Apache OpenOffice Wiki - User contributions [en]

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-25T07:29:42Z

Corsbu:

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

== Summary and Status ==
There are two trends that influence the UI. First there is the hardware Trend to wide screens. This switch is already completed for macs. Second there is either the trend to thicker task/menu bars (windows/MS office), or there always were thicker task bars (gnome/KDE) Both these trends make the working area smaller, and the unused space bigger.

To overcome these two problems my proposed solution would be to minimize the space needed at the top and the bottom. This would be a UI, where only the menu bar (file, edit,...) is at the top, and all the rest of the menu would be on the right side of the working pane. This design works well on both small and big screens. On small screens the window would be maximized anyway, and even with a 4:3 screen the user would benefit from this, at least in Writer and Impress. If it is a large screen, the window will not be maximized, and hence the basic layout doesn't matter that much. It is also important to have something similar in all parts of OpenOffice, so the users find everything rapidly, if they use more than just one.

Status: Request for Comments

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Mockup fin22rev.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

== Detailed Description ==

=Writer=
For Writer I would suggest, that the right side has two parts, and look similar to the task pane in Impress. There are different sections, that would basically hold the things, that were in the bars. These sections can be accessed through either the system in impress (Master Pages/Layouts...), or a more file like setting as in the Impress main pane (Normal, Outline, Notes,...), or this system with the buttons on the left side and not on top, that I would prefer.
The first section would hold the content of File (new, open, save,...)
The second section would hold the content of the formating tool bar. In the top part, there would be the styles & formatting menu, where only the predefined styles can be chosen. The lower part would hold the formatting tool bar itself. To encourage the use of the styles, they should be easily editable. I suggest, that they have little signs on the right to either delete or edit/save the styles. By clicking the edit button, the lower part would become the editing section for the style.
The third section would be the insert section, where tables, images, drawings, formulas, etc. can be inserted into the document. For tables, the easiest way to do this would probably be a table mode (like in MS Office ribbon, see later)
With these three sections most of the operations should be possible by a very small amount of clicks, and also in a very logical way.
If the space doesn't suffice, there still could be some options with right clicking on the section (like MS)

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Filebar1_writer.png|120px|thumb]]

|This is the basic setup for the file tab, divided in the sections file setup, edit, review and printing

Missing: Buttons for record edits, may be search field instead of button for search & replace, help, secure document, templates, compare document, merge document?, navigator?, (page setup?)

|-
| [[Image:Vers_1_form_edit.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the format tab, with the formatting section on top and the changing at the bottom.
The bottom is divided into single text setup, alignment, numbering, colors and page setup.
Also there is missing lower ans upper case, and maybe some further under/over-line possibilities
The main purpose of the red Ch/del and save is, that you can easily edit the styles. These are to be replaced by icons. If you click on the yellow plus, a new style will be created, containing the things chosen below (for example, you want to easily adapt the style of one paragraph, where you just defined the style to several). If you want to change one of the styles that are already there, you click on the ch button, and the style will be shown in the part below for easy editing. It would be preferably, if this changes would be live in the document, so that one can see what happens. After editing, you have to save the changes. By clicking the del button, the style will be deleted. (I don't know if OOO has the capacities to do this that way, or if it would be a new feature)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 2 ins.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the insert tab.

|}‎

=Calc=
The idea here is very similar to Writer. Also the sections would be the same (File, Formatting and Insert). But the content will be adapted to the most used items here, and can hence vary compared to Writer. Furthermore, the Formatting section will not be split, since there are very few people that use special layouts in Calc.
But the line with the content of the cell would stay on top.

=Impress=

Well Impress is the most difficult thing, but fortunately, the UI today already has a nice division of the space (all the icons and objects need to be rearranged, but still). For the wide screen displays, even the two bars to the left and right are ok, but for 4:3 screens, the slides pane would better be positioned at the bottom, to make the working space larger.
The proposal would still look very similar to Writer and Calc, maybe the pane to the right a bit wider. There are now four tabs to the right. The new one, Animations will hold both the animated elements and slide transitions. Compared to Writer or Calc, the first tab (File) holds also both master Pages and Layouts as buttons. By clicking on these buttons, a new tab opens, and more or less todays layout opens.
The new Animations tab will have two sections, one for the slide transition and one for custom animations. The only elements shown for transitions will be the effect, a button to add to all slides, add sound, speed and a options button that would bring further options forward.
The custom animation sections has also a effect listing as today, buttons to change the order buttons, the start and speed buttons, and an options button, that will bring further options forward.
The buttons to start the slide show from the beginning or from the current slide should be outside the menu. Preferably in the status bar on the very left.

