Highlight table rows

Often when configuring Virtualmin it's difficult to see what heading on the left lines up with what options on the right. In some parts of Virtualmin table rows (or what I assume are table rows; I haven't checked the source) are highlighted, usually on hover. (One example is the System Information an admin sees on the Dashboard.)

I would like to suggest that this be implemented everywhere in Virtualmin, or in the Authentic theme.

Thanks.

Craig

Status: 
Closed (fixed)

Comments

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Fri, 11/29/2019 - 14:23

Hi,

Could you please list the sections of where it's not implemented yet?

Hi Ilia,

It is my impression that most of Virtualmin using the Authentic theme does not have highlighting, and I can't go through all of Virtualmin to make a list of every single page. However, Account Plans and Server Templates are two.

It's particularly important where the options on the right spread over multiple lines.

Craig

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Fri, 11/29/2019 - 16:33

Craig, hi.

Could you provide a screenshot, where exactly it's not highlighted, because I am sure that most of the tables on UI are actually striped-tables, as well as having on hover highlight. (in case we are thinking about the same issue).

For example, let's take List Virtual Servers, a link from navigation menu, when clicked it displays Virtualmin Virtual Servers page, so, does this table look the way you expect?

I've uploaded two screenshots, but I don't see them here.

The first (highlighting_virtual_servers.png) shows the page you asked for. I have, of course, redacted the personal information of users, but the dark spot just to the left of centre is my mouse pointer. The rows on that page do alternate between highlighted and not, and the row over which my mouse pointer is hovering is additionally highlighted in blue.

The second (highlighting_server_template.png) shows the the Server Template pages with no highlighting at all. On this page (for example) it's not 100% clear to me if the line of radio buttons (Default, All types, No types, Only selected ..) is connected to the "Hashed password types to store" heading or overflow from the "Store clear text passwords?" heading. This is just one example though and not the best one I can find; I'm 99% certain it's connected to the former, since the line above is not long enough to wrap, but there are other examples where my certainty has been much lower.

If you don't see the images I'll need to get them to you another way, most likely email.

Sorry craigh, it doesn't look like those images came through. The tracker here does support them (though it may have eaten it for some reason). Is there any chance you could try re-posting them? Thanks!

Ilia emailed me and I have sent them to him that way.

I uploaded them by using the "Edit" tab on the original ticket. They seemed to be accepted, but nothing showed up. I probably did it wrong.

It's not likely your fault, this tracker software is in desperate need of bring updated -- it's something Joe is working on.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Sat, 11/30/2019 - 01:58

I got your screenshot. I see now what you mean. Making hover work for those tables (like when Editing Virtual Server or Templates) is possible but wasn't meant initially. It's not always 100% reliable when the row-hover should be displayed. Unlike checked tables (with checkboxes on the first row), with large amount of data, these tables have small amount of data, and most of the time not confusing at all.

I will take a close look in what I could do to improve it.

OK, I suppose we disagree on whether or not it's needed. If I didn't have problems on some screens it wouldn't be an issue. The example I gave wasn't the best (or worst) one; when I find better examples should I open a new ticket or update this one?

One example where highlighting is used where it probably isn't needed is at Webmin -> Webmin -> Webmin Configuration -> Webmin Themes -> Current theme. Almost all of the options on that page are single lines where there is no wrapping (on my 1920 x 1080 screen) and no confusion, so using highlighting on a page where it isn't strictly needed has been done before. I think there are no disadvantages to highlighting to make things 100% clear.

I don't usually test brand new features, but I'm willing to check this one out. If I just install the current version of the GPL version of Virtualmin will I see this experimental feature?

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Sat, 11/30/2019 - 16:45

You can surely update this ticket.

You don't need to install neither Virtualmin nor Webmin.

Go to theme configuration, click Force Update button and you are good to go. You can ignore the warning message and force install it. It's recommended to disable theme update for Usermin on this step. Just do it for Webmin. It should be pretty safe.

OK, thanks, but that button is disabled because I haven't installed Git. I've looked at installing it before, but in the interests of simplification I never have because somehow updates eventually come down the pipe anyway.

I'll test on a new GPL installation.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Sat, 12/21/2019 - 17:23

I extended this functionality to be on by default on pages that has lots of data, including Server Templates.

Still, using experimental option mentioned on commit, you can enable it all over the pages.

Doing it is not straight forward at all.

Enjoy.

I apologise that I never got around to installing a copy of the GPL version to test this, but I'm guessing with Virtualmin 6.09 Pro and Authentic 19.46 I'm now seeing the result of the work you did. If this is just optional I don't see where to activate it.

However, from what I can see, in most places now things seem to be clearer. Thank-you.

Craig

No sooner do I post that than I see another place that could use "row" highlighting: the "Create Scheduled Backup" or "Backup Virtual Servers" pages (different titles depending on how it's called, but it's at /virtual-server/backup_form.cgi) at Virtualmin -> Backup and Resore -> Backup Virtual Servers.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Mon, 03/30/2020 - 07:59

I finally realized where confusion was coming - there was missing radio-table border that made things look a bit odd. I fixed that and improved row highlights logic, which is extremely complex to implement and support, the way I'm doing it. You will see it, when hovering rows in Scheduled Backups under Destination and format or Schedule and reporting and many other places.

Thanks for pointing out.

Thank-you for that again.

But I don't see any highlighting anywhere on the /virtual-server/backup_form.cgi page, even under Destination and format or Schedule and reporting. I see it in other parts of Virtualmin, however.

Do you need a screenshot?

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Mon, 03/30/2020 - 09:21

Have you installed latest theme update, I suppose? Have you tried force reloading the browser's page, like Ctrl+Shift+R?

Doing Ctrl+Shift+R loads the bare URL, which then redirects to the list of virtual servers (/virtual-server/?xnavigation=1), which also takes at least 2 minutes to load (per my other ticket). When I navigate back to /virtual-server/backup_form.cgi there is still no highlighting.

Oh, and as I mentioned, I don't have Git installed. The update to 19.46 must have happened through yum.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Mon, 03/30/2020 - 10:34

If you wish, just install "git" command and try updating the theme using its configuration page.

Thanks for the suggestion Ilia, but of all the things on my to-do list, installing git is at the very bottom. I've got along without installing it for the two or three years I've been using Virtualmin so far, so I would suggest that if it's vital to Virtualmin's continued operation then the Virtualmin installation routine should install it along with everything else it installs, or inclide theme updates some other way. My general preference is towards minimalism in software installation, and I install accordingly.

I don't intend to sound dismissive, it's just that we all have to prioritise. Sure, installing git is very probably very straightforward and problem-free, but I'm a pessimist and always expecting that a five-minute job is going to turn into five hours, so as I say I prioritise accordingly.

I'll consider this ticket closed. Thanks for your attention to it.

Ilia's picture
Submitted by Ilia on Sat, 04/04/2020 - 07:14

My general preference is towards minimalism in software installation, and I install accordingly.

No problem, it makes sense

I'll consider this ticket closed. Thanks for your attention to it.

You are welcome.

So I would suggest that if it's vital to Virtualmin's continued operation then the Virtualmin installation routine should install it along with everything else it installs

It will but in time.

It's not a problem for me to make a build for you. If you wish and feel comfortable, you can install it using Webmin Themes, by just pasting the following link. After installation completes, just Ctrl+Shift+R to reload the page.

https://authentic-theme.com/builds/authentic-theme-19.47-RC4.wbt.gz

Otherwise, just wait for a new Webmin release with newest theme bundled.

I'll wait for the new bundle. :) Thanks.