Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Christopher Stark]

Yes, you have to have a google account to view these files. I will
definitely not get a google account!

There are so many free file hosters out there, so it shouldn't be a
problem to upload the screenshots there, or as Hillar says upload them
directly to the Libreoffice wiki...

Christopher



Am 19.06.2011 08:10, schrieb Hillar Liiv:
> hello,
>
> Google Docs link don't work for me. Can you please upload it to
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/
> You need to make account to there and then in left menu is "upload file".
> Or log in and then go to link
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Special:Upload
>
> Hillar
>
>
>
> 2011/6/19 Budislav Stepanov 
>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9ybC3iXpbVBNDI2YWM3NTAtOGQ5ZC00MGM0LThkMDEtNWM4ZDc1ZjE0YzA4&hl=en_US
>>
>> On 19 June 2011 00:54, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
>>
>>> On 19/06/2011 00:47, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
 How to send a screenshot?

 On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:

> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
>> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office
>>> should
>> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
>> set, so let's
>> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
>>
> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
>
> --
> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to
>> design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> Posting guidelines + more:
>>> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> deleted
>
>
>>> Post it on an external file storage website (Gdocs, ubuntu one, wiki...)
>>> and give us a direct link ;)
>>>
>>> --
>>> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
>>> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
>>> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
>>> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
>>> deleted
>>>
>>>
>>
>> --
>> Regards,
>> Budislav
>>
>> --
>> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
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>> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
>> deleted
>>
>>

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Hillar Liiv]

hello,

Google Docs link don't work for me. Can you please upload it to
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/
You need to make account to there and then in left menu is "upload file".
Or log in and then go to link
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Special:Upload

Hillar



2011/6/19 Budislav Stepanov 

> Thanks,
>
> https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9ybC3iXpbVBNDI2YWM3NTAtOGQ5ZC00MGM0LThkMDEtNWM4ZDc1ZjE0YzA4&hl=en_US
>
> On 19 June 2011 00:54, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
>
> > On 19/06/2011 00:47, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> > > How to send a screenshot?
> > >
> > > On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
> > >
> > >> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> > >>> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office
> > should
> > >>> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
> > >>> set, so let's
> > >>> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
> > >>>
> > >> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
> > >> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
> > >>
> > >> --
> > >> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to
> design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> > >> Posting guidelines + more:
> > http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> > >> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> > >> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> > >> deleted
> > >>
> > >>
> > >
> > Post it on an external file storage website (Gdocs, ubuntu one, wiki...)
> > and give us a direct link ;)
> >
> > --
> > Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> > deleted
> >
> >
>
>
> --
> Regards,
> Budislav
>
> --
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> deleted
>
>

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Design Tenets Proposal

[jlopez777]

We come back to these great points but what is lacking is proper
infrastructure and channels of operation. We speak of users with no data to
back up with anything and most importantly, no brand identity. Nothing will
come forth from this type of infrastructure if we split hairs on how it
applies to every single user imaginable, nothing will get done.

I proposed a while ago with no comments a structure that dealt with the
foundation of the layout design. How can we speak of specifics, when we
cannot reach a consesus on keeping the layout as is, or introducing a
vertical toolbar, or customizable ribbon like layout (personally, we will
NEVER reach consensus if there is no BRAND IDENTITY of what LibreOffice is
and who its for...and lets not be cliche and say its for everyone because
that can be interpreted so many different ways).

We must come to a decision of what the GENERAL layout should be, then work
on menu/icon placement, then work on functinality, and last but DEF NOT
LEAST, visual appeal.

We will have to put time tables up, because we can never progress unless we
all are on the same page regarding the need to progress and if a great idea
can't be fit in the timeline set, then we wait to introduce it in the next
clycle release. We can forgo all these great ideas that we have just because
we have to iron out every single aspect of it.

The tenets are great, but again, if we don't have a structure and not use
the current infrastructure properly, we will do nothing more but right great
emails about great ideas that never see the light of day. Im sorry if I
sound a little over the top, I really care, like all of you, about the
advancement of the value libreoffice can have on so many people.

