Re: [Usability] Questions for the UI Gurus (BibShelf Book Organizer)

[Samuel Abels <newsgroups debain org>]

Alan,

On Sun, 2004-08-08 at 02:13, Alan Horkan wrote:
> I can spell the word usability correctly, which is always a good sign!
> I have read a few books, studied a little about usability in university
> "I dont know Art but I know what I like"

In my eyes, this already makes you an usability uber-guru ;).

> > http://www.debain.org/stuff/mainwindow.png
> > http://www.debain.org/stuff/editor.png
> 
> mainwindow:
> 
> Think about it, there has to be more things that would benefit from
> having menu items.  (Look to standard items first.)
> How about and Edit menu?  Undo, Redo maybe? Cut, Copy, Paste, probably!
> View, Sort by Author, by ...
> (and how about some applications specific items?)
> Book menu, Add Book, Delete Book, Book Details?

Ok, we should probably create menu entries so that the thing can be used
by keyboard easier.

> A suspicous row of buttons, that should make you think Toolbar.
> Using your application without the keyboard will help you think of
> buttons you might like to add for some of the most frequent actions.

There /are/ no other actions ;-). Anyway, I was hoping to keep it at
three buttons, because having only a little number of controls visible
is what makes the muine GUI look so clean; I just /love/ this
simplicity.

But I will try and have a look whether this looks better in a toolbar.

> You do not seem to be using the title bar for anything, it might be useful
> to put some information there.

Yep, the selected book name could appear there. I will add this.

> editor window
> 
> Not only does '...' provide an uninformative lable it is also small
> target.  It should probably be labelled 'Browse...' (or something along
> those lines).

Ok, I guess I will put a small calendar icon on this button. I think I
have seen this in other applications, too.

> The summary and review look a bit cramped, does the editor window
> Maximize? (same question for the main window?)

The both should maximize. (I just wanted to keep the screenshot tiny
;).)

> > Any comments?
> 
> I'll try and address your other suggestions later if I have time.

Great, I would love that. ;-)

> Hope the above suggestions are helpful.

This will undoubtedly already help to improve things further. Thanks for
your comments!

-Samuel
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