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Re: [Usability] UI design question

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 <mailto: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?
I think the impression of dialog that is being used is something that affects a root/primary-user-destination window. 

    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.
A create from scratch option has its market: people that don't want their theme to have external influences, i.e. originality seekers.
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

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