Launchpad has very bad UX during some workflows
| Affects | Status | Importance | Assigned to | Milestone | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Launchpad itself |
Triaged
|
Low
|
Unassigned | ||
Bug Description
For some workflows using launchpad is a really bad experience. Technically, it is really good, it has all the features. However, getting to those features and using them is really hard and not a pleasant experience. Launchpad hosts a lot of FS project. Written by people who do this for fun in their free time. The UX of launchpad makes this a little less fun.
One example where I compare launchpad to github: I'm writing code and want to see how something is implemented in another project.
**LAUNCHPAD**
1. Go to the project: https:/
2. Click on "code": https:/
3. Click on "branch": https:/
Now what? Scanning the page, I don't see code or a link to code. When I first started looking at launchpad projects, I had to stop here, because I had no idea how to progress. You actually have to click the small blue link, with an "information" logo "browse the code". The logo implies that behind the link is extra information. The location and markup implies that the link is not really important. To me it seems that a link to code on a page called "code" is pretty important... So we continue:
4. Click on "Browse the code": https:/
5. Select the file you want to see: https:/
Now the next hurdle: I want to see a different file in the same branch. The first things I tried:
* Click "back to branch summary" on top left, it even has a "back" arrow, but this points to page 3.
* Click on the folder we're in: "~charmers/
At this point I've given up and start using the back arrow. What I should do is click on "Browse files". Another link marked as "information" that is in a menu list next to 4 links that have to do with the file itself. Your brain is smart. You see patterns like this. If you see 4 similar links in the same place that have to do with the file you are looking in, you think the fifth link will also be about the file. "Browse files" would then be "Browse previous iterations of this file". But no, the fifth link actually doesn't have to do with the file but brings you back to the folder you were in. **It goes to the folder that the link above it displays but the link above goes to the summary page**
Then the names of the other 4 links.
* "Download file": Awesome! It's even on the right, I'm expecting that
* "View Changes to this file": This must be the changes made in the last revision. No, this goes to a list of all previous commits that changed this file.
* "View revision information" and "View revision" both show some part of the revision information.
**GITHUB**
1. go to project page: https:/
2. click on file you want to see: https:/
Do you want to go back to the folder you were in? Above the code you see the folder clearly a blue link.
**CONCLUSION**
This is just one of the use-cases launchpad breaks. Technically, it can do everything you want. But it's impossible without losing a lot of time clicking through tons of pages you don't want to see. Many people are put off by this. Remember: most of the people are doing this for fun in their free time. Navigating through the maze that launchpad is isn't fun so people find another project to contribute to. A project that's on github...
source: https:/
| Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote | #1 |
| Merlijn Sebrechts (merlijn-sebrechts) wrote | #2 |
| Colin Watson (cjwatson) wrote | #3 |
| Matt Einhorn (matham-am) wrote | #4 |
| Changed in launchpad: | |
| importance: | Undecided → Medium |
| status: | New → Triaged |
| Changed in launchpad: | |
| importance: | Medium → Low |
The core reason for a lot of this confusion is the split between the pages on the main webapp and the pages served by loggerhead on bazaar.
For git, we'll probably initially be using cgit or something similar for code browsing, which has its own problems but is at least relatively familiar to a lot of people nowadays. But git is fast enough that we may well later be able to work on inlining code browsing into the Launchpad webapp itself, at which point it will be much easier to make sure that it's all less of a maze.