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Simple mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|[[Image:Screenshot-2 mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|-
| [[Image:Filebar1imp.png|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer file tab, here there is an additional section for the layout, but otherwise it is very similar. Also the Masterpages button will lead to a new tab, where the options for the Masterpages are shown. (see table)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 1 form imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer format tab, the formatting section on top is missing, an at the bottom there is a lining section. Otherwise it is very similar, also with the missing bits like over/under-lining options.
|-
|[[Image:Animbar1.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| This is the basic outline for the Animations tab. There are missing buttons for the add delete and change. In the Animations section, the buttons for add/del/change could also be integrated into the effect listing, and hence leave more space for the other buttons.
|-
|[[Image:Tablebar1 imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| If the table icon is clicked in the insert tab (especially in Impress), this new tab will open. A similar tab can open for advanced drawing options (with close to all options open), or master page, or anything, whose menu can be compressed/expanded to this size.
This new tab will only show, if either a table is (double) clicked on, or if a new one will be started.
On the top, the number of rows/columns can be inserted.
As with all previous mock ups, this is only a first draft.
|}‎

== Additional Material and Mockups ==

Here are two mockups, how it would finally look in Impress with wide screen and normal screen. Where the Icons for "start presentation" and "start presentation from this slide" should be, there is written "slide" in red.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup ns fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|[[Image:Mockup ws fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

It would look very similar in Writer and Calc. In Writer there is no slides bar, and in Calc there would be the functions bar on top, and everything else like in Writer.

== Update ==

I have adapted the design a bit to the comments on Flux UI and Martinů. The menu bar (file/edit/...) isn't there anymore, but can still be shown by pressing the Alt key. (e.g. to find further options) It is replaced by a static menu that has the most used functions. As there is still some space, it could be used for further functions. (e.g. start slide show from current slide)

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22.png‎|640px|thumb]]
|}‎

== Update 2 ==

I made further adaptations to both the other design proposals and the status meeting. The grouped elements in the menu can be rearranged, deleted or added by right clicking next to the icons, and choosing either "rearrange", where the grouped elements stay together but the order can be changed (e.g. if some user wants to put the group with the "open file" button at the bottom of the sidebar) Also "customize" can be chosen where the user can rearrange the icons within a group. If the width of the sidebar is changed, it might can't hold all the elements of a group. Then the small icon appears, to extend the elements (as in todays design).

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22rev.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

It is also possible to include a collapse sidebar button at the very bottom of the sidebar (the open space below the tabs [File, Format,...]). Then just the tabs are shown, and by clicking on of the buttons, the clicked tab will open.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22revcollapse.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

Last but not least, I added a possible new design for the animations. The user has a further button below up and down in the custom animations part of the animations tab. Normally the old menu is shown, but if the new button is clicked (e.g. an arrow to the left), the view is expanded, and a for some users better menu shows up.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Rev2vers 2 ani.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

The yellow bars are the opening animations and the white ones the closing animations. They can be edited, added or deleted by right clicking and rearranged by drag and drop. It should be limited to half second steps, or the fastest an animation can be done. Every horizontal line is a new object (e.g. an image). The name of the objects can be the file name to easily find the searched object. The thick black lines are the time breaks that need a mouse click to advance. To edit other parts of the presentation or go back to the old design, the user can click the new button (arrow to the right).

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| Constantin Bürgi
| Corsbu

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Community members, this is where your '''comments and questions concerning completeness and clarity''' should be written. Please add your OpenOffice.org login name to let us contact you via email.

|}
Your space :-)
:

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Dear Constantin, I think you should work together with the 'Proposal by Johannes Eva'. They to have an idea that is similar to yours, only they have worked out their proposal a bit further.
Greets --joey van der bie 11:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Could it be used for a "netbook version" of OpenOffice? (If it is not approved for the normal version)
In any case it would be great to be given the '''option''' to change from the classic UI to the one you propose,
since some will prefer your concept, while others won't.

Best Regards --L4Linux 07:39, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
I also think, that there should definitely be the option to switch back to the old design, or even provide more than one style, even if this means more work programming it. Especially, because the room division for 4:3 and 16:10/9 can be very different.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

can you explain how the red links 'Ch', 'Edit' and 'Save' in the format tab work? Especially why save is needed?
If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I updated the section, and now it should become more clear. To change the font size, you can just click on the change (ch) button and then change the font size below to the appropriate level (e.g. empty) and then save.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

Thank you for the answer, which explains the red text. But can you also explain how the given example task can be done: "If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?"

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:45, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I'm not sure, if I understand correctly. As I said before to change the font size, or any other style, you can just click on the change (ch) button. Then the lower part of the sidebar will now hold the actual style (maybe the color should change also to ensure the new meaning). If one item is then changed in the lower part, and save is clicked, the new style will be saved.
I hope, I became now clear, otherwise just ask once more. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

yes, it's clear to me how to change a value of a property that is assigned to a style. For example, if the property text size is assigned to a style, it's clear for me to change it from 10pt to 12pt. But how is it managed to remove the text size property from this style at all?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 08:40, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

Ah, now I understand, there should be a possible value in the text size field. There should be all the numbers (e.g. from 1 to 72) an also a value of blank (" ") if this one is selected, no text size will be added to the style, or it will be removed from the style.