So, I decided to do something a little different and create this site for an
alternative infrastructure that is meant to be smaller in scale, but faster
in pace in some respects. If you are interested in experimenting with a
different kind of infrastructure, and flesh out some experimental
designs...I especially invite you (anyone really).

Here is the link.
http://libreofficedesign.weebly.com

I look forward to seeing where this goes...

JL




On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 6:35 PM, planas  wrote:

> Ricardo
>
> On Sat, 2011-06-18 at 10:46 +0200, RGB ES wrote:
>
> > 2011/6/17 Scott Pledger :
> > > Hey all,
> > >
> > > One thing that I've noticed is that we have a lot of great redesign
> > > proposals floating around, but we have yet to establish a true
> direction for
> > > the Libre Office platform.  Someone recently posted this video (
> > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9kD693ie4 ) which really made me
> realize
> > > the importance of having specific long-term goals for software design.
> > >  Therefore, I wanted to propose a few simple goals that I think
> LibreOffice
> > > ought to have for its design as we move forward (maybe even for the 4.0
> > > release)  as well as the basic tenets that I think we can use to help
> > > achieve these goals.  So, here we go:
> > >
> > > *The Goals:*
> > >
> > >   - *Make LibreOffice easy to use while retaining its power.*  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.  The best example of this is page margins.
>  The
> > >   easiest way for a lot of my customers to find this is through the
> > >   right-click menu.
> > >   - *Lead current trends in technology, don't just follow.*
>  LibreOffice
> > >   retains a layout that was first commercially phased out about four
> years
> > >   ago.  While the Menu/Toolbar paradigm is an excellent way of
> displaying
> > >   program features for less fully-featured software and smaller
> screens, but
> > >   let's face it - most desktop screens are no longer small and
> LibreOffice is
> > >   extremely full-featured.  Instead of copying another office suite,
> let's
> > >   pave the way for others to build on.
> > >   - *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.
> > >
> > > *The Tenets:*
> > >
> > >   - *Allow users to focus on the content, not the UI.*  The document
> > >   viewport should never change size or lose/gain visibility due to
> pop-up
> > >   dialogs or toolbars.  The only exception to this is menus, as users
> expect
> > >   these to overlap their document.  One major subset of this should be
> live
> > >   previews.  For instance, you have to click through Headings 1-10
> > >   individually to see what the differences are.
> > >   - *Everything should be accessible within 3 clicks, not just the
> 'most
> > >   common' features.*  This will help reduce the clutter while
> increasing
> > >   users' mastery of the software.
> > >   - *Consistent UI areas (not f

Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[drew]

On Sun, 2011-06-19 at 00:54 +0200, Kévin PEIGNOT wrote:
> On 19/06/2011 00:47, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> > How to send a screenshot?
> >
> > On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
> >
> >> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> >>> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office should
> >>> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
> >>> set, so let's
> >>> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
> >>>
> >> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
> >> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
> >>
> >
> Post it on an external file storage website (Gdocs, ubuntu one, wiki...)
> and give us a direct link ;)
> 

Or post it in-line as an HTML email using the NABBLE interface and it
will do the same thing automatically when it transfers it to the text
only mailing list.

The physical file will be stored in the DocumentFoundaton repository on
the NABBLE server and pass this location as a URL in the message body.

