24:07

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#11 2021-06-23 03:46:02

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#12 2021-06-23 05:09:56

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#13 2021-06-23 13:49:56

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#14 2021-06-23 23:51:55

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#15 2021-06-24 07:38:50

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#16 2021-06-24 19:27:13

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#17 2021-06-24 21:08:31

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#18 2021-06-25 02:26:51

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#19 2021-06-28 08:30:35

Re: tweak the BL menu?

#20 2021-06-29 19:23:20

Re: tweak the BL menu?

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