Hi,
Phillip J. Eby wrote:
Did you watch the tutorial video?
http://www.accomplice.com/tutorials/quickstart.html
I didn't before but I did now... Geee, they need a visual designer,
don't they?
I downloaded it and played with it for a few minutes, and my net
assessment is that it is a poor execution of a very good idea/workflow
design. If it were not for the poor execution, I would probably
switch to it from Ecco. Its concepts of collections, filtering,
one-click tickler, and simple collaboration are very good, but the
usability is hampered by awkward rendering, poor font choices, lack of
clear visual hierarchy between controls (and inconsistent visual cues
as to what controls look like: some are links, some are buttons, and
some are just icons). The choice of status selection as a dropdown
arrow next to a checkbox is just weird and awkward. Their attempts to
build lots of help into the product using large grey text in the
background of various work areas just makes the visuals even more
confusing.
I agree with you and that's certainly all music to Mimi and PPD's ears:
as your reaction shows, visual design *is* very important, especially in
the first few hours of using a product. So all the more incentive for us
to pay attention to those polish bugs before Preview. Better have fewer
features that are enjoyable to use than lots that hurt your senses
constantly.
Thanks for the feedback Phillip.
Cheers,
- Philippe
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