Re: [libreoffice-design] Re: [libreoffice-design] Ribbons and Background Color UX

Hi Scott

You're right on target about the ineffective vertical space that MS 
allows for and I like some of your sample screens. The vertical Word 
menu is a very clear way of presenting options without any ambiguity.

I'd like to work more closely with you on these types of design 
decisions. Have a look at Design\Whiteboards\InterfaceImprovement and 
get back to me with your thoughts. The more of the design team in favour 
of a more usable approach increases the chances of getting changes made.

Cheers

Phil Jackson



On 5/27/2011 2:45 AM, Scott Pledger wrote:
> Hey all!
>
> Sorry its been so long!! This is a topic that I've put a lot of thought into
> and one which I would love to work both the design and implementation sides
> of.  Personally, I have an extreme dislike of the way that MS Office handles
> its ribbon layout.  When you combine the Office 2011 ribbon and massive
> taskbar found in Windows 7, the default set-up uses around 3 inches of
> vertical space on my widescreen laptop, which means I have all of 5 (ish)
> inches of viewing space to actually see the document I am working on,
> whereas I still have all 10 or so inches horizontally that is mostly wasted
> space.  I think that the shift in the way that monitor manufacturers design
> new products is something that almost every other office software has
> essentially ignored.  I think that this above almost anything else should
> take precedent with any kind of UI redesign because this shift in paradigm
> doesn't seem to be going away, no matter how much I wish it would.
>
> With this in mind, I think that using a context-based toolbar system is
> essential.  For instance, when I have an image selected, I see little to no
> reason for a font/text-formatting toolbar to be visible nor do I think that
> having floating toolbars just pop up is the best solution as the eye is
> attracted to movement and this is a major distraction.  Having a static area
> on the screen where these context-based toolbars might appear would make a
> lot of sense because we can just fade the toolbars in (or something along
> those lines) based on what the user has selected without drastic screen
> changes.  Also, I think that another great feature of a redesign might be
> previews of what effect clicking on a button would have on the document.
>   For instance, hovering the cursor over the 'Bold' button would show in the
> preview area how clicking this would affect the text in question.
>
> Additionally, I definitely agree with Bernhard that we really need to have a
> single place to throw ideas around.
>
> These are just a few of the details that I've been thinking about with the
> posts I sent about a month ago of a design concept (source can be downloaded
> at http://pledgecomputers.com/LibreOffice/Redesign/Concept.odg or as a pdf
> at http://pledgecomputers.com/LibreOffice/Redesign/Concept.pdf ).  Its
> really early on right now and just details the basic idea, but I think it
> could serve as a good starting point for a UX overhaul.  Thoughts anyone?
>
> Scott
>
>
> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 07:13, Bernhard Dippold<bernhard@familie-dippold.at
> > wrote:
> > Hi all,
> >
> > sorry for stepping in here so late, especially as this topic has been
> > discussed over and over again in OOo UX (Renaissance) and here
> > in LibreOffice too.
> >
> > Irrelevant of the fact that some people understand the word "ribbon"
> > as a red flag they start to rant against, we neither copy any competitor's
> > design decisions without really good reasons nor we drop support to
> > our present users  just because we want to establish something "new"
> > and "cool".
> >
> > I'm quite sure that we'll be able to combine a static menu structure with
> > a context sensitive one and provide this to the user in an easy-to-use
> > and eye-pleasing way. And this structure will be at least as configurable
> > as the present UI.
> >
> > You all are right that this needs thorough development and research -
> > it's one of our most important tasks for the next months and years.
> >
> > But please stop discussing the word "ribbon" and what MS created
> > by using this word - this keeps us away from real work on LibreOffice
> > design.
> >
> > Create a wiki page containing our UI goals - for all of our target groups.
> >
> > Start defining the context sensitive areas and find out how they can be
> > accessed via static menus without double effort.
> >
> > Have a look what Renaissance already did on OOo - and use these
> > results as basis for your own work.
> >
> > We have many areas where our presence is really important - this topic
> > is one of them.
> >
> > But we should avoid to discuss details like graphical approach, menu
> > positioning and so on: The first thing to do is defining the functionality
> > - form
> > will follow function when we really know how it should work...
> >
> > Best regards
> >
> > Bernhard
> >
> > PS: And please keep in mind, that we need to convince our developers to
> > work
> > in this area - otherwise none of our ideas will come true...
> >
> >
> >
> >
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