I was changing the interface to use the nice buttons "Boy "provided hen I realized that the button I was using (The current interface was provided by EricB, but he got busy with something else) conflicted with the new one. Which makes sense to you?
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I was changing the interface to use the nice buttons "Boy "provided hen I realized that the button I was using (The current interface was provided by EricB, but he got busy with something else) conflicted with the new one. Which makes sense to you?
I think that the above choice should be seen in the context of Eric's original UI design because I used it as the starting point: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...948#post490948
Some found the three columns of buttons in Eric's design confusing so in my suggested design change I removed the "Startup Value" column and added arrows on the buttons of the "Set Value" column and locks on the buttons of the "Default Value" column to make it clearer which buttons should be used to change the settings: http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...131#post491131
If in the latest design there is only one column of buttons left, I consider Eric's original button design clear enough.
What I am asking is which of these two buttons would you expect to be ON. The slider is at opposite sides.
The second.
Yes the second one.
Neither, if these are meant to show boolean values. IMHO these two-position switches, heavilly used by Apple, are just fanciness for the sake of it and they are inherently difficult to read. (Are the two examples showing the same state or different states? What does the arrow mean w.r.t. the underlying data item?)
I think the best way to show a Boolean value is with a simple button:
Off: Visually quiet, unhighlighted, saying, "I'll do something if you click me"
On: Prominent, highlighted, saying, "I am now active"
Simple but not very trendy.
Phil
I will post a new screen grab of the current interface later - I rather like to slider button, they are easy to see. If someone wants to make me new buttons I can show you what the interface looks like with those also.
I think having the arrow on the button isn't a great idea. It almost seems to invite you to switch states - which it shouldn't do. It doesn't have a meaning, does it?
On mobile these sliders are OK, but for the desktop I'm not so keen. On mobile you can slide the button, but not so easily on a desktop ( it's clunky).
Radio buttons are quite succinct, but tickboxes are the clearest, universally understood and in tune with many of the Xara icon efforts.
I totally agree with Paul. My first thought of the arrows was ti could be confusing unless you made an animated button that when it was in the other position would switch arrow direction and saying on or off whatever the case would be. Personally I like the idea of check boxes best, they are clean and simple, easy to understand.
OK, just to show you what we have at the moment. I will play with checkboxes.
Also, with check boxes we are back to the problem I was trying to solve - showing that the second column cannot be changed.
The low contrast of that white text on a purple gradient makes the page quite hard to read. I think red is a colour to avoid - because it's associated with danger and is very dominant on that page. I think the usual convention for such slide indicators is to have a weak colour, or no colour for 'off' and a stronger indicator for on.
Moving the descriptive text (labels) so far from the setting makes this page very hard to process visually - you have to scan back and forth for each setting. The description and settings should be near to each other.
In the past when trying to indicate an unchangeable value, I've put a tiny padlock next to the item, which might be an idea here.
I agree that the white text there is difficult to read as well as the distance between text and sliders. I am not so sure about the red color, your point about danger is well taken, but, it could also mean on off. Kind of depends on the mindset of the viewer. Personally I think off probably should have low or no color so I guess here I more or less agree with Paul. Here is a thought, what if the sliders were moved to the left of the text with a shorter distance separating slider and text.
OK, Here are plain buttons moved closer to the description. I am just starting to learn XAML, so I haven't figured out yet if I can make two columns. And I know some more of the text needs changing from white.
You are inviting a world of design problems if you put text over a gradient, Grace. Move the relative position of where the gradient fade occurs and please lose that shade of blue, okay? It's not even UI from this century. Use warm grey or something else neutral and not visually invigorating.
Optical provocation is not why people will use this. They'll use XaRT because it's open source and hence will never die or be left unattended in its development.
Oh, and because it does something we all want and need! :)
-g
Can't we have a kaleidoscope background?
Guys, check out some of the guis in the bottom half of this page. We're a graphics community - surely we can do better than that. Shouldn't we be showing off our design skills with this app?
http://dribbble.com/creativemints/pr.../84076-UI-Kits
Whether we use ios style slider toggles or not, surely we can come up with something better than that?
Those designs on dribble are very, very nice Frank, but what do you mean by a kaleidoscope background? I hope you don't mean what I think you mean or at least what my minds eye congers up.
I believe that was irony, Larry ;)
I think that design by committee is a difficult gig - so many opinions.
I have some sympathy for you Grace.
I like the radio buttons better than the sliders and the overall composition of the UI looks pretty good. The only thing is that there is now even more empty space in the settings box.
Yes, please change the blue color. I already made a suggestion using a grey gradient and Frank's link gives quite a few more options.
Echo? Echo?
:)
As with HTML, I strongly encourage you, Grace, to adopt a Head Designer. Coders and designers work together, but we have two trillion artists on this thread and three coders last I counted.
I feel strongly for the sake of Grace, this thread can express opinions, sure, but it should be up to the UX designer to apply or ignore the opinions and design suggestions. Let this thread be a dropbox for input, not a place to count votes, because if you follow this thread, it ain't working.
That's my input.
And I vote for it.
;)
-g
I had Eric as the designer - you do not like some of what he did. And Eric now has other commitments. At the moment the project is just me, so I would be delighted to have someone volunteer to do the design for me, I am definitely not a designer. I think I can manage to write the XAML , though someone who knew XAML would be wonderful.
http://www.businessballs.com/treeswing.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_by_committee
While I fully believe you need a manager with a concept of a design, and *maybe* a designer, I would not be the person for this task.
@Grace—
I have no idea what Rik Datta's commitments are, nor do I know if he can do XAML, but the fellow is community-spirited, talented, works well with others, is a snappy dresser...okay, I've drifted into "silly".
I'll ask the Admin and ask around, I don't feel qualified to design a UI nor do I have the hours to spare, but I truly believe Rik is your person for fresh, clean, attractive design work, and the fellow does variations at the drop of a hat.
My Best,
Gary
I also think Rik is a good choice. Just so you know I have been working on the design off and on for some time but still have a long way to go. If you can get Rik to do it that would be great, and if he wants to see some of my ideas and possibly work together that would be wonderful.
Thanks, I am plodding along on the "meat" of the programme. I am slowly coming to figure out XAML. I will continue with an ad hoc design for now.
I hope the "plodding along" is also enjoyable!? Good luck and I am curious to see what you come up with.