//drew



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Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Budislav Stepanov]

Thanks,
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9ybC3iXpbVBNDI2YWM3NTAtOGQ5ZC00MGM0LThkMDEtNWM4ZDc1ZjE0YzA4&hl=en_US

On 19 June 2011 00:54, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:

> On 19/06/2011 00:47, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> > How to send a screenshot?
> >
> > On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
> >
> >> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> >>> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office
> should
> >>> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
> >>> set, so let's
> >>> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
> >>>
> >> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
> >> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
> >>
> >> --
> >> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> >> Posting guidelines + more:
> http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> >> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> >> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> >> deleted
> >>
> >>
> >
> Post it on an external file storage website (Gdocs, ubuntu one, wiki...)
> and give us a direct link ;)
>
> --
> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> deleted
>
>


-- 
Regards,
Budislav

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Kévin PEIGNOT]

On 19/06/2011 00:47, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> How to send a screenshot?
>
> On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:
>
>> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
>>> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office should
>>> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
>>> set, so let's
>>> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
>>>
>> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
>> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
>>
>> --
>> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
>> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
>> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
>> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
>> deleted
>>
>>
>
Post it on an external file storage website (Gdocs, ubuntu one, wiki...)
and give us a direct link ;)

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Budislav Stepanov]

How to send a screenshot?

On 19 June 2011 00:10, Kévin PEIGNOT  wrote:

> On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> > I've created a new interface design, according to which the office should
> > look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
> > set, so let's
> > be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
> >
> If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
> rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)
>
> --
> Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to design+h...@global.libreoffice.org
> Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette
> List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/
> All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be
> deleted
>
>


-- 
Regards,
Budislav

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Design Tenets Proposal

[planas]

Ricardo

On Sat, 2011-06-18 at 10:46 +0200, RGB ES wrote:

> 2011/6/17 Scott Pledger :
> > Hey all,
> >
> > One thing that I've noticed is that we have a lot of great redesign
> > proposals floating around, but we have yet to establish a true direction for
> > the Libre Office platform.  Someone recently posted this video (
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9kD693ie4 ) which really made me realize
> > the importance of having specific long-term goals for software design.
> >  Therefore, I wanted to propose a few simple goals that I think LibreOffice
> > ought to have for its design as we move forward (maybe even for the 4.0
> > release)  as well as the basic tenets that I think we can use to help
> > achieve these goals.  So, here we go:
> >
> > *The Goals:*
> >
> >   - *Make LibreOffice easy to use while retaining its power.*  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.  The best example of this is page margins.  The
> >   easiest way for a lot of my customers to find this is through the
> >   right-click menu.
> >   - *Lead current trends in technology, don't just follow.*  LibreOffice
> >   retains a layout that was first commercially phased out about four years
> >   ago.  While the Menu/Toolbar paradigm is an excellent way of displaying
> >   program features for less fully-featured software and smaller screens, but
> >   let's face it - most desktop screens are no longer small and LibreOffice 
> > is
> >   extremely full-featured.  Instead of copying another office suite, let's
> >   pave the way for others to build on.
> >   - *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.
> >
> > *The Tenets:*
> >
> >   - *Allow users to focus on the content, not the UI.*  The document
> >   viewport should never change size or lose/gain visibility due to pop-up
> >   dialogs or toolbars.  The only exception to this is menus, as users expect
> >   these to overlap their document.  One major subset of this should be live
> >   previews.  For instance, you have to click through Headings 1-10
> >   individually to see what the differences are.
> >   - *Everything should be accessible within 3 clicks, not just the 'most
> >   common' features.*  This will help reduce the clutter while increasing
> >   users' mastery of the software.
> >   - *Consistent UI areas (not features) across all individual 'apps'.*
> >   Keep the UI as consistent as possible without sacrificing the
> >   features/functionality of any individual app (Calc, Writer, etc.).
> >   - *Value context over comprehensiveness.*  Users don't need to have table
> >   tools up and at the ready when they only have text in the body of a 
> > document
> >   selected.
> >
> > Let me know what you think of these and, in particular, how you would
> > change/expand on these.  This is just a very very rough draft (and very well
> > could be repeating itself or incomplete) of things that I see , but
> > ultimately LibreOffice isn't any one man's software, but rather everyone's,
> > so I invite everyone to put some thought into this and please reply to this
> > so we can come up with a general UX direction for this incredible project!
> >
> > Scott
> >
> 
> I only have one comment to your e-mail: you use the word "user"
> several times, but THE user is something impossible to define.
> It is a fact of life that you cannot please everyone, and a great
> design for some people will be a disaster for others so first of all
> we need to define the "user CASE".
> An invoice is not the same than a technical manual, and a technical
> manual is not the same than a scholar's essay full of old ligatures
> and typographical variants.
> So ideally we would need a UI flexible enough to adapt to as many user
> cases as possible, then identify the elements needed for each user
> case, "group" those elements on different "user case UIs" and finally
> provide a way to switch from one user case to the other.
> That's a HUGE, almost impossible task...
> The alternative (but I think it should be the chosen path) is to
> provide a flexible enough UI that it is easy to configure and have a
> "reasonable" (yes, we need to define "reasonably") set of default
> values to start from so each user can quickly build what they need
> without effort and without costly "learning curves".
> Cheers
> Ricardo
> 

