The current appearance of search results on search.cpan.org is a little old-fashioned-looking and doesn't use space effectively (notice the huge empty space on the right hand side). I had a play around and have come up with this mockup of how it could look. The little icons are direct download links.
What do you think? If people like it, I'll ask Graham if he'll consider implementing it.
Two huge thumbs up. I like that a lot.
Re:Too wide
hex on 2008-06-13T15:36:22
The search results contained a very, very long module name that stretched everything out (i.e., an edge case). What do you think now that I've commented it out?Re:Too wide
hex on 2008-06-13T15:42:42
Actually, I've restored it with a linebreak in the middle. Trivial to do in most templating systems.Re:Too wide
stu42j on 2008-06-13T15:45:32
I think it looks nice but I still prefer the traditional style. I like that I can scan straight down and see all the details without looking right/left.
Spreading it out does have its virtues, though. However, there are long-named modules in CPAN and the design need to account for that without screwing up the whole page.Re:Too wide
hex on 2008-06-13T16:21:47
Yeah, I just wrote some Perl to deal with that. Of course, the search.cpan code isn't public, so I don't even know what templating language I could offer it in....Re:Too wide
stu42j on 2008-06-13T16:36:12
Of course, the search.cpan code isn't publicYeah, pitty that.
Re:Too wide
Aristotle on 2008-06-13T23:17:21
I like that I can scan straight down and see all the details without looking right/left.
Same here. Lining columns up horizontally would be nice, but spreading the whole thing over the entire page width is a no-no.
Re:Too wide
hex on 2008-06-14T00:36:59
How wide works for you?Re:Too wide
Aristotle on 2008-06-14T01:30:49
Works in what sense? I’d prefer the data arranged primarily vertically, in a table something like this:
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| | |
| Module::Name | xxxoo (1 review) |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| short description blurb |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| Module-Name-0.01 [DL] | 2008-01-01 | A. U. Thor |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| |
| Module::Name |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| short description blurb |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| Module-Name-0.01 [DL] | 2008-01-01 | A. U. Thor |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| | |
| Module::Name | xoooo (23 reviews) |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| short description blurb |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+
| Module-Name-0.01 [DL] | 2008-01-01 | A. U. Thor |
+-----------------------+----+-------+------------+Of course the table frame wouldn’t show – I’m just drawing it to show which things would line up how. And the font sizes would obviously vary between interface elements.
The point is that the current layout is largely good, but there is no horizontal alignment between corresponding elements of each list item, making it harder to scan than necessary. The only problem is with potentially very distribution names, which I would ellipsise in front of the version number part. (It would be nicer to show just the version number, but the structure of a distribution name is not formally specified, much less is any such formalism enforced, so there is no getting around showing the name in full.)
In contrast, spreading things out horizontally over ~1300px (on my screen) with acres of blank space between them doesn’t ease scanning at all.
The proper way to use the blank area would be to columnise the list so it takes up a single vertical page and fills all the horizontal space available. Unfortunately, browser support for the relevant CSS properties is mixed as yet, and legacy browsers do not support them at all, so on today’s web that’s not a feasible proposition. (Sigh.)
Re:How about both mainstream and developmental ?
hex on 2008-06-13T19:06:50
Well, developmental versions aren't currently listed in search results - it would be up to Graham Barr to make a change like that. (I should note that I have no connection with search.cpan.org beyond being a user.)
