Re: Ideas for complex storage visualization

[Vojtěch Trefný]

Dne 18.11.2014 v 18:10 Máirín Duffy napsal(a):
> Hi Vojtěch!
>
> On 11/18/2014 10:57 AM, Vojtěch Trefný wrote:
> > TL;DR version: Help me find a way how to visually represent storages, my
> > current ideas[2] sucks.
>
> So, I'm not saying these are awesome, but they are alternatives and 
> maybe food for thought - when we first did the design for the UI 
> rewrite we went through a lot of iterations about how to visualize 
> storage - IIRC we had to throw a lot of them out just because the 
> widgets didn't exist really and we wanted to keep things simple at 
> first. (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)
>
> Anyway these are rough unvetted mockups and subject to suck, that 
> being said:
>
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> This one is a combo of a cascading list (physical device > partition > 
> details) where the details pane gives you a baobab style / circular 
> diagram of the selected physical disk. Also tabs at the top let you 
> filter by type of device.
>
> Cons: This doesn't give you a visual overview of all storage - just 
> the selected physical disk. Those slices can get pretty tiny too 
> depending.

The baobab style actually looks good. Right now I'm showing information 
for one selected disk too[1] and users works with only one disk at time.
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> Again we have tabs at top to filter on type of device. Main nav is a 
> list of devices. Right pane has configurable details and then another 
> list of the members of the selected physical device.
>
> Cons: not really visual at all, just another idea on how to divide up 
> the screen.
>
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> Let's call this one collapse-expand funkytown. The UI pattenr here is 
> accordion panels.... each physical device gets a panel, and when 
> collapsed the panel has a bar chart diagram of the space utilization 
> on the device. When expanded (as sda is in the mockup) then you get a 
> little config panel; click on the partition to switch what you're 
> configuring. This needs a lot more iteration, so it's mostly brain 
> food and not a readymade solution.
>
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> Let's call this one deep dive, lol. This just follows a file manager 
> pattern. You go down and back up the tree through the breadcrumb at 
> the top. Maybe paired with left sidebar nav that shows the full 
> expandable/collapsible tree this could be made useful??
>
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> Instead of a breadcrumb bar, a dropdown to switch between physical 
> devices.
>
> http://linuxgrrl.com/fedora-ux/Projects/Anaconda/Prototypes/Screens/PNG-old/...
>
> This one is just weird. It's sort of a cascading list set up, but the 
> entries (partitions) in the middle list are colored differently based 
> on state, and their height is different depending on their size 
> relative to other partitions.
>
> I'm doing a lot of tight deadline / last-minute hacking on the new 
> fedora website for the next 2-3 weeks, but when that gets out I could 
> maybe dive through some of my data visualization books and maybe we 
> could brainstorm some more?

No problem, blivet-gui is now in early development still missing lot of 
core features so better visualization could definitely wait (some 
visualization is there and works).
> One more thought - treemapping - but I don't know, I find them kind of 
> hard to read. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treemapping

Ok, that is really weird. I think this would make the storage harder to 
understand :)
> ~m

[1] https://vtrefny.fedorapeople.org/blivet-gui/blivet-gui-window.png