I agree about the users will need to customize the UI for their
particular needs. This is one area where MS made a mistake with the
Ribbon. It is not that easy to customize by the user. On problem I have
noticed with many users is they will not experiment with many of the
features of any software package once they get past a limited period of
learning. They will solve problems often 

Re: [libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Kévin PEIGNOT]

On 19/06/2011 00:02, Budislav Stepanov wrote:
> I've created a new interface design, according to which the office should
> look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
> set, so let's
> be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.
>
If you joined a screenshot with the mail, you must know that they are
rejected automatically on the mailing list ;)

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[libreoffice-design] Complete redesign of the interface!

[Budislav Stepanov]

I've created a new interface design, according to which the office should
look like in the future. If someone has a better suggestion let it
set, so let's
be clear, the new interface is required. Sorry for bad English.

-- 
Regards,
Budislav

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Re: [libreoffice-design] User Research

[Bernhard Dippold]

Hi Björn, *

Björn Balazs schrieb:

Hi *,

Am Mittwoch, 15. Juni 2011, 17:03:04 schrieb planas:

To add to your end user surveys, could Twitter help? Sending a link in a
tweet about a user survey. Using the users group may get the group has
problems not the ones who have none and skew the data. Not that we
should ignore the user issues for ideas and suggestions.


Yeah - Twitter is a great idea!

An idea I just had: why dont we establish a mailing list? We could ask users
that do participate in a survey (e.g. because they clicked on a twitter link)
to sign into the mailing list, so we can easily ask them to participate on
further surveys?


Do you want to use this mailing list for communication or rather as a 
specialized announcement list?


I don't like to spread discussions on even more mailing lists, but some 
kind of newsletter subscription for these topics does make sense IMHO.


Who could do this? Florian?


Probably - perhaps the other admins too.

If we agree that such a tool would be reasonable, we should ask for help 
on the website@global mailing list.


Best regards

Bernhard

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Hi everybody!

[Bernhard Dippold]

Hi Isabel, all

I just moderated your mail to the list - sorry for the delay.

If you didn't already, please send a mail to
design+subscr...@global.libreoffice.org and reply to the confirmation
mail. After this you'll get all the mails sent to the list and you're
able to post to the list without waiting for moderation.

Isabel Menz schrieb:


Hi all!

As others before me I'm new here and I'd like to introduce myself!


That's great! Welcome aboard!

Did you already have a look at our wiki area:
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design

And it would be highly appreciated, if you could add some lines about
yourself on http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Design/Team .


Together with Björn Balazs I'm gonna work on the user research by
developing and realising surveys (as he already mentioned)! Im still
studying to get my MSc in Human Factors in Berlin, so I cant impress
with many years of experience, but I hope, I can help and we will
find some interesting facts about the users that hopefully can help
to improve the software!


We definitely need people like you!

Join us, comment on and contribute to any topic you like.

I'm looking forward to your postings!

Best regards

Bernhard

PS: If you don't want to get all the mails sent to the list in your 
inbox, but prefer following the list via Gmane (when it works again), 
Nabble or the archives, just subscribe with a "nomail" tag in the 
subscription request (design+subscribe-nom...@global.libreoffice.org)


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[libreoffice-design] Hi everybody!

