Currently, the "Settings / About" button in the bottom-left sidebar hides the main tab bar (Repository, Sources, Schedule, Archives) and replaces it with the Settings/About tabs. To return to the main view, the user must click the same button again — or click the current profile in the sidebar.
This pattern has a few issues:
- It's not obvious the button is a toggle
- The main tab bar disappearing without a clear "back" affordance is disorienting
- With a single profile, clicking the profile to go back is not discoverable
This was actually noted during the review of #1809, where @m3nu wrote:
"Goal is basically to make closing the Settings view more intuitive"
A few workarounds were added at the time (bold font on the active button, clicking the current profile to return), but the underlying pattern remains confusing.
Proposed solution
Open Settings / About in a modal dialog (e.g. QDialog), keeping the main window and its tabs always visible in the background. This is the standard pattern on both macOS and Linux desktop apps, and matches what was originally sketched in #1677.
The change would be scoped to:
- A new
SettingsDialog wrapping the existing MiscTab and AboutTab (which stay mostly unchanged)
- Updating
toggle_misc_visibility() in main_window.py to open the dialog instead
- Removing
miscWidget from the main window layout
Additional improvement
As a follow-up, Settings and About could be split into two separate buttons with dedicated dialogs. They serve different purposes — one is operational, the other purely informational — and this matches the common desktop convention of a dedicated "About AppName" dialog.
Happy to work on a PR if the direction makes sense.
Currently, the "Settings / About" button in the bottom-left sidebar hides the main tab bar (Repository, Sources, Schedule, Archives) and replaces it with the Settings/About tabs. To return to the main view, the user must click the same button again — or click the current profile in the sidebar.
This pattern has a few issues:
This was actually noted during the review of #1809, where @m3nu wrote:
A few workarounds were added at the time (bold font on the active button, clicking the current profile to return), but the underlying pattern remains confusing.
Proposed solution
Open Settings / About in a modal dialog (e.g.
QDialog), keeping the main window and its tabs always visible in the background. This is the standard pattern on both macOS and Linux desktop apps, and matches what was originally sketched in #1677.The change would be scoped to:
SettingsDialogwrapping the existingMiscTabandAboutTab(which stay mostly unchanged)toggle_misc_visibility()inmain_window.pyto open the dialog insteadmiscWidgetfrom the main window layoutAdditional improvement
As a follow-up, Settings and About could be split into two separate buttons with dedicated dialogs. They serve different purposes — one is operational, the other purely informational — and this matches the common desktop convention of a dedicated "About AppName" dialog.
Happy to work on a PR if the direction makes sense.