Re: [libreoffice-design] The Sidebar Problem

20.03.2014 19:39, Derek Cooper kirjutas:
> On 03/20/2014 12:22 PM, Mattias Põldaru wrote:
>
> > Let me explain what is wrong with your picture with an analogy.
> > First your case: a person walks around the city, reaches the park and
> > hey, how convenient, finds a hammer on top of the fountain. Later under
> > the bridge, hey, what a surprise, a nail. Off we go, got some work to 
> > do!
> >
> > Now let's assume the person actually want's to find a hammer and a few
> > nails. First place to look for both is a hardware store. Where is the
> > hardware store? Probably the best one is where all the building material
> > stores are. There might still be one hammer in the park and a few nails
> > under the bridge but these are useless.
> >
> > The same is true for software.
>
> Consider an actual scenario that plays out regularly:
>
> The local hardware store is running a sale on brand x product, in the 
> case hammers, and stocks a point-of-purchase display near the 
> entrance.  A customer in need of a hammer enters through the garden 
> section and proceeds directly to the tools section.  The customer 
> doesn't find a hammer that meets his needs, so she leaves empty-handed 
> and a bit frustrated. At best the retailer has lost a sale. At worst 
> the customer learns that the retailer isn't a reliable source and 
> starts shopping elsewhere.
>
> Smart retailers make sure products can be found where customers expect 
> them, even if that means stocking two locations.
I love menus, these are the simplest way to give advice online or over 
the phone. From the earlier discussion I implied it's about duplicating 
things in sidebar and toolbar got an impression that even more places 
for same things would be good. My bad if that's was not the case.

> Now to a point I was thinking about yesterday regarding the use of 
> icons. Years ago I taught classes on the use of basic office software. 
> Mostly I taught Microsoft Excel, Word, Powerpoint and Outlook. I 
> quickly learned that it's very difficult to teach people by showing 
> them icons. Fortunately, Microsoft had spent a lot of money studying 
> software usability. Microsoft applications at that time took a 
> systematic approach.  Any given command might be accessed through the 
> menu, by clicking on a button or by using a shortcut key combination.  
> The entry in the menu displayed an icon, the command name, and the 
> shortcut combination (assuming it had all three). Any buttons on the 
> interface displayed the associated icon from the menu.
>
> I taught my students to find the command in the menu first. Once they 
> found that they could find the corresponding button or learn to use 
> the shortcut keys. Buttons and shortcuts improve productivity, but 
> menus are where people find the option first.
I wholeheartedly agree. GNOME default is now not to use icons inside 
menus (clutter), but shortcuts are still there, very useful.

> Since introducing the ribbons, Microsoft interfaces have become much 
> more difficult to navigate. Now we have to search help or hover the 
> mouse over the buttons trying to find the right one. I would strongly 
> suggest that Libreoffice not abandon the menu interface with icons. It 
> should always be an option.
Agreed, I also have had to google simple stuff because it's buried deep 
into ribbon.

On the other hand there are a few good things, such as better show of 
mnemonics after pressing Alt key.
Ribbon also has nice style picker (has nothing to do with ribbon 
concept, was just implemented at the same time), which makes using 
styles easier and more natural, thanks for that sometimes people 
surprise me by using styles.

> On a side note I'd like to see one improvement to how applications do 
> menus.  I'd like to see an autocomplete menu where users can find the 
> command they're looking for. Something where you could type "print" 
> and it would show all the printing commands. Each command would 
> display the associated icon, the shortcut, link to help and (maybe in 
> a popup) provide the menu path and any context menu paths.
That sounds like something only a CS teacher would come up with :) Nice 
idea.

Mattias

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