kind regards --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Hi Constantin, to what extend is the design of the particular items within the scope of your proposal? I notice that you use mainly icons, and rarely text to represent the functional items in the mockups. If this aspect is within the scope of your proposal, what distribution of textual and icon representation does your proposal suggest (only icon, mainly icon/sometimes textual, icons WITH text, mainly text/sometimes with icon, only text, etc.). Please clarify. (I'm aware that there will probably be textual tooltips for the icons -- I mean text that you can click on.)
Best Regards --[[User:Anjoschu|Anjoschu]] 06:22, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi Anjoschu,

I would love just to have icons, but this probably won't be possible, as certain functions don't have a standard icon, that every user understands immediately. But like the exact arrangement of the icons, I think the use of text with the icons should be possible to adapt where necessary and I think. There is a lot of flexibility in the proposal, as the main goal is the grouped sidebar with clearer arranged functions. Nevertheless, I think, that it should be mainly icons and just sometimes textual. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

File:Rev2vers 2 ani.png

2009-05-25T07:21:28Z

Corsbu:

File:Mockup fin22revcollapse.png

2009-05-25T07:18:15Z

Corsbu:

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-25T07:07:05Z

Corsbu: /* Mockup */

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

== Summary and Status ==
There are two trends that influence the UI. First there is the hardware Trend to wide screens. This switch is already completed for macs. Second there is either the trend to thicker task/menu bars (windows/MS office), or there always were thicker task bars (gnome/KDE) Both these trends make the working area smaller, and the unused space bigger.

To overcome these two problems my proposed solution would be to minimize the space needed at the top and the bottom. This would be a UI, where only the menu bar (file, edit,...) is at the top, and all the rest of the menu would be on the right side of the working pane. This design works well on both small and big screens. On small screens the window would be maximized anyway, and even with a 4:3 screen the user would benefit from this, at least in Writer and Impress. If it is a large screen, the window will not be maximized, and hence the basic layout doesn't matter that much. It is also important to have something similar in all parts of OpenOffice, so the users find everything rapidly, if they use more than just one.

Status: Request for Comments

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Mockup fin22rev.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

== Detailed Description ==

=Writer=
For Writer I would suggest, that the right side has two parts, and look similar to the task pane in Impress. There are different sections, that would basically hold the things, that were in the bars. These sections can be accessed through either the system in impress (Master Pages/Layouts...), or a more file like setting as in the Impress main pane (Normal, Outline, Notes,...), or this system with the buttons on the left side and not on top, that I would prefer.
The first section would hold the content of File (new, open, save,...)
The second section would hold the content of the formating tool bar. In the top part, there would be the styles & formatting menu, where only the predefined styles can be chosen. The lower part would hold the formatting tool bar itself. To encourage the use of the styles, they should be easily editable. I suggest, that they have little signs on the right to either delete or edit/save the styles. By clicking the edit button, the lower part would become the editing section for the style.
The third section would be the insert section, where tables, images, drawings, formulas, etc. can be inserted into the document. For tables, the easiest way to do this would probably be a table mode (like in MS Office ribbon, see later)
With these three sections most of the operations should be possible by a very small amount of clicks, and also in a very logical way.
If the space doesn't suffice, there still could be some options with right clicking on the section (like MS)

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Filebar1_writer.png|120px|thumb]]

|This is the basic setup for the file tab, divided in the sections file setup, edit, review and printing

Missing: Buttons for record edits, may be search field instead of button for search & replace, help, secure document, templates, compare document, merge document?, navigator?, (page setup?)

|-
| [[Image:Vers_1_form_edit.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the format tab, with the formatting section on top and the changing at the bottom.
The bottom is divided into single text setup, alignment, numbering, colors and page setup.
Also there is missing lower ans upper case, and maybe some further under/over-line possibilities
The main purpose of the red Ch/del and save is, that you can easily edit the styles. These are to be replaced by icons. If you click on the yellow plus, a new style will be created, containing the things chosen below (for example, you want to easily adapt the style of one paragraph, where you just defined the style to several). If you want to change one of the styles that are already there, you click on the ch button, and the style will be shown in the part below for easy editing. It would be preferably, if this changes would be live in the document, so that one can see what happens. After editing, you have to save the changes. By clicking the del button, the style will be deleted. (I don't know if OOO has the capacities to do this that way, or if it would be a new feature)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 2 ins.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the insert tab.

|}‎

=Calc=
The idea here is very similar to Writer. Also the sections would be the same (File, Formatting and Insert). But the content will be adapted to the most used items here, and can hence vary compared to Writer. Furthermore, the Formatting section will not be split, since there are very few people that use special layouts in Calc.
But the line with the content of the cell would stay on top.

=Impress=

Well Impress is the most difficult thing, but fortunately, the UI today already has a nice division of the space (all the icons and objects need to be rearranged, but still). For the wide screen displays, even the two bars to the left and right are ok, but for 4:3 screens, the slides pane would better be positioned at the bottom, to make the working space larger.
The proposal would still look very similar to Writer and Calc, maybe the pane to the right a bit wider. There are now four tabs to the right. The new one, Animations will hold both the animated elements and slide transitions. Compared to Writer or Calc, the first tab (File) holds also both master Pages and Layouts as buttons. By clicking on these buttons, a new tab opens, and more or less todays layout opens.
The new Animations tab will have two sections, one for the slide transition and one for custom animations. The only elements shown for transitions will be the effect, a button to add to all slides, add sound, speed and a options button that would bring further options forward.
The custom animation sections has also a effect listing as today, buttons to change the order buttons, the start and speed buttons, and an options button, that will bring further options forward.
The buttons to start the slide show from the beginning or from the current slide should be outside the menu. Preferably in the status bar on the very left.

