Subject: expected dialogues, unexpected pop-up dialogues, getting things done with and without dialogues
Eugene Eric Kim wrote: > > … Point me to the user study that says that _all_ pop-ups hurt usability > or are counter to expert usage… > Without arguing either way, I offer an example from within OpenOffice.org Project Renaissance,† within the User Experience (UX) Project area.†† <http://ux.openoffice.org/servlets/ReadMsg?listName=discuss&msgNo=2688>††† describes a basic goal of one contributor's design: > to 100% eliminate any workflow processes that require the > user to leave his workspace. He should never be prompted > with a pop-up when a more than appropriate sidebar can > display the necessary options - as he needs them - rather > than have to stop working with the document long enough to > make the changes in a pop up and then hit "ok" only to > have to go BACK into the pop up again because the changes > were not satisfactory to him. -- <http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User:JaronBaron> Within the current research phase <http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance:The_Roadmap> of Renaissance, the User Feedback Program is beginning. Whilst I don't expect the results of such research to conclude/recommend that pop-ups are Universally Bad Things, it will be interesting to follow progress. Assuming I'm still involved there at relevant times in the future, I might offer some pointers from chandler-users to OpenOffice.org UX whenever something particularly interesting occurs. (One OOo thing of probable future interest to Chandler developers was released two days ago, I'll post that to a separate topic.) (Relax: I shan't flood Chandler with information from OOo! AFAIR this is my first mention of the OOo side.) > … I hate superfluous pop-ups also. But discounting the very notion of them > as > always hurting expert usage seems a bit extreme… > I sometimes dislike the *unexpected* appearance of a dialogue. I do often find that a considerately designed, keyboard accessible *expected* dialogue allows me to get a thing done: a) more rapidly, b) with greater confidence and c) with greater focus — than a single-workspace UI that or requires excessive mouse movement, or is unpredictable, or less than 100% clear, or has squeezed an excess into any area. YMMV. (I don't doubt that other software titles present dialogues that don't fit my a-b-c. These are probably the software titles that I try, then rapidly discard or set aside. Amongst the first prize winners at <http://mashable.com/openwebawards/the-winners/> is something that I love, conceptually, but its lack of keyboard-friendliness makes it too slow to be viable for me.) --- Back to Chandler: Oh. I can't remember what I was going to say now! Rather than muddle, I'll post this message before I forget, then pick up the thread when I'm sane. --- † <http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance> †† <http://ux.openoffice.org/> ††† Following the December 2008 creation of a dedicated list, discussion relating to Renaissance was stered from disc...@ux… to u...@ux…; <http://n2.nabble.com/-f1803106.html> covers the period from 5th January 2009; <http://ux.openoffice.org/servlets/ProjectMailingListList> for the more comprehensive (but less easily searchable) archives of the superset of UX lists. -- View this message in context: http://n2.nabble.com/The-troublesome-%27Remove%27-word%3A-alternatives--tp2153098p2161388.html Sent from the Chandler users mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list unsubscribe here: http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/chandler-users Chandler wiki: http://chandlerproject.org/wikihome
