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Answers will be carefully considered by the FogBugz team.

Note: for usability issues unrelated to UI beauty, see this question:

http://fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/what-are-the-biggest-usability-issues-in-fogbugz-7-x-please-be-specific

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16 Answers

15

Two words: code view

I'm pasting code snippets, SQL statements, dumps, whatever, all day long into Cases and its just unreadable gibberish, tedious to work through. Attach snippets did not really work.

At the bottom it probably comes down to being able to use some kind of markup like this. :-)

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1 
 Other markdown-style enhancements hopefully would follow this as well. – cdeszaq Mar 18 2010 at 14:46
Using a non-proportional font helps. I use: #bugviewContainer .bugevents .bugevent .body { font-family: "Lucida Console", Monospace } I reported a bug which removes a space from lines starting with 3, 5, 7, ... spaces. – Michel de Ruiter♦ May 27 2010 at 8:08
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 This is now available via the Code Snippets plugin in FogBugz 8! You just wrap your code snippets inside of [code][/code] tags. fogcreek.com/FogBugz/plugins/… – db♦ Sep 11 2010 at 14:28
@db: tried it already in my beta -> awesome! Exactly would was needed. Now if there would be a key-shortcut for it, like it does in Markdown (CTRL-K I think) ... – Markus Sep 12 2010 at 15:28
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It would be nice if the search box was much wider. I use several saved filters that were made by taking advantage of the advanced search queries, and sometimes I just want to change one or two of the variables. It can take a lot of scrolling through the current search box if the variable I want to change is in the middle of my query.

I know a work around would be to save that filter as well, but I already have several and try to keep my list as short as possible.

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3 
 If you use the BugMonkey plugin, you can change this in the CSS. #idDropList_searchFor_oText { width: 400px !important; } where 400px is how long you want it to be (210px is the default). – Sergei Apr 19 2010 at 3:32
We were already using the BugMonkey plugin, so this was an incredibly easy change! Thank you so much! Can we also change the width of the search box that pops up when you click on the underlined text of a search you just ran (for clarification: this text appears after Search:... just under the menu options and is the same place that you can see the Filter settings that you are using)? Thanks again! – Chandra McFarlen Apr 27 2010 at 14:25
I noticed that FogBugz 8 breaks this change. I found out this should be added too: #btnNavbarSearch { margin-left: 405px !important; } – Michel de Ruiter♦ Nov 8 2010 at 12:37
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Something that instantly struck me when I started using FogBugz is the way subcases are indented in the list. From a quick glance it looks like the parent case is a subcase of the previous case in the list as it has an arrow in front of it.

I've made an image to display it easier. (A) is how it looks today, (B) is how I'd like it to be.

In the example below (A) it looks like case 48 is a subcase of 46.

alt text

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Interesting how our brains work differently. Given only your screenshots I would have immediately voted it up, but then took a second and looked at my lists with sub-cases and had no problem. The black arrow just does it for me, my brain doesn't mix it up. This would kind of require an extra invisible column or pad all other case titles to align them. On my system (1280 width) I'm already fighting every pixel for the columns to see all the information I want; I wouldn't like to see that changed. – Markus Mar 18 2010 at 14:37
I find the location of the subcase arrow indication to be a bit confusing also, but I agree with Markus that I fight for every scrap of width I can because I like to see everything at once for a list of cases. I don't know what the solution to this is, but an indent (even if caused by the arrow) makes the case look like it is already a sub-case. If there is a solution that can be found for this, please by all means implement it and make my brain think less! – cdeszaq Mar 18 2010 at 14:50
1 
 Just brainstorming, but one could perhaps make the arrow appear outside of the column (Left: -10px or something), then make the arrow appear only once your cursor moves in that area, similar to how the arrows work in the folder tree of Explorer nowadays. Perhaps it would be difficult to see if a case has subcases once collapsed though. But as I said, just brainstorming. – Kristoffer Mar 19 2010 at 10:48
I don't like how the arrow appears inline with the case names either. In my opinion I would rather have the arrow in the right spot and sacrifice the few pixels it would require. As far as screen space brought up in previous comments, you can use a horizontal scroll bar to see information that doesn't fit on the screen. This is just one that really bugs me. – Mike Caron Jul 22 2010 at 16:28
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I'd vote for fixing up the filter customizer. On my screen, it scrolls off the bottom, making it difficult to navigate. But it appears there is enough screen width you could make two columns out of that information.

(But not much is wrong anymore. I find 7.x much better looking than 6.x. Beyond the new features, its the little things like rounding the corners, picking colors that are a little bit softer, slightly better fonts, better shadowing... it's all very subtle... much more pleasant.)

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Hi Todd, I made a small edit to your post to bring the filter suggestion up top. Thanks for the praise on our UI progress... we're committed to constant improvement in this area. – Dan Wilson Feb 24 2010 at 19:45
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We think that the Fogbugz should be better use wide screen displays. Why only use a fixed width?

Using a bugmonkey script we have applied CSS and some JS in order to

  • use smaller fonts
  • use wide screen browser window fully
  • use a little more boxes to structure the document

Screenshots before&after is here: http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7561/fogbugz.png

Our bugmonkey script is here: http://fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/59/bugmonkey-scripts-post-them-here/116#116

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1 
 Some elements are good to have longer widths for (URLs come to mind), but for blocks of text, such as a lengthy description of a problem, I much prefer a tighter space to prevent lines from getting too long. I think there is some research out there that supports a certain width for text lines also. – cdeszaq Mar 18 2010 at 14:44
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 As of FogBugz 7.3 you can now drag the edge of the case view to make it wider. This setting is then remembered between page views. :) – db♦ Sep 11 2010 at 14:31
5

"Also sent" is maybe a little useless

With some customers we correspond a lot and have a lot of cases, so having "Also sent" under Correspondent for each case is a little useless to us, because there are so many cases to choose between. They only take om valuable screen estate. Is this usability or aestetics? Or both?

Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the aesthetics. Maybe the blue color could be toned a little bit more towards the color scheme from stackexchange, which I find a little more "serious". You could also drop the shadows effect on the case history for a case. Tighten it all up a bit. Use larger fonts in headings and menus. Some of you probably already thought of this, but here is someone else from the outside also saying it :-).

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I agree..I don't see too much value from this either, especially since the "customer support" usage would often get more hits from "repeat customers" than this little feature can handle. – cdeszaq Mar 10 2010 at 14:28
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All of the emails that I receive from fogbugz have "^M" characters at the end of the lines. I read the emails using Mutt on a linux box, so I'm not too surprised about line-ending problems. But, fogbugz is the only sender whose emails don't look right. I get emails from outlook, other websites, cronjobs, and all kinds of places that don't have ^M at the end. Fogbugz is the sole exception.

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1 
 I would say that this sounds more like a bug! – cdeszaq Mar 18 2010 at 14:46
Maybe it's a Carriage Return (Ctrl+M). Interesting! – Michel de Ruiter♦ Sep 13 2010 at 11:58
2

The export to csv option is hard to find. We use this feature a lot but I always have questions from my team about where to find it. I also forget where it is after a short vacation or such.

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This is an issue of usability, not aesthetics. You should post this over on this question: fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/… – Greg Saven♦ May 4 2010 at 16:59
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The Admin Dashboard isn't the nicest looking UI element. I don't care for those dashed lines. Change those to solid lines and put some drop shadows on those boxes like you have on the case editing form. That would be prettier.

alt text

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1

I don't know if this is to be considered "ugly", but it is to me. I have recently started using subcases, instead of closing cases as duplicate (when a customer inadvertently opens a new case with a new email). Using subcases for this purpose are easier for me, because sometimes their emails include screenshots, etc. However, each time I refresh my screen, my collapsed subcases are once again expanded. I don't want to look at a list of perhaps 25 cases, when I really only have 15 active cases.

I just discovered that if I close the subcases, they will stay collapsed when I refresh my screen. This is okay, but not ideal. Maybe it's different for other people, but I would rather see a collapsed list as a default, rather than have to collapse my list several times a day. I know it's mostly just a psychological downer when my list is long. It makes me panic when it gets too long!

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1 
 Hi Kellie, this is great feedback but definitely falls under usability. Can you paste it in a new answer here: fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/2065/… So that your fellow FogBugz users can discuss the topic and vote it up? – Dan Wilson Feb 24 2010 at 17:50
It's not a full solution, but I posted a BugMonkey script on the question below that inserts a "Toggle Hierarchies" button in the grid view. Might save you a few clicks! :) fogbugz.stackexchange.com/questions/1046/…) – db♦ Feb 24 2010 at 18:59
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Print style

For me, the print style (specifically for the case list) could be a bit nicer. Right now I use a Stylish script for printing.

  • The "add case" or "cannot add case" text on a print is useless.
  • On some prints (not necessarily all) I set all link (e.g. case titles, case numbers) to black (instead of normal links, visited, etc.).
  • Optionally printing the case summary (the "cases matching this filter" section) could be nice for some lists (but definitely not all).
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1

It would be nice if we could completely customise the appearance of a wiki - Ideally it would be great if I could drop the fogbugz header / navigation bar and replace it with out own branding. This way I could seamlessly integrate the fogbugz wiki into our existing website and use it for online help.

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You can accomplish this via templates and a little javascript. It's not elegant, but the power is there ;-) – Jude Allred♦ May 21 2010 at 19:36
(kind of like this: jude.fogbugz.com/?pente ) – Jude Allred♦ May 21 2010 at 19:37
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I would really like resolved cases to have a strikethrough css style (ala bugzilla). This allows for immediate recognition of open and closed cases. At the moment you must mouse over (not available when Javascript is turned off) a case to see it's resolved status.

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For closed cases, yes, but not for all resolved cases I think. – Michel de Ruiter♦ May 27 2010 at 8:15
1

When adding a subcase on the case list screen, the check (OK) and X (cancel) icons don't have a transparent background, so you see an ugly white frame around them.

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1

I would LOVE to see you guys hire a top designer; you know the cream of the crop in the web design community, and overhaul FogBugz' look and feel. FogBugz is very plain, even though it's a great product. Check out Sifter, GetDoneDone, and others. FogBugz suffers from looking like it's designed for the early 2000's. Joel himself should know that people place unconscious trust in products that present well. If FogBugz looked better, you'd probably get more sales.

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Personally, I prefer the simple interface and pallete to more web 2.0 designs. Gradients and round corners just take up screen space...all I really care abut is being able to easily find the information I'm looking for so that I can move on to other more important things, like actually fixing the bug reported. My $0.02 – cdeszaq Sep 13 2010 at 12:58
I certainly like the clean look, but a great designer could tighten things up, and not clutter it up with more useless ornamentation. So I agree with both of you. – allanwith Sep 17 2010 at 11:31
1

The first time, when I used the wiki I havn't found the save button. It would be a great idea to add the text "save" nearby the disk icon.

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