I'd have to disagree with this one. Let's take the standard toolbars shipping with LibreOffice. By default, the current setup has (to the best of my memory) the Standard, Formatting, Find, and Navigation toolbars set to display, in addition to the ruler, status bar, and so on.
The Standard toolbar contains a number of functions related to file operations: new, open, save, print, and so on. Also attached (again, correct me if I'm wrong) are undo/redo buttons. While I don't have a usage trial to show the data, I'm willing to bet that only four buttons are used at all on this toolbar: that is, the first four. Few people ever use these buttons, which have largely been supplanted by their shortcut counterparts. Even fewer use undo/redo. Nevertheless, some people still use those buttons, hence why I provided for a quick access set (similar to what Office 2007/2010 offer in the title bar at the upper left). But the other toolbars aren't as well used-- the Find and Navigation toolbars have functions that don't appear to be common in many workflows. You are right, not every program needs to be stripped down as far as Chrome. On the other hand, I still contend that the fraction of the interface used with any frequency is rather small compared to what's been built into many previous mockups, and in that case hiding those options by default is justified. I didn't make that mockup minimal for the sake of being minimal: I don't think autohide is particularly useful when used just for the sake of a clean interface (if you've tried the Phoenix Wright port to the iPod/iPhone, that's a train wreck of an interface with functions hidden for no reason at all). However, the community response to the Wingpanel from the Elementary Project (before it became similar to GNOME panel) was extremely positive-- and this is for an integral element of the user interface that was widely used for power work! I think that the Wingpanel's attractiveness stemmed from doing what it needed to do without killing your ability to get to more advanced options. And while I like Ribbon designs, having to open tabs every time I want to access something isn't productive. Hence a wingpanel-esque solution-- which actually preserves our common functionality like aligning, font style, and so on, without being visually cluttering. Also: multiple toolbars isn't necessarily a bad thing, but since we seem to be using more icons than text, consider the difficulties associated with hitting an icon among dozens of its companions. It's not an easy task with everything aligned on the top, as is-- and I don't see how splitting the icons along two active edges makes things better. On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 2:11 AM, Sean White <[email protected]> wrote: > This look would suit a web app BUT not a fully featured office suite. Not > every program has to cut out as much interface as Google Chrome does, > especially when there are hundreds of functions that need to be accessed. > > On Sat, Jun 25, 2011 at 10:43 AM, Christopher Lee > <[email protected]>wrote: > > > Please bear with me if this isn't how we post to this mailing list-- I'll > > admit it's my first time contributing. > > > > Recently, I was looking at two mockups posted to OMGUbuntu and WebUpd8 > > regarding LibreOffice's design. One was for a Ribbon style, the other > for > > a > > sidebar design. > > > > Personally, I couldn't get behind the sidebar design. When I used > KOffice, > > I found it was eating up a lot of screen real-estate, and especially by > > splitting half the UI elements between the sidebar and the top bar, > negated > > many advantages of Fitt's Law by requiring I track multiple active zones. > > > > I cobbled together a very basic mockup of a streamlined interface using > the > > web demo of Balsamic-- I don't have resources to go much further. But if > > it's actually interesting to anyone, please let me know. > > > > Link below: > > > > > > > https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1dv3FTikP46Qr8NpnJ4ukGLT15Ajgv--rf4sEWH9oilY/edit?hl=en_US > > > > -- > > Christopher Lee > > Executive Director > > Champion Debate Camp > > Co-Captain > > Thomas Jefferson Policy Debate Team > > > > --The Gunboat Debater-- > > > > -- > > Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] > > 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 > > > > > > > -- > Sean White, > I've Seen the Cow Level > > -- > Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] > 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 > > -- Christopher Lee Executive Director Champion Debate Camp Co-Captain Thomas Jefferson Policy Debate Team --The Gunboat Debater-- -- Unsubscribe instructions: E-mail to [email protected] 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
