On 20/10/05, Manu Cornet <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi ! > > I have been working on a new version of the "add to panel" dialog, for > the Ubuntu distro. This dialog is already available by default in the > new Ubuntu "Breezy Badger" version. >
Good work! I liked the previous version, and now that I've updated to Breezy I like the new one too. Incremental search and categories provide great advantage in scanning for a particular widget. I don't feel that the 2D layout brings any usability improvements. though. I preferred the linear layout since its easier to do a complete scan. > * Although the current categories and applets organization is the result > of a serious mind job (and I find them quite logical), this can be > modified extremely easily (as a matter of fact, apart from the few > "internal" applets, categories do not actually belong to the panel's code). You should really perform an "open" card sorting. It's a technique for solving just this problem. With at least 15 users you can get an adequate categories list. http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/card_sorting_a_definitive_guide.php http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040719.html Also several tools for doing a software-based card sorting: http://condor.depaul.edu/~jtoro/cardzort/cardsorting.htm http://uzilla.mozdev.org/cardsort.html > > What do you think of this new dialog ? Do you see any other possible > enhancements ? It doesn't work for the task of adding *several* new applets. It shouldn't close when you press the + button, and the "Cancel" button should be renamed "Close". It's far easier pressing "Close" if you wanted to add a single applet that reopen the dialog and then scroll to the same point if you want to add another one. On 20/10/05, Alan Horkan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Calum Benson commented on this before and I will repeat my comments at > from the time. Both the current dialog and new dialog you are proposing > are trying to deal with the problem of large collection of applets and I > feel neither succeed with this very well. Unless the number of applets > can be kept much much smaller I'm a whole lot happier with the using menus > and submenus as older versions of Gnome used to do. Submenus are a usability nightmare - they're hard to navigate both for they're difficult to open with the mouse and because they hide their contents from sight. I prefer a plain list of big icons anyday. > > I can certainly agree there is a problem here but I dont think any of the > proposed solutions have been substantially better and none of them > do very well if you allow a large set of applets. > A solution for many items would be to maintain the current form and provide a list of hyperlinks to the categories. The redundant indexing of Search and this "Table of Contents" would support both possible uses of browsing and looking for a specific item. _______________________________________________ Usability mailing list [email protected] http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
