Re: [Usability] UI design question

["natan yellin" <aantny gmail com>]

Hello,
I'm curious by nature, so does your application already have a website? This
is something that I've always felt would be useful.

Regarding your question, I agree with Mathew that the noun-->verb
relationship is a bit simpler. If you decide to use the verb-->noun design,
I'd recommend hiding the "Theme Name" field until the user actually clicks
on "Create a new theme" or "Modify an existing theme." I would try to reduce
the amount of unnecessary fields and boxes whenever possible.

On Tue, Jun 24, 2008 at 9:54 PM, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>
wrote:

> Hi again Dave
>
> Sorry for the slow reply.
>
> On Jun 17, 2008, at 3:21 AM, Dave Foster wrote:
>
>>
>> Hi Matthew + Jacob -
>>
>> Thanks for the advice, some good stuff in here.
>>
>> On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 7:59 PM, Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt myrealbox com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> My first thought is: That list of actions doesn't seem to include
>>> anything that requires it to be a dialog. Could it be an ordinary window
>>> instead?
>>>
>>
>> I guess I just didn't get the difference between the two.   I thought a
>> dialog was just a window with a pre-defined layout.  I'm guessing by your
>> reactions there is a bit more?
>>
>
> A dialog is modal to its parent window, and has a row of buttons along the
> bottom, most of which close the dialog. Typically, a dialog asks for extra
> information on something you specified in the parent window.
> <http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/windows-dialog.html.en>
>
>  Instead, try thinking object -> verb: present the list of themes first,
>>> with the actions afterwards. Like this:
>>>
>>> This is much calmer, even while it lets you see the complete list of
>>> themes at a glance (which the radio-button-based design wouldn't).
>>>
>>
>> To be honest, it didn't strike me right away, but this could be a pretty
>> good way of looking at it. I'll fiddle with it a bit and see what looks
>> good.  Any other options for laying it out?  The buttons at the bottom seem
>> a bit.. eh, i don't know how to describe it.
>>
>
> Since this window would now mostly be a listing, the list could go right up
> against the top, left, and right edges of the window, like it does for
> folders in Nautilus. At the bottom of the window would be a panel in which
> the buttons would sit with the standard spacing. Imagine nautilus-cd-burner,
> rotated 180 degrees.
>
>  Would it lose anything if they were on the right, arranged vertically?
>>
>
> The main drawback (as you may have discovered by now) is that it would take
> up more space -- there would usually be a chunk of empty space in the bottom
> right corner.
>
>  Here's what would happen to the previous options:
>>> *   "Create a new theme" ->  "New...", then type its name into the
>>>     newly-created table row.
>>> *   "Create a new theme based on an existing theme" ->  select theme,
>>>     then click "Duplicate..." and type the name into the newly-created
>>>     table row.
>>> *   "Open an existing theme" ->  select theme, then click "Open".
>>> *   "Edit current theme" -> open window, then click "Edit" (the
>>>    current theme being selected by default).
>>> *   "Open last edited theme" ->  select theme, then click "Edit...".
>>>
>>
>> I think the "edit" and "open" actions are really the same thing here, so
>> they can be combined into a single button.
>>
>
> Great. (I wondered if that was the case, but I don't know what kind of
> themes we're discussing.)
>
>  Thinking about the (future) general users of this application, the "new
>> from scratch" option is going to be not used very often.  I think the
>> majority of themers start off by copying something (the duplicate) and then
>> tweaking it until it is unrecognizable, so I think the "create based on an
>> existing" or "edit existing" are the two most important items on this menu.
>> With the "new theme" being so prevalent, I think people will miss the
>> functionality of "duplicate" on first glance, until they try it a few times
>> and see what happens.
>>
>
> Perhaps label it "Copy as New Theme…".
>
>  I hope I'm being clear above.  With this info in mind, does it change
>> anything about what you said?
>> ...
>>
>
> Not really. That there are fewer buttons makes me happier about the layout.
>
> Cheers
> --
> Matthew Paul Thomas
> http://mpt.net.nz/
>
>
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Natan