Re: [Usability] Request for UI ideas: User/Group management

[Sebastian Heinlein <glatzor ubuntu com>]

Am Donnerstag, den 20.07.2006, 21:30 +0200 schrieb sam:
> Hi,
> 
> I am trying to desig a GUI for assigning permissions to specific groups 
> of users. The GUI must make it possible to design a user/group hierarchy 
> like this:
> 
> --------------------------
> [Everyone]
> \
>  |- [Administrators]
>  |    \- Samuel
>  |- [Editors]
>  |    |- Sarah
>  |    \- Harry
>  \- [Normal Users]
>       |- Anonymous George
>       |- Anonymous Jane
>       \- [Friends]
>           |- Cathy
>           |- Jens
>           \- Stefan
> --------------------------
> (I enclosed the group names in brackets, the "Everyone" group is mandatory)
> 
> Note that the following must be possible:
> 
> - Storing a user in multiple groups
> - Storing a group in any another group, at infinite depth.
> 
> The permissions are assigned to groups or users, using inheritance from one
> group to another. So collisions are possible in theory (what if a user is in a 
> group that permits access to an object and also in a group that denies 
> permission to the same object), but will be avoided by reporting them to 
> the user when he tries to create such a situation.
> 
> I was trying to avoid using a tree view, but so far my ideas are few. I 
> thought of using something like a tag system as opposed to a group 
> system, but that makes the inheritance idea non-intuitive. Any ideas for 
> a GUI?

I always prefer flat lists in favour of trees:

|--------------------------------------------------------|
| GROUPS                | MEMBERS (of the selected group)|
|--------------------------------------------------------|
| Everyone              | Friends              GROUPS    |
| Editors  <- selected  | -----SEPARATOR---------------- |
| Admins                | George               USERS     |
| Friends               | Jane                           |
| Editors               |--------------------------------|
|                       | [ADD] [REMOVE]                 |
|--------------------------------------------------------|

The left pane shows all available groups and the right one all members
of the selected group.

Adding and removing could be done using the buttons at the bottom or
drag and drop.

But I am not a professional usability engineer.

Regards,

Sebastian