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Simple mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|[[Image:Screenshot-2 mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|-
| [[Image:Filebar1imp.png|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer file tab, here there is an additional section for the layout, but otherwise it is very similar. Also the Masterpages button will lead to a new tab, where the options for the Masterpages are shown. (see table)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 1 form imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer format tab, the formatting section on top is missing, an at the bottom there is a lining section. Otherwise it is very similar, also with the missing bits like over/under-lining options.
|-
|[[Image:Animbar1.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| This is the basic outline for the Animations tab. There are missing buttons for the add delete and change. In the Animations section, the buttons for add/del/change could also be integrated into the effect listing, and hence leave more space for the other buttons.
|-
|[[Image:Tablebar1 imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| If the table icon is clicked in the insert tab (especially in Impress), this new tab will open. A similar tab can open for advanced drawing options (with close to all options open), or master page, or anything, whose menu can be compressed/expanded to this size.
This new tab will only show, if either a table is (double) clicked on, or if a new one will be started.
On the top, the number of rows/columns can be inserted.
As with all previous mock ups, this is only a first draft.
|}‎

== Additional Material and Mockups ==

Here are two mockups, how it would finally look in Impress with wide screen and normal screen. Where the Icons for "start presentation" and "start presentation from this slide" should be, there is written "slide" in red.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup ns fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|[[Image:Mockup ws fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

It would look very similar in Writer and Calc. In Writer there is no slides bar, and in Calc there would be the functions bar on top, and everything else like in Writer.

== Update ==

I have adapted the design a bit to the comments on Flux UI and Martinů. The menu bar (file/edit/...) isn't there anymore, but can still be shown by pressing the Alt key. (e.g. to find further options) It is replaced by a static menu that has the most used functions. As there is still some space, it could be used for further functions. (e.g. start slide show from current slide)

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22.png‎|640px|thumb]]
|}‎

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| Constantin Bürgi
| Corsbu

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Community members, this is where your '''comments and questions concerning completeness and clarity''' should be written. Please add your OpenOffice.org login name to let us contact you via email.

|}
Your space :-)
:

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Dear Constantin, I think you should work together with the 'Proposal by Johannes Eva'. They to have an idea that is similar to yours, only they have worked out their proposal a bit further.
Greets --joey van der bie 11:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Could it be used for a "netbook version" of OpenOffice? (If it is not approved for the normal version)
In any case it would be great to be given the '''option''' to change from the classic UI to the one you propose,
since some will prefer your concept, while others won't.

Best Regards --L4Linux 07:39, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
I also think, that there should definitely be the option to switch back to the old design, or even provide more than one style, even if this means more work programming it. Especially, because the room division for 4:3 and 16:10/9 can be very different.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

can you explain how the red links 'Ch', 'Edit' and 'Save' in the format tab work? Especially why save is needed?
If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I updated the section, and now it should become more clear. To change the font size, you can just click on the change (ch) button and then change the font size below to the appropriate level (e.g. empty) and then save.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

Thank you for the answer, which explains the red text. But can you also explain how the given example task can be done: "If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?"

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:45, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I'm not sure, if I understand correctly. As I said before to change the font size, or any other style, you can just click on the change (ch) button. Then the lower part of the sidebar will now hold the actual style (maybe the color should change also to ensure the new meaning). If one item is then changed in the lower part, and save is clicked, the new style will be saved.
I hope, I became now clear, otherwise just ask once more. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

yes, it's clear to me how to change a value of a property that is assigned to a style. For example, if the property text size is assigned to a style, it's clear for me to change it from 10pt to 12pt. But how is it managed to remove the text size property from this style at all?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 08:40, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

Ah, now I understand, there should be a possible value in the text size field. There should be all the numbers (e.g. from 1 to 72) an also a value of blank (" ") if this one is selected, no text size will be added to the style, or it will be removed from the style.

kind regards --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Hi Constantin, to what extend is the design of the particular items within the scope of your proposal? I notice that you use mainly icons, and rarely text to represent the functional items in the mockups. If this aspect is within the scope of your proposal, what distribution of textual and icon representation does your proposal suggest (only icon, mainly icon/sometimes textual, icons WITH text, mainly text/sometimes with icon, only text, etc.). Please clarify. (I'm aware that there will probably be textual tooltips for the icons -- I mean text that you can click on.)
Best Regards --[[User:Anjoschu|Anjoschu]] 06:22, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi Anjoschu,

I would love just to have icons, but this probably won't be possible, as certain functions don't have a standard icon, that every user understands immediately. But like the exact arrangement of the icons, I think the use of text with the icons should be possible to adapt where necessary and I think. There is a lot of flexibility in the proposal, as the main goal is the grouped sidebar with clearer arranged functions. Nevertheless, I think, that it should be mainly icons and just sometimes textual. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

File:Mockup fin22rev.png

2009-05-25T07:06:38Z

Corsbu:

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-22T20:02:28Z

Corsbu: /* Comments */

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

== Summary and Status ==
There are two trends that influence the UI. First there is the hardware Trend to wide screens. This switch is already completed for macs. Second there is either the trend to thicker task/menu bars (windows/MS office), or there always were thicker task bars (gnome/KDE) Both these trends make the working area smaller, and the unused space bigger.