[Isabel Menz]

Hi all!

As others before me I'm new here and I'd like to introduce myself!

Together with Björn Balazs I'm gonna work on the user research by developing 
and realising surveys (as he already mentioned)!
Im still studying to get my MSc in Human Factors in Berlin, so I cant impress 
with many years of experience, but I hope, I can help and we will find some 
interesting facts about the users that hopefully can help to improve the 
software!

Best wishes

Isabel

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Re: [libreoffice-design] Design Tenets Proposal

[Scott Pledger]

Thanks, Ricardo - you bring up an excellent point regarding "the user".
 However, that is beyond the scope of these Tenets.  My only goal for these
is to provide a general direction for us when going through the researching,
prototyping, and final development of any kind of UI overhaul for LO.
 Research without aim rarely makes an impact.  Once we have a specific set
of improvement goals for LO, we can start performing more in-depth research
of our users.  However, for the interim, I think we need to come up with a
single, generally-agreed (>80% of long-term end-users), good layout proposal
then refine exactly where/how actions go/behave through continued research.
 This is one major advantage we have over MS Office - we can release minor
updates which would include UI enhancements both frequently and quickly
based on user feedback, which makes our refining process significantly
easier.  Of course for the duration of the UX redesign, we would also permit
users to continue using the old UI as we complete work on the new one.
 Possibly, the best way would be to call the new redesign 4.0 or 5.0 (or
another major revision) while keeping the old UI as the lower version number
(3.* or 4.* or whatever it winds up being).  In the long run, this kind of
short-term refining would make LO a far better product than it is today.

Thanks for all the input - keep it coming!
Scott


On Sat, Jun 18, 2011 at 02:46, RGB ES  wrote:

> 2011/6/17 Scott Pledger :
> > Hey all,
> >
> > One thing that I've noticed is that we have a lot of great redesign
> > proposals floating around, but we have yet to establish a true direction
> for
> > the Libre Office platform.  Someone recently posted this video (
> > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9kD693ie4 ) which really made me
> realize
> > the importance of having specific long-term goals for software design.
> >  Therefore, I wanted to propose a few simple goals that I think
> LibreOffice
> > ought to have for its design as we move forward (maybe even for the 4.0
> > release)  as well as the basic tenets that I think we can use to help
> > achieve these goals.  So, here we go:
> >
> > *The Goals:*
> >
> >   - *Make LibreOffice easy to use while retaining its power.*  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.  The best example of this is page margins.  The
> >   easiest way for a lot of my customers to find this is through the
> >   right-click menu.
> >   - *Lead current trends in technology, don't just follow.*  LibreOffice
> >   retains a layout that was first commercially phased out about four
> years
> >   ago.  While the Menu/Toolbar paradigm is an excellent way of displaying
> >   program features for less fully-featured software and smaller screens,
> but
> >   let's face it - most desktop screens are no longer small and
> LibreOffice is
> >   extremely full-featured.  Instead of copying another office suite,
> let's
> >   pave the way for others to build on.
> >   - *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.
> >
> > *The Tenets:*
> >
> >   - *Allow users to focus on the content, not the UI.*  The document
> >   viewport should never change size or lose/gain visibility due to pop-up
> >   dialogs or toolbars.  The only exception to this is menus, as users
> expect
> >   these to overlap their document.  One major subset of this should be
> live
> >   previews.  For instance, you have to click through Headings 1-10
> >   individually to see what the differences are.
> >   - *Everything should be accessible within 3 clicks, not just the 'most
> >   common' features.*  This will help reduce the clutter while increasing
> >   users' mastery of the software.
> >   - *Consistent UI areas (not features) across all individual 'apps'.*
> >   Keep the UI as consistent as possible without sacrificing the
> >   features/functionality of any individual app (Calc, Writer, etc.).
> >   - *Value context over comprehensiveness.*  Users don't need to have
> table
> >   tools up and at the ready when they only have text in the body of a
> document
> >   selected.
> >
> > Let me know what you think of these and, in particular, how you would
> > change/expand on these.  This is just a very very rough draft (and very
> well
> > could be repeating itself or incomplete) of things that I see , but
> > ultimately LibreOffice isn't any one man's software, but rather
> everyone's,
> > so I invite everyone to put some thought into this and please reply to
> this
> > so we can come up with a general UX direction for this incredible
> project!
> >
> > Scott
> >
>
> I only have one comment to your e-mail: you use the word "user"
> several times, but THE user is something impossible to define.
> It is

