If we can relate "Firebug" to "firefly", then note a firefly blinks only when it is active and stays dark when it is inactive. How about an icon that reflects that analogy?
Watching all this dialog go back and forth about the UI I keep thinking a significant part of the problem for me is that the UI is not documented (and it keeps changing without documentation of the changes). At least there is no documentation to speak of that is readily at hand when it is in use. The result is that the user learns the interface by discovery and implication, and discovers changes by the same process. Between analogs that do not match individual understandings, changes from one release to another, and bugs that lead to incorrect mental models of what is going on the tool becomes difficult to use and evokes the flood of objections. I think understanding what is going on in those terms might help everyone get closer to a common view of what is going on and what is needed. There are a pretty complicated set of concepts going on in Firebug as to states and so on. People need to at least know what is intended so they can adapt their mental models and they can differentiate between misunderstandings and bugs. Firebug needs to be easily discoverable and that means it has to draw on established interface paradigms. People bring established understandings of what various interface elements do in an app or tool, and what states to expect in an app. Having different states that are not obvious, and different effects for common UI elements has to be avoided, or at a minimum well documented. Less seriously: Firebug needs a couple of things that would relieve the maintainers of a large part of the messages and questions and give them lots more time to actually develop. The new user must sign a release acknowledging that Firebug can not change the code on a host site before they can use the tool. Second, Firebug needs a big button that "installs in a new profile". It would be good if it would be automatically invoked when the user runs into a problem too... ;-) Bob On Jul 15, 2009, at 12:28 PM, johnjbarton wrote: > > > > On Jul 15, 9:13 am, Kara Rawson <[email protected]> wrote: > ... >> since we are on the topic of icons, how much work would it be to have >> the firebug activation icon in your browser switch to a firefly on >> its >> back when its off rather then just have it grey, you know like what >> bugs >> look like when they are dead. This would be cute, and funny. just a >> random idea. > > A practical reason to use icon orientation rather than just color is > that some users cannot detect the color difference easily due to > differences in eyesight. > jjb > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Firebug" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/firebug?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
