Hi Lenya devs!
Last year (on IRC) we discussed an iX (german it magazine) article
where the lenya design (Authoring gui) was critizised as not so
appealing (don't have the exact wordings at hand). This opinion was
widely shared by the participants of our meeting in Freiburg, and we
decided to bring up this subject in the mailing list, and to propose a
redesign - possibly by organizing a design contest.
There are three candidates for a redesign:
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1) The Authoring GUI
2) The default publication
3) The docu publication - currently in a «raw» design
2) and 3) could be merged, with the idea, that the default publication
is replaced with the docu publication (minus one publication to
maintain and to style).
Ideally the GUI and the default (=docu)-publication share a certain
«lenya» look - which aside from the logo and some round corners, is not
the case ATM.
Possible considerations/requisites for a design contest:
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For such a design contest, we will have to establish the description
of the process, the jury, rules and timelines.
But first of all we will have to ensure the feasibility of such a
contest.
I think to provide a "design jumpstart package":
- Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Fireworks templates with named layers for
different gui screens that would have to be redesigned to give
designers an easy start and to unify the process.
- For the default pub (= docu pub): static html (and PS/ Fireworks)
templates.
To get a sense of the feasibility of a contest, I experimented with a
GUI-redesign myself. I found that we can easily provide the required
material for a redesign of the default publication and the docu
publication. Redesigning the authoring gui is more difficult - it
possibly involves some usability / workflow considerations. My
personal opinion is, that since the current GUI is quite functional
and has a good usability, we should evolve the design rather than
designing it new from scratch - eventually exclude it from the design
contest and do it ourselves.
Discussion:
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* What do you think of the general idea of redesigning lenya?
* What do you think about the idea of a design contest? A critical
question here is certainly, if we have enough resources to organize
the contest and if lenya has sufficient visibility to attract web
design pros to take part in the process.
* Besides the looks of the GUI, what aspects of the user interface
with respect to usability should be considered while redesigning (use
of ajax, changes in the workflow process etc.)? The design contest
might be restricted to the current screens but could include a section
for suggestions about changes.
Thanks a lot for your feedback!
Jürgen Ragaller
