Alec Flett wrote:
Mitchell Kapor wrote:
My initial reaction is that these designs all try to cram too many
visual distinctions to represent the different nuances of event
meta-data. I'd rather have a cleaner and more legible look even if
it meant given up some of the nuances.
+1 - no matter how useful it is to have all this meta-data there's an
aesthetic aspect as well - if just 5 events on my calendar make the UI
very busy, then the app doesn't look fast and clean, it looks
cluttered and hard to use. why can't we make use of
mouseovers/tooltips/etc to show more detail?
I don't think we should give up on showing up more info per event just
because we haven't seen good screen shots so far. From an information
design standpoint, there is an interest to cram as many data as possible
per lozenge so that the user will develop the skills to "grok" the
visual picture at once without having to hover to reveal tool tips or
click to display detail views (it's called using "small multiples" in
Tufte talk). Think of it as productivity building up by using the tool.
I think that's where Mimi come from and I actually think it's the right
thing to do. That being said, it's *extremely* difficult to come up with
a pleasant design for this and I have to say that, so far, I haven't
seen any. I also believe that this can be done without sacrificing
simplicity of look and feel and visual elegance. Design should look
simple without being simplistic.
We need more ideas here and more, much much more screen shots... :)
Cheers,
- Philippe
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