Yen-Ju Chen wrote:
On 3/30/07, Jesse Ross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> - Workspace switcher -
> I didn't include it into the environment sketches because it seems to
> duplicate the functionality of Project concept. If you can organize
> things on project that behave exactly like virtual workspace - why
> do we
> need it? Isn't it desirable to keep as few UI concepts as possible?
Yes. Do you feel I've (mostly) solved the Project issue?
Workspace switcher can be project switcher. The problem stays.
Where do you allow people to switch between projects ?
By presenting an icon/preview of each project somewhere on the desktop ?
Then you either use shelf as project switcher or having another UI for
that.
We could have both a switcher in the menu, and a modifier+TAB switcher.
The modifier+TAB switcher would give previews of open projects. An
Expose-style project switcher would be interesting also...
> Hmm, Jesse's mockups are almost fully reflecting my thoughts about the
> environment :)
Yeah -- like I said, I think you were pretty close :)
> - No titlebars thing -
> I have to say I originally wanted to make my mockups exactly like you
> did - without window borders. But I couldn't work out how to deal with
> zooming, rulers and this kind of stuff.
Technically, the windows should probably still have resize bars at
the bottom. And if you'll look, there is a border around the chat
window.
From a practical point of view, we have only 3 modifier:
CONTROL, COMMAND and ALTERNATIVE, definied by OpenStep.
There is a limited choices of modifiers when application also want to
use it.
For example, user may cilck on an icon in file manager
and here are possible combinations:
1. ALTERNATIVE+click: select more icons
2. ALTERNATIVE+drag: copying all selected icons
3. COMMAND+drag: moving window
4. COMMAND+click: minimize window
5. COMMAND+double-click: maximize window
6. CONTROL+drag: make linking or alias
7. CONTROL+double-click: close window
I have to say it is very complicated for users to remember
since there is no hints about it. The cursor can change according to
the operation, but users still have to try different modifiers
in order to see the right cursor.
How do you present the cursor is another issue.
For example, if the cursor turn into a 'x' while user hold COMMAND key,
does it mean closing this window or deleting this icon ?
Icon is useful when it is clear.
A lot people don't know which icons is for what on their text editor.
Title bar also serves as a hint of focusing.
How do I know a window is not active ? And a semi-transparency ?
Transparency is fancy, but often makes visualization worse.
When I left on Friday there was some discussion in the chat room about
this... The possibility of putting some commands in the menu bar was
brought up. This, however, would be only a partial solution. We can also
include context menus for new users...
I think we should stay as far away from transparency as is practical. It
generally makes the screen look messy (Except in professional screen shots).
Another thing to think about is how multiple-page documents will be
handled. A couple suggestions were given in the chat room, they weren't,
in my opinion, satisfactory however. We need something which can handle
content flowing from one page to the next, not just a bunch of separate
pages collected together.
Isaiah Beerbower
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