[OSM-talk] JOSM user interface

[Chris Morley]

I'm finding it difficult to work with JOSM because of bugs and 
deficiencies in the user interface. Most of these have been raised 
before by others. I mention them again here in the hope that those who 
can do something about them will give them higher priority. I use 
Windows and it is possible that the bugs are specific.

1) The autocomplete facility on the dialog for adding tags really gets 
in the way. When you start to type, say, a name, the fist possibility 
starting with the letter you have typed appears highlighted. But the 
letter(s) you have typed should not be highlighted - then you could, if 
you wanted, just keep typing. As it is at present your second letter 
replaces everything and you lose your first letter. Working around this 
bug is tedious. Because of it, I have been using an old JOSM version 
from before the bug appeared, but, with the change in the API, this is 
no longer possible.

2) In the tag dialog the dropdown box doesn't always open to its full 
extent - sometimes just a single line, which is a pain for lists of 
highway types, for instance. (Incidentally, most user interfaces skimp 
on the size of dropdown lists unnecessarily.)

A couple of issues with the new 0.5 version.
3) As pointed out by Francois De Ryckel on the newbies list, a new 
'segment' drawn from the end node of a way is added to that way, even 
when the way is not selected. It should only happen when the way was 
previously selected.

4) As Ben has pointed out on this list, it is not easy to remove a 
'segment' from an existing way. Can I suggest it could be done by a 
procedure which feels like the opposite of adding a 'segment'. Adding is 
done by dragging from the last node of the (selected) way to an external 
node. The removal would be dragging in a reverse direction, from the 
last node to the second last node. At the other end, dragging from the 
second to the first node would remove the first node. For a closed way 
(first and last nodes the same), dragging from any node to an adjacent 
node would open the way. I think this way of working would be intuitive 
and make editing significantly easier.

5) In the new version, re-use of nodes in multiple ways is likely to be 
more common, e.g a road, landuse areas on either side and an 
administrative boundary. Selecting a particular way from these four is 
difficult without a middle mouse button. I, and the vast majority of the 
world don't have a middle mose button. Alt click is now available and 
could be used to cycle through the multiple ways.

6) The delete mode should not delete anything when you click the button. 
Deletion should occur only when you subsequently click an object.

User interfaces are very important in retaining participants in the 
project. Non-geeks expect high standards of interface and will be less 
likely to continue if they are continually frustrated. JOSM and the new 
API are huge achievements and I would not like to take anything away 
from these by these criticisms. I regret that I do not have the 
capability to implement these features myself.

Chris