update viewer: terrible user interface (imo)

[Mike Wright]

Hi all,

I posted about this many fedoras ago but apparently my plaint fell on 
deaf ears.

When I use the Update Viewer I am presented with several categories 
needing updating.  There is an option to review all or update all.

There is no option, for example, to update only security fixes.

This is what I think is an example of a hideous user experience:

I click on the icon that indicates updates are available and select 
"Show Updates".  Gee, there are only 300.  So I select "Review" and am 
now presented with 300 packages, each with a separate checkbox 
PREVIOUSLY SELECTED.  There is not even an option for "select all" or 
"deselect all".  You get them all, period.

There is no way to restrict the update process to only certain 
categories.  Instead I have the delightful prospect of scrolling and 
clicking, scrolling and clicking, scrolling and clicking until hell 
freezes over or my carpal tunnel syndrome becomes so inflamed that I'm 
not even able to touch a keyboard or mouse for days.

So, because of this incredibly retarded interface (from a usability 
point of view) we just have to bite the bullet and update all.

Now let's see what happens.  Something goes wrong.  Perhaps my system 
becomes unstable or networking goes on vacation or my sound disappears. 
  Wow!  I only have 300 packages and all their dependencies to sort 
through.  Guess what?  It ain't gonna happen.  You'll definitely get no 
feedback from me other than a rant that this process is so horribly 
borked as to preclude me from ever using this (it's not a bug it's a) 
feature.

So here's a question to the developers of the Updater.  Have any one of 
you ever gone through the update list and individually unchecked each of 
them?  I recommend it highly, *especially* when there are several 
hundred of them pending.  You may actually get a feeling for what you 
have inflicted on the rest of us.

Here's an analogy:  You go to the supermarket and take a shopping cart. 
  Surprise!  Surprise!  There is already one of everything in the store 
in the cart all ready for you to go through checkout and buy it all OR 
you can spend a leisurely day going through the aisles and returning 
everything you don't want to its appropriate place on the shelf.  I 
wonder when is the next time you'd go back to that store?  Yeah, me neither.

If Amazon's user interface worked that way they'd still be waiting for 
their first stooge ;D  And if I ever delivered an app' like that I'd be 
out of work :(

As was once observed, "A point in every direction is the same as no 
point at all".

Probably not worth $0.02 but I felt compelled to share my user 
experience and my thoughts about it.

Thanks for your time,
Mike Wright