[Bug 32484] Re: selection should default to free space

[Curtis Gedak]

That would work -- selecting the largest free space if no free space is
already selected.

Two situations could still arise that would need handling:

A)  The user had pre-selected a file system with a partition.

      In this case the "New" menu and toolbar button could be disabled.
      OR
      A warning dialog could be presented.

B)  The disk device had no free space remaining.

      In this case the "New" menu and toolbar button could be disabled.
      OR
      A warning dialog could be presented.

These options seem like a lot of work for not much gain.

I tend to prefer the way that PalmOS handled menus and buttons.  These
were not greyed out or disabled at any time.  Instead if a user clicked
on a button or selected a menu and the action was not valid, then the
user was prompted with what to do so that the menu or button would work.

To apply this PalmOS way to the user pressing the "New" button we have
four scenarios:

1)  Free unallocated space selected but no partition table on device

     Show dialog indicating to create a new partition table.

2)  No partition or area selected

     Show dialog indicating to select free unallocated space.

3)  Existing partition selected

    Show dialog indicating to select free unallocated space.

4)  Free unallocated space selected

    Proceed as currently to create new partition dialog.

This method would follow the PalmOS philosophy, but is not in alignment with the GNOME HIG regarding control or menu sensitivity.
http://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.2/controls-sensitivity.html.en
http://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.2/menus.html.en

In fact enabling any control when it is not yet valid is a violation of
the GNOME HIG.  When I think of this problem in this way, this request
is for a violation of the GNOME Human Interface Guidelines, or at least
my interpretation of these guidelines.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/32484

Title:
  selection should default to free space

Status in Gnome Partition Editor:
  New
Status in “gparted” package in Ubuntu:
  Triaged

Bug description:
  When gparted opens, the menu option to create a new partition is
  disabled.  This is because it is only active when free space is
  selected, and it is not selected by default.  The free space should be
  selected by default.

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