User Interface again

[Benson Shaw]

All these itty bitty items - triangle flippers, tool icons, and stuff hidden in dropdowns with #4 text height (exaggeration, sorry) make me need a sniper scope on my mouse.

And how 'bout all those pallets with non adjustable widths. Can't stack em very well. I might want to make one bigger so the icons can be seen and targeted better.

And the drop downs with long lists and no key options to skip to mid or end.

Can this whole interface please be redesigned for ease of use? Pretty please?

Maybe just one or two meta palettes would do, some sort of 3d shape with facets for each function/tool - normally invisible, invoke with a key or click or touch or voice or eye blink or . . ., options for resize, always visible, and split to separate as current config, etc

-B

[Ozzie]

And the drop downs with long lists and no key options to skip to mid or end

Drives me bonkers - I have probably 300 customised plants - line the mouse up sit a brick on it just right and go and have a cup of tea - just a scroll bar

Text text text - a whole updated revamped tool

and with big monitors you have to almost squint to see what you are typing

[AndiACD]

BIG YES to improvements needed. Scrollbars, adjustable Icon Size and ease Palett size control, but I'm not so sure about a complete GUI revamp, just for the Paletts. Pop-Up/Dropdown Menus shown in entirety would also help, but . . . .

[bcd]

On the dropdown issue, usually pressing a letter key on the keyboard jumps you to the first entry with that initial.

If you're fast enough the first two letters will take you to those items beginning with those letters. etc. I don't know what controls the stroke time - the deepest I've gotten is 4 letters in.

[Christiaan]

Hopefully the transition to 64-bit is NNA's opportunity to solve these kinds of issues.

[Benson Shaw]

Thanks, bcd. And congrats on getting a 4 key jump through the dropdown list! But I'm still wishing

Keystroke for first letter(s) selection is not a bad thing. But, for instance, if the desired class is PPVSCORL, and all I can remember is scor, the key taps are not very helpful. Keying ppv at different rates takes me variously to pw..., pt..., Red Surfaces, etc. A double keystroke seems to confuse things.

A dialog box offers no clue whether it is active. If the dialog box is not active, the keystrokes will invoke their usual key commands/shortcuts. That is intended behavior, so one needs to be vigilant. A search box with blinking insertion bar leaves no doubt. In my wish, hierarchical search returns would give me instances of scor, including PPVSCOR near the top.

-B

[Tobias]

Another small interface suggestion:

Firstly, in Navigation pallet, the 'sheet layers' tab the sheet title column should remember the width set @ the last session, not revert back to the narrow setting. I have to re-size that column every time. A small nuisance.

And the column to select and go to a sheet or layer (the tick box) should be in the same relative position. For layers it is the first column to the left of the layer name, for sheets it is the column on the far left. I find my self constantly clicking in the wrong column to navigate around sheets and layers. Again a small nuisance.

[Benson Shaw]

Good point, Tobias - It is minor, but nevertheless an irritation. I often pause to aim or decide where to click in the NP. Consistency is a good thing.

General question here. If the interface were completely overhauled by NNA:

Wwould we complain or celebrate? Probably lots of complaints.

Who designs this new interface? Some sort of user group for testing and refining? Or is it all through the NNA design team.

This thread is one of many which presents gripes. But our proposed solutions are mostly piecemeal improvements to the existing interface structure.

-B

[Kevin McAllister]

I agree Tobias. I actually Bug-Submitted the issue with the Sheet Title column a few weeks back.

Benson, I suspect that while people may react if the user interface were overhauled completely, things do need to change for them to get better. Ultimately some people are already making that choice by learning a new interface in a new program. I would rather learn a new interface in an existing program first...

Kevin

[AndiACD]

i wonder if this is a Machine issue????

i have an old PowerMac G5, and the NP stays exactly as i leave it, BUT . . . in the Resource Browser i have always set the Symbols to Left Isometric View, but since jumping to v2009 some of the Symbols revert to a 2D view and not always the same one. Confusing when searching for a recognisable image, especially when you have similar items who's name is too long to be all legible.

Continuity please.