Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
I decided to take some initiative to do a mockup for future Fedora desktop. Description available on : http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga/mockups You notice some texts are missing but the concept only gives some glimpses about the desktop. SVG version is available for modifications. Feedback and constructive critics are welcome. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
Luya Tshimbalanga wrote: I decided to take some initiative to do a mockup for future Fedora desktop. Description available on : http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga/mockups This is not the first mockup I see where the menu in anchored to the right. I wonder about its usability: Fitts' law states the points closer to the corner are easier to reach, so in this case "Help" is the easiest to reach menu option and the position of "File", which arguably is the most used for some applications, is unpredictable. Can we have input from an usability expert? -- nicu Cool Fedora wallpapers: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro/wallpapers/ Open Clip Art Library: http://www.openclipart.org my Fedora stuff: http://fedora.nicubunu.ro ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
Le Jeu 19 octobre 2006 11:38, Luya Tshimbalanga a écrit : > I decided to take some initiative to do a mockup for future Fedora > desktop. Description available on : > http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga/mockups > > You notice some texts are missing but the concept only gives some > glimpses about the desktop. SVG version is available for modifications. > Feedback and constructive critics are welcome. Some feedback : 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size the user chose, and not the reverse. I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Regards, -- Nicolas Mailhot ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
Nicu Buculei wrote: Luya Tshimbalanga wrote: I decided to take some initiative to do a mockup for future Fedora desktop. Description available on : http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga/mockups This is not the first mockup I see where the menu in anchored to the right. I wonder about its usability: Fitts' law states the points closer to the corner are easier to reach, so in this case "Help" is the easiest to reach menu option and the position of "File", which arguably is the most used for some applications, is unpredictable. Can we have input from an usability expert? Actually, (so here's where my MS in HCI comes in lol), I am not a big fan of applying Fitts' law to the desktop. I've read the original Fitts paper. Fitts' law was developed to basically figure out mathematically bomb 'target acquisition' (I believe for WWII), I kid you not. It basically says this: The *bigger* a target is (the 'W' in the formula) The *closer* a target is to you (the 'D' in the formula) The more quickly you will hit the mark. The further away and smaller a target, the more time you have to spend aiming to get an accurate shot. So the time is actually aiming time. Where this applies to computer desktop usage - specifically the corners of the screen is the following: Basically, any 'target' along the edge of the monitor is easier to acquire. This is because you can slam your mouse pointer towards any edge of the screen and it will stop for you - it won't go beyond the boundaries of the screen. The corners are supposedly the easiest points on the screen to reach with your mouse because you slam the mouse pointer towards a corner and *both* edges will 'stop' the pointer. (The corner is easier as a single point to hit than a single point along the edge because you have left-right jitter to worry about in your aiming along the edge. With the corner you dont have that jitter because you have two edges stopping the cursor. If a target along the edge is large enough, though, it really isn't an issue.) From all this, the hardest point on the screen to hit at any given point is relative to the starting mouse cursor position. This can be applied in thinking about the placement of different menu items/buttons used in a single task, but in general isn't really applicable. So! To get back to the point - Fitts' law isn't really a good argument against the placement of the menu items in Luya's mockup, but convention is a good argument against it. People are used to that menu being in the upper left. I'm sure over time they'll get used to using it but the more we stray from established conventions the harder Fedora is going to be to adopt. ~m ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
> Some feedback : > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. > 2. the proposed title/menu bars are much too wasteful of space. It may > work for a simple app like nautilus but won't for dense ones like OO.o and > the Gimp. The design must accomodate the text the app displays at the size > the user chose, and not the reverse. It might be true for the Gimp but work fine with OO.oBe in mind the draft is just a study to see what is possible or not. > I'm sorry if I may sound harsh, but your proposal seems typical of the > screenshot-oriented design approch which fares so bad in real life. For > this kind of endeavour usability concerns should be the priority and art > take the back seat. Please do work through the usability SIG. A dull > concept won't kill us. A hard-to-use one certainly will. Nah, you not harsh. Getting this kind of critcs motivates determinated people. the concept is not great and I aimed to active contributor to brainstorm thier ideas while it's fresh. Luya Tshimbalanga -- Fedora Project Contributor http://www.fedoraproject.org/wiki/LuyaTshimbalanga http://www.fedoranews.org ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
Luya Tshimbalanga wrote: Some feedback : 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. Luya, I received this message 6 times, most with a minute or two between timestamps. ~m ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list
Re: Thinking ahead: some FC7 ideas - Initial concept
Le vendredi 20 octobre 2006 à 01:41 +0800, Luya Tshimbalanga a écrit : > > Some feedback : > > > 1. the blue used is much too agressive, while I agree we should move away > > from gray-only the UI should stay unobstrusive, quiet and out-of-the-way. > > I agree, I was just extract most of idas I got. Also, I've just realised why I liked the green kde theme someone posted the other day: it uses a solid colour for the title bar, not a gradient. The result is high uniform text contrast soothing for my eyes. This is not to say the theme should be 2-d only with solid colours, but you should be real careful text and gradients do not overlap (or if they do overlap use a repeating pattern like Apple stripes so the contrast stays uniform) Regards, -- Nicolas Mailhot ___ Fedora-art-list mailing list Fedora-art-list@redhat.com http://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-art-list