To overcome these two problems my proposed solution would be to minimize the space needed at the top and the bottom. This would be a UI, where only the menu bar (file, edit,...) is at the top, and all the rest of the menu would be on the right side of the working pane. This design works well on both small and big screens. On small screens the window would be maximized anyway, and even with a 4:3 screen the user would benefit from this, at least in Writer and Impress. If it is a large screen, the window will not be maximized, and hence the basic layout doesn't matter that much. It is also important to have something similar in all parts of OpenOffice, so the users find everything rapidly, if they use more than just one.

Status: Request for Comments

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Screenshot-1 bas set.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

== Detailed Description ==

=Writer=
For Writer I would suggest, that the right side has two parts, and look similar to the task pane in Impress. There are different sections, that would basically hold the things, that were in the bars. These sections can be accessed through either the system in impress (Master Pages/Layouts...), or a more file like setting as in the Impress main pane (Normal, Outline, Notes,...), or this system with the buttons on the left side and not on top, that I would prefer.
The first section would hold the content of File (new, open, save,...)
The second section would hold the content of the formating tool bar. In the top part, there would be the styles & formatting menu, where only the predefined styles can be chosen. The lower part would hold the formatting tool bar itself. To encourage the use of the styles, they should be easily editable. I suggest, that they have little signs on the right to either delete or edit/save the styles. By clicking the edit button, the lower part would become the editing section for the style.
The third section would be the insert section, where tables, images, drawings, formulas, etc. can be inserted into the document. For tables, the easiest way to do this would probably be a table mode (like in MS Office ribbon, see later)
With these three sections most of the operations should be possible by a very small amount of clicks, and also in a very logical way.
If the space doesn't suffice, there still could be some options with right clicking on the section (like MS)

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Filebar1_writer.png|120px|thumb]]

|This is the basic setup for the file tab, divided in the sections file setup, edit, review and printing

Missing: Buttons for record edits, may be search field instead of button for search & replace, help, secure document, templates, compare document, merge document?, navigator?, (page setup?)

|-
| [[Image:Vers_1_form_edit.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the format tab, with the formatting section on top and the changing at the bottom.
The bottom is divided into single text setup, alignment, numbering, colors and page setup.
Also there is missing lower ans upper case, and maybe some further under/over-line possibilities
The main purpose of the red Ch/del and save is, that you can easily edit the styles. These are to be replaced by icons. If you click on the yellow plus, a new style will be created, containing the things chosen below (for example, you want to easily adapt the style of one paragraph, where you just defined the style to several). If you want to change one of the styles that are already there, you click on the ch button, and the style will be shown in the part below for easy editing. It would be preferably, if this changes would be live in the document, so that one can see what happens. After editing, you have to save the changes. By clicking the del button, the style will be deleted. (I don't know if OOO has the capacities to do this that way, or if it would be a new feature)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 2 ins.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the insert tab.

|}‎

=Calc=
The idea here is very similar to Writer. Also the sections would be the same (File, Formatting and Insert). But the content will be adapted to the most used items here, and can hence vary compared to Writer. Furthermore, the Formatting section will not be split, since there are very few people that use special layouts in Calc.
But the line with the content of the cell would stay on top.

=Impress=

Well Impress is the most difficult thing, but fortunately, the UI today already has a nice division of the space (all the icons and objects need to be rearranged, but still). For the wide screen displays, even the two bars to the left and right are ok, but for 4:3 screens, the slides pane would better be positioned at the bottom, to make the working space larger.
The proposal would still look very similar to Writer and Calc, maybe the pane to the right a bit wider. There are now four tabs to the right. The new one, Animations will hold both the animated elements and slide transitions. Compared to Writer or Calc, the first tab (File) holds also both master Pages and Layouts as buttons. By clicking on these buttons, a new tab opens, and more or less todays layout opens.
The new Animations tab will have two sections, one for the slide transition and one for custom animations. The only elements shown for transitions will be the effect, a button to add to all slides, add sound, speed and a options button that would bring further options forward.
The custom animation sections has also a effect listing as today, buttons to change the order buttons, the start and speed buttons, and an options button, that will bring further options forward.
The buttons to start the slide show from the beginning or from the current slide should be outside the menu. Preferably in the status bar on the very left.

