Re: [tdf-discuss] UI proposal

Hi all!

I just "picked" one mail in this UI proposal thread, since many comments
after the initial mail seem to lead to further questions ... or let's
say "lonely catchwords" that don't lead to answers (to me) ;-)

Am Freitag, den 15.10.2010, 16:07 +0800 schrieb David Nelson:
> Hi Mirek, :-)

Also from my side, hi Miroslav! It seems that a UX team is formed
somehow ;-)

> Microsoft have done pretty well with their 2010 makeover, bringing
> useful stuff that was previously buried in menus to the ribbon.

Absolutely! Although not being a fan of Microsoft "the company", they
did some very clever designs for MSO 2010 (especially the new search and
the backstage view). From my point-of-view, a very good move to enable
"normal people" to use the software more efficiently and effectively. 

> I'd love to see something inspired from this idea in LibO... And
> basically I'd love to be able to tear off the ribbons and float them,
> or dock them top, left, right or bottom as I want.

Well, basically we all talk about how to access functionality. Moreover,
how to provide functionality that it just fits into the user's mind and
fits to their workflows. That said, we may summarize that there are are
already plenty of different concepts ... all having advantages and
disadvantages. So going for one concept is more or less deciding for the
less annoying disadvantages *g*

For all people interested in this thread, please have a look at the FAQ
of the OOo Renaissance Project. Some of the points have already been
addressed there, e.g. the limitations of theming.
http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance/FAQ#Official_Statements

By the way, the "dock ... as I want" is something for more advanced
users (important, but still the minority *g*). When Microsoft introduced
the dockable concept for MSO some years ago, users screwed up the user
interfaces in no time :-) This was one of the reasons for a rather
static Ribbon concept. So if one goes for customization, it is required
to handle that _very_ carefully.

Charles mentioned that "choice is best" ... that is true if people
really know what they want and how to adapt something in their given
situation. Many software products miss that the majority of their users
doesn't fall into that category :-) So to prepare an interaction concept
that it works right from the start for most people, that is the real
hard part.

Concerning the latter, I was really pleased to read the threads dealing
with "how users can find support" or "how do user deal with web search
to find LibO". I'm really looking forward to finish all this
administrative stuff to join to work with you to improve things.

> IMHO, LibO needs something that is quite new and a bold departure...

If this means that it is "good" and "helpful" at the same time, I'm with
you :-)

[...]

Good night,
Christoph


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