Plugins Page
Khaled Abou Alfa
Last mockup of the day. This one is for that elusive plugin page. In
this particular instance, i've gone in the COMPLETE opposite direction
of my previous mockups. In this particular mockup, the plugin page
extends the entire width of the actual page. The more I thought about
the manage content pages, both the comments and the posts I thought
that if we didn't solve this in a holistic fashion we would have a bit
of trouble. In this particular case all the information is found on
the page, in a single row. if a plugin has configuration options then
they are shown. If the plugin is disabled then it's greyed out and
there is no configuration link. The update link is also there as well
within the column. Links directly to the plugin author's page, or even
the download link directly?
Select all is at the top of the tick boxes. Which are all controlled
by the control bar that sits underneath the subtitle bar. You can
therefore activate or disable plugins in bulk (of course with all the
necessary warning etc). On the right hand side, we've got the filter
page drop down menu which lets us see all the disabled/enabled plugins.
Those users that have smaller screens won't get too penalised in that
the description might force text to wrap, but that's ok everything is
completely usable still for them.
The control bar concept can then be used for the manage content/post
page as well and where ever else we need it.
Michael Heilemann
Robin Adrianse
Michael C. Harris
> I'm afraid I'll cling on to this for
Michael, I like your plugin page design, except for my already stated
opposition to the use of colours as UI elements.
Khaled, one element I don't like is that "Update" obscures the current
version number. I find there are often times when I don't want to
update, even though an update is available.
--
Michael C. Harris, School of CS&IT, RMIT University
http://twofishcreative.com/michael/blog
Robin Adrianse
> now: [1]http://flickr.com/photos/heilemann/2183367609/ :|
On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 10:30:24PM +0100, Michael Heilemann wrote:
> I'm afraid I'll cling on to this for
Michael, I like your plugin page design, except for my already stated
opposition to the use of colours as UI elements.
Michael C. Harris
> On Jan 14, 2008 4:31 PM, Michael C. Harris
I'm strongly against colour as a UI element. This is what I wrote
earlier.
> I'm not talking about what's universally accepted, I'm talking about
> how I personally interact with a UI (and with colour in general). A
> UI should be as intuitive as possible (leaving aside recent
> arguments elsewhere regarding the meaning of intuitive). You're
> making the assumption that green == active through go is intuitive,
> and to me it isn't.
>
> I mention my colour blindness because that's likely the reason I
> don't relate to colour-based UI elements in the way that you expect.
> Of course I worked it out, and I'd be fine with it now, but because
> of the extra cognitive effort that I have to make with colour-based
> UI elements, my initial reaction was negative.
cheers, Michael
Robin Adrianse
On Mon, Jan 14, 2008 at 10:57:49PM -0800, Robin Adrianse wrote:
> On Jan 14, 2008 4:31 PM, Michael C. Harris
Michael C. Harris
> Not to be disrespectful or anything, but I don't think we should limit
> our UI decisions based upon a condition that 1.4% of the world
> from, and even then in various "subsets" (don't know the specific
> terminology) of colorblindness (e.g. can't see red/green, a type of
> cone missing).
>
> While it may be something we should take into consideration and keep in
> mind, I strongly feel that we shouldn't limit our options based upon
> this argument.
Well, it's all subjective. I've made my point that for me this is not
an intuitive UI. I also don't think it's necessary to use colour -
there are other ways to convey the meaning (that are clearer for me
but I can't speak for anyone else). The use of colour feels a bit
jarring and out of keeping here as well, but again that's subjective.
Michael Heilemann
First of all, to my knowledge no decisions was ever made to avoid colors at all costs. And since I was the one who pitched and defended the currently monotone color space, I feel I ought to know. Colors are extremely powerful for about 98.6% of the world's population; they're worth using.
But, secondly, I agree with Michael Harris. The current use of green/red on the plugins page is not particularly effective. That is my mistake; I had overlooked the basic rule of color use, enforcing colors with shapes and position. My mistake.
