Re: [Usability] UI design question

["Dave Foster" <dave foster gmail com>]

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?


> 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.  Would it lose anything if they
were on the right, arranged vertically?


> 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.

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.

I hope I'm being clear above.  With this info in mind, does it change
anything about what you said?

Either way, thanks for this information, it's exactly the kind of stuff I
was looking for.  Sorry if I am not so "that's perfect!" out the gate, I'm
trying to learn this stuff a bit, not just follow blind advice :)

Thanks again,
dave