Hi Matthew + Jacob - Thanks for the advice, some good stuff in here.
On Mon, Jun 16, 2008 at 7:59 PM, Matthew Paul Thomas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > My first thought is: That list of actions doesn't seem to include > anything that requires it to be a dialog. Could it be an ordinary window > instead? I guess I just didn't get the difference between the two. I thought a dialog was just a window with a pre-defined layout. I'm guessing by your reactions there is a bit more? > > Instead, try thinking object -> verb: present the list of themes first, > with the actions afterwards. Like this: > > This is much calmer, even while it lets you see the complete list of > themes at a glance (which the radio-button-based design wouldn't). To be honest, it didn't strike me right away, but this could be a pretty good way of looking at it. I'll fiddle with it a bit and see what looks good. Any other options for laying it out? The buttons at the bottom seem a bit.. eh, i don't know how to describe it. Would it lose anything if they were on the right, arranged vertically? > Here's what would happen to the previous options: > * "Create a new theme" -> "New...", then type its name into the > newly-created table row. > * "Create a new theme based on an existing theme" -> select theme, > then click "Duplicate..." and type the name into the newly-created > table row. > * "Open an existing theme" -> select theme, then click "Open". > * "Edit current theme" -> open window, then click "Edit" (the current > theme being selected by default). > * "Open last edited theme" -> select theme, then click "Edit...". I think the "edit" and "open" actions are really the same thing here, so they can be combined into a single button. Thinking about the (future) general users of this application, the "new from scratch" option is going to be not used very often. I think the majority of themers start off by copying something (the duplicate) and then tweaking it until it is unrecognizable, so I think the "create based on an existing" or "edit existing" are the two most important items on this menu. With the "new theme" being so prevalent, I think people will miss the functionality of "duplicate" on first glance, until they try it a few times and see what happens. I hope I'm being clear above. With this info in mind, does it change anything about what you said? Either way, thanks for this information, it's exactly the kind of stuff I was looking for. Sorry if I am not so "that's perfect!" out the gate, I'm trying to learn this stuff a bit, not just follow blind advice :) Thanks again, dave
_______________________________________________ Usability mailing list Usability@gnome.org http://mail.gnome.org/mailman/listinfo/usability