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Simple mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|[[Image:Screenshot-2 mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|-
| [[Image:Filebar1imp.png|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer file tab, here there is an additional section for the layout, but otherwise it is very similar. Also the Masterpages button will lead to a new tab, where the options for the Masterpages are shown. (see table)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 1 form imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer format tab, the formatting section on top is missing, an at the bottom there is a lining section. Otherwise it is very similar, also with the missing bits like over/under-lining options.
|-
|[[Image:Animbar1.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| This is the basic outline for the Animations tab. There are missing buttons for the add delete and change. In the Animations section, the buttons for add/del/change could also be integrated into the effect listing, and hence leave more space for the other buttons.
|-
|[[Image:Tablebar1 imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| If the table icon is clicked in the insert tab (especially in Impress), this new tab will open. A similar tab can open for advanced drawing options (with close to all options open), or master page, or anything, whose menu can be compressed/expanded to this size.
This new tab will only show, if either a table is (double) clicked on, or if a new one will be started.
On the top, the number of rows/columns can be inserted.
As with all previous mock ups, this is only a first draft.
|}‎

== Additional Material and Mockups ==

Here are two mockups, how it would finally look in Impress with wide screen and normal screen. Where the Icons for "start presentation" and "start presentation from this slide" should be, there is written "slide" in red.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup ns fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|[[Image:Mockup ws fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

It would look very similar in Writer and Calc. In Writer there is no slides bar, and in Calc there would be the functions bar on top, and everything else like in Writer.

== Update ==

I have adapted the design a bit to the comments on Flux UI and Martinů. The menu bar (file/edit/...) isn't there anymore, but can still be shown by pressing the Alt key. (e.g. to find further options) It is replaced by a static menu that has the most used functions. As there is still some space, it could be used for further functions. (e.g. start slide show from current slide)

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22.png‎|640px|thumb]]
|}‎

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| Constantin Bürgi
| Corsbu

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Community members, this is where your '''comments and questions concerning completeness and clarity''' should be written. Please add your OpenOffice.org login name to let us contact you via email.

|}
Your space :-)
:

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Dear Constantin, I think you should work together with the 'Proposal by Johannes Eva'. They to have an idea that is similar to yours, only they have worked out their proposal a bit further.
Greets --joey van der bie 11:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Could it be used for a "netbook version" of OpenOffice? (If it is not approved for the normal version)
In any case it would be great to be given the '''option''' to change from the classic UI to the one you propose,
since some will prefer your concept, while others won't.

Best Regards --L4Linux 07:39, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
I also think, that there should definitely be the option to switch back to the old design, or even provide more than one style, even if this means more work programming it. Especially, because the room division for 4:3 and 16:10/9 can be very different.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

can you explain how the red links 'Ch', 'Edit' and 'Save' in the format tab work? Especially why save is needed?
If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I updated the section, and now it should become more clear. To change the font size, you can just click on the change (ch) button and then change the font size below to the appropriate level (e.g. empty) and then save.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

Thank you for the answer, which explains the red text. But can you also explain how the given example task can be done: "If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?"

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:45, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I'm not sure, if I understand correctly. As I said before to change the font size, or any other style, you can just click on the change (ch) button. Then the lower part of the sidebar will now hold the actual style (maybe the color should change also to ensure the new meaning). If one item is then changed in the lower part, and save is clicked, the new style will be saved.
I hope, I became now clear, otherwise just ask once more. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

yes, it's clear to me how to change a value of a property that is assigned to a style. For example, if the property text size is assigned to a style, it's clear for me to change it from 10pt to 12pt. But how is it managed to remove the text size property from this style at all?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 08:40, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

Ah, now I understand, there should be a possible value in the text size field. There should be all the numbers (e.g. from 1 to 72) an also a value of blank (" ") if this one is selected, no text size will be added to the style, or it will be removed from the style.

kind regards --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Hi Constantin, to what extend is the design of the particular items within the scope of your proposal? I notice that you use mainly icons, and rarely text to represent the functional items in the mockups. If this aspect is within the scope of your proposal, what distribution of textual and icon representation does your proposal suggest (only icon, mainly icon/sometimes textual, icons WITH text, mainly text/sometimes with icon, only text, etc.). Please clarify. (I'm aware that there will probably be textual tooltips for the icons -- I mean text that you can click on.)
Best Regards --[[User:Anjoschu|Anjoschu]] 06:22, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi Anjoschu,

I would love just to have icons, but this probably won't be possible, as certain functions don't have a standard icon, that every user understands immediately. But like the exact arrangement of the icons, I think the use of text with the icons should be possible to adapt where necessary and I think. There is a lot of flexibility in the proposal, as the main goal is the grouped sidebar with clearer arranged functions. Nevertheless, I think, that it should be mainly icons and just sometimes textual. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-21T20:46:06Z

Corsbu: /* Comments */

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

== Summary and Status ==
There are two trends that influence the UI. First there is the hardware Trend to wide screens. This switch is already completed for macs. Second there is either the trend to thicker task/menu bars (windows/MS office), or there always were thicker task bars (gnome/KDE) Both these trends make the working area smaller, and the unused space bigger.

To overcome these two problems my proposed solution would be to minimize the space needed at the top and the bottom. This would be a UI, where only the menu bar (file, edit,...) is at the top, and all the rest of the menu would be on the right side of the working pane. This design works well on both small and big screens. On small screens the window would be maximized anyway, and even with a 4:3 screen the user would benefit from this, at least in Writer and Impress. If it is a large screen, the window will not be maximized, and hence the basic layout doesn't matter that much. It is also important to have something similar in all parts of OpenOffice, so the users find everything rapidly, if they use more than just one.

