Re: [libreoffice-design] Design Tenets Proposal

Bernhard, all,

These are all wonderful points!!

> 2011/6/19 Bernhard Dippold<bernhard@familie-dippold.at>:
> > > *The Goals:*
> > >
> > >     - *Make LibreOffice easy to use while retaining its power.*
> > I don't know if it is reasonable to have these two topics linked together so
> > tigthly.
> >
> > Ease of use is of course one of the most important goals.
> >
> > But it relates reciprocally to the complexity of the task.
> >
> > If we come to a point where these two goals (ease of use and powerful
> > feature-richness) are so oppositional that we had to reduce the importance of
> > one in favour of the other, which one would be supported?
> Features! We cannot lost already existing features just because a
> redesigned UI.
This is exactly why I chose to phrase it as I did.  I don't want to see any of the hard work of 
others to vanish just because the UI is morphing - LibreOffice is one of the most powerful office 
suites available today and I would hate to see that paradigm change.

> > >     This is by
> > >     far one of the biggest complaints I have when I suggest that my clients use
> > >     LibreOffice - they don't understand where things are in the
> > >     menu/toolbar hierarchy.  [...]
> > I would not introduce details in this phase of the discussion, because they might
> > lead to a narrowed view on the topic.
> >
> > Ease of use is far more than toolbars/menus: numbers of mouse clicks, mouse
> > distances, tastature access/accessibility come to my mind - and there are even
> > more like colors and contrast, positioning of objects and so on:
> >
> > Nearly every modification to the UI has an impact in this field.
> Agree
> > >     - *Lead current trends in technology, don't just follow.*  [...]
> > >     Instead of copying another office suite, let's
> > >     pave the way for others to build on.
> > While I fully support the second part of the statement, I don't want to have the
> > first one as part of our main goals.
> >
> > I want to see LibreOffice having the *best* UI, not the newest or trendiest one.
> +1000
> > There are parts in other UIs being very interesting and clever.  We can include
> > them (if legally possible) in our general concept, if they fit well.
> >
> > If LibreOffice will be a trendsetter or not depends on the fact if we find *better*
> > solutions than all the other designer out there (or if we manage to include them
> > more consistently in our product).
> >
> > So just following others is as wrong as setting trends in technology while other
> > existing ideas manage to fulfill the necessary task much better...
> Fully agree with that
I also agree - my choice of wording here was poor and I put a bit too 
much thought into this statement when I wrote it, assuming that the best 
would by default become the trend leader. I get a bit idealistic on 
occasion ;)
> > >     - *Help people to be more efficient.*  This is really important if we
> > >     want to get LibreOffice used in more businesses and schools, and is
> > >     ultimately the best way to get any piece of software adopted.
> > This is tightly related to "ease of use", so I'd combine these two goals.
> >
> > What I'd like to add as goals:
> >
> > - * Interoperability on different platforms.*
> > LibreOffice wants to be present in a similar way on all the major platforms.
> > Even if user switch from one platform to another, they should be able to work
> > the way they are used to. A major task will be definition of fixed (platform
> > independent) and OS-adapted (platform specific) parts in the UI in order to
> > find a common way that provides LibreOffice's branding and behavior at the
> > same time as smooth integration in the platform (with UI elements, behavior
> >   etc)
> +1000
> >   *Don't forget actual users for possible future ones.*
> > Microsoft lost milions of users (to OOo/LibreOffice and others) because they
> > didn't take into account, that people tend to keep the Ui they are used to.
> > Even with a totally new approach we should be able to find the tasks in a
> > similar way to the old one.
> >
> > - *Let people have fun.*
> > Working with LibreOffice should provide positive feelings - have a look at the
> > slogan we positioned on the website:
> >
> > "Make it just work, and look great, too!"
> Great points!
I'll definitely add these to the wiki page, which I just set up here: 
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/Tenets
Thanks so much for all the feedback!  Also, when it comes to having 
goals, I would like to see what everyone's thoughts are on what needs to 
change about the current UI for LO.  I'll post another message in a few 
regarding this!

Scott

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