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Ethereal-dev: Re: [Ethereal-dev] RFC: add option to change main GUI layout like in Analyzer pr

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From: Jerry Talkington <jtalkington@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 05:03:33 -0700
On Wed, Apr 28, 2004 at 09:42:11AM +0200, Biot Olivier wrote:
> Let's try to summarize this:
> 
> L = packet list
> D = packet dissection (or packet details)
> B = packet (or reassembly) bytes
> 
> I'd propose we specify the lay-out of the window in 2 steps.
> 
> Step 1: Provide a "Window layout" option.
> 
> An end-user can toggle between the following options:
> 
> (o) Stacked   (.) Large left pane  (.) Large right pane
>      +---+
>      | 1 |          +---+---+          +---+---+
>      +---+          |   | 2 |          | 1 |   |
>      | 2 |          | 1 +---+          +---+ 3 |
>      +---+          |   | 3 |          | 2 |   |
>      | 3 |          +---+---+          +---+---+
>      +---+
 
I would personally prefer a few more choices, similar to the pan
newsreader, which also uses 3 panes ( http://pan.rebelbase.com/ .)
 
> Step 2: Fill in the panes.
> 
> Here there are many options:
> 
>  1. Provide a fixed list of entries (6 possibilities)
> 	(o) L/D/B   (.) D/L/B   (.) B/L/D
> 	(.) L/B/D   (.) D/B/L   (.) B/D/L
>     The defaults would be:
> 	- Stacked L/D/B
> 	- Large left pane L/D/B
> 	- Large right pane L/B/D
> 
>  2. Provide select boxes for the 3 panes, where the choices have
>     to be made from the 3 possibilities L, D and B.
> 
>  3. Provide "progressive radio button choices" where the choice
>     for 1 eliminates it in steps 2 and 3, and the choice for 2
>     automatically determines the choice for 3.
>     One must however provide a "reset" option in this scenario,
>     as an end-user may want to remake his choice.
> 
>  4. A mix from 2 and 3 where the end-user is offered the
>     possibility to set the pane type for the first 2 panes only
>     by means of 2 select boxes; the 3rd panel is automatically
>     filled in based on the end-user's input of the 2 first panes.

This sounds good.  Perhaps we could could leverage the code that's
already in pan, and improve the radio buttons, bettering both products?
(I haven't looked at the pan code, but I do like the pane arrangements.)

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