[Gretl-users] Menu re-structuring
Cristian Rigamonti
cri at linux.it
Wed Jul 12 18:28:47 EDT 2006
On Wed, Jul 12, 2006 at 01:13:17PM -0400, Talha Yalta wrote:
>
> I agree that this looks tidier and also feels natural. Preferences
> under tools makes sense too. Re-structuring the model menu also looks
> nice (it would be great to be able to see it in action first before
> the final decision though).
Ok, I'll jump in, I'll try to summarize the whole menu debate and I'll add my
suggestions.
(Allin, if we decide to do substantial changes I'll be glad to help you tracking
the necessary changes in documentation)
* File
- Allin: [...] Make the File menu more focused, with Open and Save for data files,
scripts, and session files. Take out "View command log", "Browse databases",
"Additional functions", "Create data set" (and maybe Preferences too?).
- Cri: this could be one solution, but some people (like me :) tend to view the
"File" menu as the place where all "disk I/O" operations take place, so I'd
leave there all the "load/create/save" commands pertaining to data files,
session files, command files, databases, and now also function package files.
Of course all these items should be properly grouped and arranged in submenus:
first I'd group together the items related to data files (so that they are
immediately accessible), and I'd arrange the others into submenus:
File->Session, File->Commands, File->Databases, File->Functions (yes I'd move
here the "Function package editor" from Utilities, so that one has all the
function packaging commands handy)
It would look like this:
File
Open data
Append data
Save data
Save data as
Export data
Send to
Clear dataset
-------------
Commands
Open command file
New command file
-----------------
Sessions
Open session file
Save session file
Save session file as
--------------------
Databases
Browse databases
--------------------
Functions
Load
Package editor
--------------------
Exit
* Utilities
- Allin: rename as Tools, put the items moved out of File under Tools. Also
Preferences should go here
- Cri: I agree. Something like this could do?
Tools
Statistical tables
p-value finder
Test statistics calculator
--------------------------
Gretl console
View command log
Icon View
--------------------------
Start GNU R
--------------------------
NIST test suite
--------------------------
Preferences
* Session
- Sven: maybe move it under File
- Jack: maybe move it under Utilities
- Allin: let's move it under File
- Cri: let's move it under File
* Data
- Allin: basically contains "things you might want to do with more than one
variable" -- other than constructing a model, which has its own menu branch.
Examples: graphing, summary statistics, etc. Plus some things pertaining to
the data set as a whole -- other than setting the sample range, which again
has its own branch. Examples: edit values, read informative text, if any
- Sven: I would at least suggest to group the commands together that are related
to dataset-management. (Right now there are some at the top and some at the
bottom.) As a result the "data" menu would have two main blocks, one for
management commands, and one for descriptive statistics (loosely speaking)
- Cri: I agree with Sven: I'd group together commands that modify the data
(values, observations, info), separating them from graphing commands and
commands for descriptive stats.
I'd also suggest to move here from the Sample menu all the commands
which irreversibly modify the dataset (not just the current sample):
Dataset structure, Compact/Expand data, Transpose data, Add/Remove case
markers. Thus, under "Sample" we'd only have reversible commands (seems
more user-friendly to me).
Data
Display values
Edit values
Add observations
Remove extra observations
-------------------------
Dataset structure
Compact data
Expand data
Transpose data
-------------------------
Read info
Edit info
Print description
Add case markers
Remove case markers
-------------------------
(graphs...)
-------------------------
(descriptive statistics...)
* Add
- Cri: here again I'd just re-group items in three groups:
- Transformations of existing variables
(lags, logs, squares, diffs, logdiffs, seasdiffs)
- New "special" variables
(index, normal, uniform, trend, define new variable)
- New dummy variables
(discrete, periodic, unit, time)
* Sample
- Allin: The core functionality here is setting the sample range in various
ways. Some other functions have been added here (e.g. set dataset structure,
transpose data), and the location of these extra items may be debatable.
- Cri: as I said in "Data", I'd move away all commands which permanently modify
the dataset
* Variable
Everything's fine here? :-)
* Model
- Jack: let's re-arrange commands like this:
Model
Ordinary Least Squares
----------------------
Other linear models
WLS
Heteroskedasticity corrected
2SLS
High precision OLS
----------------------
Time series
GLS
Cochrane-Orcutt
Hildreth-Lu
Prais-Winsten
Autoregressive estimation
ARIMA
GARCH
Multiple
VAR
VAR lag selection
VECM
Johansen cointegration test
Cointegration test/Engle-Granger
----------------------
Panel
----------------------
Nonlinear models
Logit
Probit
Tobit
Poisson
Logistic
NLS
----------------------
Robust estimation
LAD
Rank correlation
----------------------
Maximum likelihood
----------------------
Simultaneous equations
- Cri: I agree with Jack and (as you might have noticed) I think this
grouping/submenus style should be extendend also to other menus
--
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Free software, free society - http://www.fsfeurope.org
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