Status: Request for Comments

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Screenshot-1 bas set.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

== Detailed Description ==

=Writer=
For Writer I would suggest, that the right side has two parts, and look similar to the task pane in Impress. There are different sections, that would basically hold the things, that were in the bars. These sections can be accessed through either the system in impress (Master Pages/Layouts...), or a more file like setting as in the Impress main pane (Normal, Outline, Notes,...), or this system with the buttons on the left side and not on top, that I would prefer.
The first section would hold the content of File (new, open, save,...)
The second section would hold the content of the formating tool bar. In the top part, there would be the styles & formatting menu, where only the predefined styles can be chosen. The lower part would hold the formatting tool bar itself. To encourage the use of the styles, they should be easily editable. I suggest, that they have little signs on the right to either delete or edit/save the styles. By clicking the edit button, the lower part would become the editing section for the style.
The third section would be the insert section, where tables, images, drawings, formulas, etc. can be inserted into the document. For tables, the easiest way to do this would probably be a table mode (like in MS Office ribbon, see later)
With these three sections most of the operations should be possible by a very small amount of clicks, and also in a very logical way.
If the space doesn't suffice, there still could be some options with right clicking on the section (like MS)

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Filebar1_writer.png|120px|thumb]]

|This is the basic setup for the file tab, divided in the sections file setup, edit, review and printing

Missing: Buttons for record edits, may be search field instead of button for search & replace, help, secure document, templates, compare document, merge document?, navigator?, (page setup?)

|-
| [[Image:Vers_1_form_edit.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the format tab, with the formatting section on top and the changing at the bottom.
The bottom is divided into single text setup, alignment, numbering, colors and page setup.
Also there is missing lower ans upper case, and maybe some further under/over-line possibilities
The main purpose of the red Ch/del and save is, that you can easily edit the styles. These are to be replaced by icons. If you click on the yellow plus, a new style will be created, containing the things chosen below (for example, you want to easily adapt the style of one paragraph, where you just defined the style to several). If you want to change one of the styles that are already there, you click on the ch button, and the style will be shown in the part below for easy editing. It would be preferably, if this changes would be live in the document, so that one can see what happens. After editing, you have to save the changes. By clicking the del button, the style will be deleted. (I don't know if OOO has the capacities to do this that way, or if it would be a new feature)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 2 ins.png‎|120px|thumb]]
|This is the basic setup for the insert tab.

|}‎

=Calc=
The idea here is very similar to Writer. Also the sections would be the same (File, Formatting and Insert). But the content will be adapted to the most used items here, and can hence vary compared to Writer. Furthermore, the Formatting section will not be split, since there are very few people that use special layouts in Calc.
But the line with the content of the cell would stay on top.

=Impress=

Well Impress is the most difficult thing, but fortunately, the UI today already has a nice division of the space (all the icons and objects need to be rearranged, but still). For the wide screen displays, even the two bars to the left and right are ok, but for 4:3 screens, the slides pane would better be positioned at the bottom, to make the working space larger.
The proposal would still look very similar to Writer and Calc, maybe the pane to the right a bit wider. There are now four tabs to the right. The new one, Animations will hold both the animated elements and slide transitions. Compared to Writer or Calc, the first tab (File) holds also both master Pages and Layouts as buttons. By clicking on these buttons, a new tab opens, and more or less todays layout opens.
The new Animations tab will have two sections, one for the slide transition and one for custom animations. The only elements shown for transitions will be the effect, a button to add to all slides, add sound, speed and a options button that would bring further options forward.
The custom animation sections has also a effect listing as today, buttons to change the order buttons, the start and speed buttons, and an options button, that will bring further options forward.
The buttons to start the slide show from the beginning or from the current slide should be outside the menu. Preferably in the status bar on the very left.

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Simple mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|[[Image:Screenshot-2 mockup.png|240px|thumb]]

|-
| [[Image:Filebar1imp.png|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer file tab, here there is an additional section for the layout, but otherwise it is very similar. Also the Masterpages button will lead to a new tab, where the options for the Masterpages are shown. (see table)
|-
|[[Image:Vers 1 form imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| Compared to the Writer format tab, the formatting section on top is missing, an at the bottom there is a lining section. Otherwise it is very similar, also with the missing bits like over/under-lining options.
|-
|[[Image:Animbar1.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| This is the basic outline for the Animations tab. There are missing buttons for the add delete and change. In the Animations section, the buttons for add/del/change could also be integrated into the effect listing, and hence leave more space for the other buttons.
|-
|[[Image:Tablebar1 imp.png‎|120px|thumb]]
| If the table icon is clicked in the insert tab (especially in Impress), this new tab will open. A similar tab can open for advanced drawing options (with close to all options open), or master page, or anything, whose menu can be compressed/expanded to this size.
This new tab will only show, if either a table is (double) clicked on, or if a new one will be started.
On the top, the number of rows/columns can be inserted.
As with all previous mock ups, this is only a first draft.
|}‎

== Additional Material and Mockups ==

Here are two mockups, how it would finally look in Impress with wide screen and normal screen. Where the Icons for "start presentation" and "start presentation from this slide" should be, there is written "slide" in red.