Re: [libreoffice-design] Design Tenets Proposal

[RGB ES]

2011/6/17 Scott Pledger :
> Hey all,
>
> One thing that I've noticed is that we have a lot of great redesign
> proposals floating around, but we have yet to establish a true direction for
> the Libre Office platform.  Someone recently posted this video (
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tl9kD693ie4 ) which really made me realize
> the importance of having specific long-term goals for software design.
>  Therefore, I wanted to propose a few simple goals that I think LibreOffice
> ought to have for its design as we move forward (maybe even for the 4.0
> release)  as well as the basic tenets that I think we can use to help
> achieve these goals.  So, here we go:
>
> *The Goals:*
>
>   - *Make LibreOffice easy to use while retaining its power.*  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.  The best example of this is page margins.  The
>   easiest way for a lot of my customers to find this is through the
>   right-click menu.
>   - *Lead current trends in technology, don't just follow.*  LibreOffice
>   retains a layout that was first commercially phased out about four years
>   ago.  While the Menu/Toolbar paradigm is an excellent way of displaying
>   program features for less fully-featured software and smaller screens, but
>   let's face it - most desktop screens are no longer small and LibreOffice is
>   extremely full-featured.  Instead of copying another office suite, let's
>   pave the way for others to build on.
>   - *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.
>
> *The Tenets:*
>
>   - *Allow users to focus on the content, not the UI.*  The document
>   viewport should never change size or lose/gain visibility due to pop-up
>   dialogs or toolbars.  The only exception to this is menus, as users expect
>   these to overlap their document.  One major subset of this should be live
>   previews.  For instance, you have to click through Headings 1-10
>   individually to see what the differences are.
>   - *Everything should be accessible within 3 clicks, not just the 'most
>   common' features.*  This will help reduce the clutter while increasing
>   users' mastery of the software.
>   - *Consistent UI areas (not features) across all individual 'apps'.*
>   Keep the UI as consistent as possible without sacrificing the
>   features/functionality of any individual app (Calc, Writer, etc.).
>   - *Value context over comprehensiveness.*  Users don't need to have table
>   tools up and at the ready when they only have text in the body of a document
>   selected.
>
> Let me know what you think of these and, in particular, how you would
> change/expand on these.  This is just a very very rough draft (and very well
> could be repeating itself or incomplete) of things that I see , but
> ultimately LibreOffice isn't any one man's software, but rather everyone's,
> so I invite everyone to put some thought into this and please reply to this
> so we can come up with a general UX direction for this incredible project!
>
> Scott
>

I only have one comment to your e-mail: you use the word "user"
several times, but THE user is something impossible to define.
It is a fact of life that you cannot please everyone, and a great
design for some people will be a disaster for others so first of all
we need to define the "user CASE".
An invoice is not the same than a technical manual, and a technical
manual is not the same than a scholar's essay full of old ligatures
and typographical variants.
So ideally we would need a UI flexible enough to adapt to as many user
cases as possible, then identify the elements needed for each user
case, "group" those elements on different "user case UIs" and finally
provide a way to switch from one user case to the other.
That's a HUGE, almost impossible task...
The alternative (but I think it should be the chosen path) is to
provide a flexible enough UI that it is easy to configure and have a
"reasonable" (yes, we need to define "reasonably") set of default
values to start from so each user can quickly build what they need
without effort and without costly "learning curves".
Cheers
Ricardo

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