But until I have the time to reinforce my mockup, forget you ever saw it, and instead tell Khaled what you think of his, because that's what this thread is about.
Ali B.
-- Eleanor Roosevelt
Michael Heilemann
Well, it's all subjective. I've made my point that for me this is not
an intuitive UI. I also don't think it's necessary to use colour -
there are other ways to convey the meaning (that are clearer for me
but I can't speak for anyone else). The use of colour feels a bit
jarring and out of keeping here as well, but again that's subjective.
The use of color per sé isn't subjective. It's a well-proven element of interaction design. In a medium where the communication bandwidth is relatively low, colors are immensely effective.
And it's not whether or not it is 'necessary'; it's a case of how is something conveyed as fast and unambiguously as possible, while retaining stylistic integrity and usability.
I think a few hundred years of roadside sign design is on my side: http://flickr.com/photos/heilemann/2195083538/.
Matthias Bauer
> Not to be disrespectful or anything, but I don't think we should limit
> our UI decisions based upon a condition that 1.4% of the world
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#Prevalence
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness#Prevalence>) suffers from,
> and even then in various "subsets" (don't know the specific terminology)
> of colorblindness (e.g. can't see red/green, a type of cone missing).
Without really taking part in the color/non-color discussion: The
article you linked states "Color blindness affects a significant number
of people" and gives figures of "In the United States, about 7 percent
of the male population – or about 10.5 million men – and 0.4 percent of
the female population".
1.4% of 6.6 billion people is still 92.4 million people.
-M
Matthias Bauer
> I think a few hundred years of roadside sign design is on my side:
> http://flickr.com/photos/heilemann/2195083538/.
I don't think this a good support for the point you're making.
Do signs that were designed with colors suck when desaturated? Yes.
Could you design the signs in a way they would not require color? Yes.
Also note how none of those uses red/green. The only place that's used
in traffic is traffic lights.
-M
Michael Heilemann
I don't think this a good support for the point you're making.
Michael Heilemann wrote:
> I think a few hundred years of roadside sign design is on my side:
> http://flickr.com/photos/heilemann/2195083538/ .
Do signs that were designed with colors suck when desaturated? Yes.
Could you design the signs in a way they would not require color? Yes.
They could, but their effectiveness would be _considerably_ less. Viewed from a distance, or in the blink of an eye, a color will tell you much more than a shape or a string of text will.
Also note how none of those uses red/green. The only place that's used
in traffic is traffic lights.
The discussion wasn't _which_ colors. Simply colors.
-M
Michael C. Harris
> Well, it's all subjective. I've made my point that for me this is
> not
> an intuitive UI. I also don't think it's necessary to use colour -
> there are other ways to convey the meaning (that are clearer for me
> but I can't speak for anyone else). The use of colour feels a bit
> jarring and out of keeping here as well, but again that's
> subjective.
>
> The use of color per sé isn't subjective. It's a well-proven element of
> interaction design. In a medium where the communication bandwidth is
> relatively low, colors are immensely effective.
> And it's not whether or not it is 'necessary'; it's a case of how is
> something conveyed as fast and unambiguously as possible, while
> retaining stylistic integrity and usability.
> I think a few hundred years of roadside sign design is on my side:
I'm glad everyone feels they need to find or create links to tell me
I'm wrong, but it doesn't change the fact that the presented design
doesn't work for me. There is _obviously_ some level of subjectivity
here.
Michael C. Harris
While saying that, I just want to make it clear that I cede to your
design skills, and fully recognise that design by committee is not
possible. I'm not pretending to be a designer, I'm simply stating how
I feel about the design element.
Doug Stewart
>
> While saying that, I just want to make it clear that I cede to your
> design skills, and fully recognise that design by committee is not
> possible. I'm not pretending to be a designer, I'm simply stating how
> I feel about the design element.
>
Design by committee IS possible, you just end up with:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=36099539665548298
*grin*
--
-Doug