[Bugs] #2063 UNSP: Sugar should bring up an alert when an unhandled Python exception occurs

[Sugar Labs Bugs]

#2063: Sugar should bring up an alert when an unhandled Python exception occurs
------------------------------------------+---------------------------------
    Reporter:  bernie                     |          Owner:  tomeu                      
        Type:  defect                     |         Status:  new                        
    Priority:  Unspecified by Maintainer  |      Milestone:  Unspecified by Release Team
   Component:  sugar                      |        Version:  Git as of bugdate          
    Severity:  Unspecified                |       Keywords:                             
Distribution:  Unspecified                |   Status_field:  Unconfirmed                
------------------------------------------+---------------------------------

Comment(by garycmartin):

 Replying to [comment:2 bernie]:
 > Replying to [comment:1 eben]:
 >
 > > Of course they would! An incomprehensible error message is useful to
 no one, and can—as you say—frustrate or confuse people. However, most UX
 folks are not inherently opposed to error message or dialogs of all kinds;
 it just happens to be rather difficult to design good ones, and bad ones
 are often really bad.
 >
 > I agree we should work hard to make our error messages clear and
 intelligible, but not at the cost of suppressing essential information
 that technical support would need to help novice users.
 >
 > In modern Linux UIs you often need to ask the user: "please open a
 terminal and type..." because the GUI is useless. Having no alternative,
 Windows tends to provide more informative error messages in the GUI.

 Can you suggest some commonly used canned support responses that could be
 added to either Analyse or Log activity as toolbar buttons? I'd be happy
 to try and carry these through.

 > > I'm in favor of showing an error message for an uncaught exception
 (since feedback is good!), though I caution against displaying the actual
 exception string in this instance. It's unlikely to make sense to the
 primary audience. Instead, I would generate some friendly message that
 lets them know that the action they attempted didn't work as expected, and
 then offering a link into the Log activity to learn more should they want
 to dig deeper.
 >
 > 100% agreed. What icon could we bring up to go with this message? Do we
 have a "gasping" or "puzzled" laptop icon in the style of the sleeping
 computer that we use for power management?

 I'd been thinking of a bug icon (already have an svg one available if
 needed, cleaned up from Walters excellent TA efforts). But I do like this
 idea of the laptop style icon, x's for eyes and a wonky mouth, almost old
 Apple Mac boot crash style. The down side is it might feel XO only
 specific for other sugar users on different hardware. Happy to build the
 svg if needed.

 > > (All this to say I mostly agree with Bernie, but hopefully I've set
 some misunderstandings about us "UX folks" straight. =) )

 +1 as long as you communicate with the user in a meaningful way, just
 talking at them is not so hot ;)

 FWIW If you ever see an activity trace back _please_ do trac report it,
 these are often the 'easiest' types of reports to sit down for an evening
 an try to resolve. A bug is a bug is a bug... FWIW2 I do read all trac
 reports and they _do_ (slowly) burn away at my soul until resolved.

-- 
Ticket URL: <http://bugs.sugarlabs.org/ticket/2063#comment:3>
Sugar Labs <http://sugarlabs.org/>
Sugar Labs bug tracking system