Bug #1438936 “indicator-multiload needs padding to avoid panel i...” : Bugs : One Hundred Papercuts

indicator-multiload needs padding to avoid panel item location jitters

Bug #1438936 reported by Sb
26
This bug affects 4 people
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
One Hundred Papercuts
Confirmed
Low
Unassigned
System Load Indicator
Confirmed
Undecided
Unassigned
indicator-multiload (Ubuntu)
Confirmed
Low
Unassigned
Nominated for Vivid by Alberto Salvia Novella

Bug Description

Hi everyone,

I use Unity with the indicator-multiload indicator for my network speed, with both a graph and a text readout on the panel. The problem is that when my network speed changes from 9.9 kB/s to 10.0 kB/s, or 99.9 kB/s to 100.0 kB/s, the addition of additional digits makes the location of the indicator to jump around, which in turns makes my system tray items to the left of indicator-multiload also jump around. The jitters are very distracting and unprofessional. Could some additional padding be added to indicator-multiload to prevent this?

Thanks a lot!

Tags: beta vivid
Revision history for this message
Sb (sb56637) wrote :

oops, wrong package. sorry!

affects: libgsf (Ubuntu) → indicator-multiload (Ubuntu)
tags: added: beta
Revision history for this message
Michael Hofmann (mh21) wrote :

Hi Sb,

the feature got removed in the current development version because of that :-(

Cheers
  Michael

Changed in indicator-multiload (Ubuntu):
status: New → Fix Committed
Revision history for this message
Sb (sb56637) wrote :

Hi Michael,

You mean the text readout got removed in the development version? It doesn't seem necessary to throw out the baby with the bath water. All it needs is the user-configurable option of adding padding on either side of it.

Revision history for this message
Michael Hofmann (mh21) wrote :

It is not so easy and I never got any feedback that it was used.

There is no easy solution for the padding, the only way I can think of is to format everything in a way that the width of the text never changes. Digits are normally all the same width, so that means sticking to one unit per shown information (eg kB) and maybe using 'FIGURE SPACE' (U+2007) unicode characters.

Revision history for this message
Sb (sb56637) wrote :

I would really miss this feature if it was removed! It's extremely important for me to know what's going on with my network connection with a quick glance.

How about a simple workaround? Maybe a simple option could be added for the user to set the maximum speed, so we know how many digits will be need at most (usually 3 or 4). Then, simply pad the unused digits with leading zeros. (i.e. 005 kB/s).

Revision history for this message
Sb (sb56637) wrote :

Ah, and I would probably recommend removing the .0 fractional kB/s to save some space.

Revision history for this message
Michael Hofmann (mh21) wrote :

I think you are the first user of the feature :-) - so don't use to the devel version, and I will put it back in in the future...

Changed in indicator-multiload (Ubuntu):
status: Fix Committed → Confirmed
Revision history for this message
Sb (sb56637) wrote :

Thanks a lot Michael I really appreciate you keeping it around, even if it is just for me. :-) As a matter of fact, one of the reasons I am using Ubuntu + Unity is because of the existence of indicator-multiload with graph and text readouts. I only use desktops that support this feature.

Would it be possible to implement the workaround I suggested of keeping the same number of digits with leading zeros?

If not possible, please do keep around the text readout feature, because at any rate a few jitters are better than no readout at all.

Changed in indicator-multiload (Ubuntu):
importance: Undecided → Low
Changed in indicator-multiload:
status: New → Confirmed
Changed in hundredpapercuts:
status: New → Confirmed
importance: Undecided → Low
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