[Trac #1108] network view should give topology, freshness, and strength info

[Zarro Boogs per Child]

#1108: network view should give topology, freshness, and strength info
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 Reporter:  AlbertCahalan     |        Owner:  Eben    
     Type:  enhancement       |       Status:  assigned
 Priority:  high              |    Milestone:  BTest-3 
Component:  interface-design  |   Resolution:          
 Keywords:                    |  
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Changes (by Eben):

 * cc: mpg at redhat.com (added)
  * status:  new => assigned

Comment:

 Replying to [ticket:1108 AlbertCahalan]:
 > Put the self-XO in the middle.

 This is a definite.  Keeping the point of focus around the XO in the
 center is critical to conveying the "zooming" metaphor  we are shooting
 for.  I'm not sure why that hasn't been implemented yet, but it's an easy
 fix.  That will be of most importance when the subtle zooming animations
 interpolate between views.

 > Draw other devices in locations according to signal strength. A device
 with a strong signal goes near the self-XO, while a device with a weak
 signal goes farther away. Devices that are not directly reachable (must
 route through other machine) go farthest away. Share signal strength info
 with peers so that well-connected peers can be drawn near each other. Move
 devices smoothly as signal strength and other attributes change; it is not
 good to have devices leap from one side of the screen to the other.

 There is some thinking to this effect, but there are many technical
 difficulties and also some visual ones that may prevent this.  We could
 certainly take care of the "jumping about" of the activity and XO icons if
 we apply a steep exponential  moving average function to the data.  The
 drawback is that the actual positions might lag behind the true data a
 bit, but it would be better than nothing while keeping a continuous view
 of the mesh.

 > Draw lines to show network routing. Information about indirectly visible
 devices (seen via mesh) is less trustworthy than directly visible devices;
 the diagram should indicate this by making them blurry.

 This could get quite complex very quickly, and the view will already be
 complex even without such additions.  We're doing a lot to make these
 kinds of things secure, and additionally the routes will be changing
 frequently.  I'm not sure anything useful could actually be derived from
 this view except in very simple cases.

 > As the info about a device or route gets stale, it should fade away.

 We do have the idea of present vs. absent XOs and devices.  While fading
 the icons isn't really feasible, we might have some more discrete ways of
 indicating this.  Clearly when a signal goes away, the XO should disappear
 from the mesh.  Perhaps we should also pick a threshold below which an XO
 is rendered as absent (white stroke, no fill), so that XOs first
 transition to an outline, but remain present (filling back in with color
 if the signal gets stronger), and only actually disappear once the signal
 is gone.

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Ticket URL: <http://dev.laptop.org/ticket/1108#comment:3>
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