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup ns fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|[[Image:Mockup ws fin.png‎|320px|thumb]]
|}‎

It would look very similar in Writer and Calc. In Writer there is no slides bar, and in Calc there would be the functions bar on top, and everything else like in Writer.

== Update ==

I have adapted the design a bit to the comments on Flux UI and Martinů. The menu bar (file/edit/...) isn't there anymore, but can still be shown by pressing the Alt key. (e.g. to find further options) It is replaced by a static menu that has the most used functions. As there is still some space, it could be used for further functions. (e.g. start slide show from current slide)

{| class="prettytable"
|[[Image:Mockup fin22.png‎|640px|thumb]]
|}‎

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| Constantin Bürgi
| Corsbu

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Community members, this is where your '''comments and questions concerning completeness and clarity''' should be written. Please add your OpenOffice.org login name to let us contact you via email.

|}
Your space :-)
:

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Dear Constantin, I think you should work together with the 'Proposal by Johannes Eva'. They to have an idea that is similar to yours, only they have worked out their proposal a bit further.
Greets --joey van der bie 11:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Could it be used for a "netbook version" of OpenOffice? (If it is not approved for the normal version)
In any case it would be great to be given the '''option''' to change from the classic UI to the one you propose,
since some will prefer your concept, while others won't.

Best Regards --L4Linux 07:39, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
I also think, that there should definitely be the option to switch back to the old design, or even provide more than one style, even if this means more work programming it. Especially, because the room division for 4:3 and 16:10/9 can be very different.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

can you explain how the red links 'Ch', 'Edit' and 'Save' in the format tab work? Especially why save is needed?
If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I updated the section, and now it should become more clear. To change the font size, you can just click on the change (ch) button and then change the font size below to the appropriate level (e.g. empty) and then save.
Thanks for your comments :-) --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 10:08, 18 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
|
Hi Constantin,

Thank you for the answer, which explains the red text. But can you also explain how the given example task can be done: "If a user set e.g. the font size of a style to 10pt. How can he remove this font size setting from the style again?"

Best Regards--[[User:OO@WorldWartWeb.com|OO@WorldWartWeb.com]] 07:45, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi OO@WorldWartWeb.com,

I'm not sure, if I understand correctly. As I said before to change the font size, or any other style, you can just click on the change (ch) button. Then the lower part of the sidebar will now hold the actual style (maybe the color should change also to ensure the new meaning). If one item is then changed in the lower part, and save is clicked, the new style will be saved.
I hope, I became now clear, otherwise just ask once more. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Hi Constantin, to what extend is the design of the particular items within the scope of your proposal? I notice that you use mainly icons, and rarely text to represent the functional items in the mockups. If this aspect is within the scope of your proposal, what distribution of textual and icon representation does your proposal suggest (only icon, mainly icon/sometimes textual, icons WITH text, mainly text/sometimes with icon, only text, etc.). Please clarify. (I'm aware that there will probably be textual tooltips for the icons -- I mean text that you can click on.)
Best Regards --[[User:Anjoschu|Anjoschu]] 06:22, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffffcc"
|-
|
Hi Anjoschu,

I would love just to have icons, but this probably won't be possible, as certain functions don't have a standard icon, that every user understands immediately. But like the exact arrangement of the icons, I think the use of text with the icons should be possible to adapt where necessary and I think. There is a lot of flexibility in the proposal, as the main goal is the grouped sidebar with clearer arranged functions. Nevertheless, I think, that it should be mainly icons and just sometimes textual. --[[User:Corsbu|Corsbu]], 22:38, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-18T09:09:34Z

Corsbu: /* Comments */

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-18T08:56:34Z

Corsbu: /* Writer */

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-13T20:48:22Z

Corsbu: /* Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design */

Proposal by Johannes Eva

2009-05-13T18:27:42Z

Corsbu: /* Comments */

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal [Martinů] =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|This project is named "Martinů" in honor of the Bohemian (Czech) Composer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF Bohuslav Martinů].
|-
|'''Warning''': I am not a graphic designer! All UI mockups are here just to clarify an idea, and are not supposed to be taken seriously in terms of graphical artwork.
|}

== Summary and Status ==

Status: Request for Comments

After you consider the comments and questions in the comments section, revise your proposal for completeness and understandability. When you feel your proposal is ready for evaluation, please change the status above to “Proposal Complete”. 

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Martinu_-_General_Mockup_1_-_Home_sidebar.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

* The size of the picture is 1024x729 pixels. I have taken 39 pixels away in height: it is the size of the task bar in Windows 7, which will probably be the standard when Renaissance becomes reality. The two standard panels in GNOME would take even more vertical space: 50 pixels height.

* This layout leaves more space for the document than in OOo 3.1.

== Detailed Description ==

* This proposal takes its roots in some basic ideas. I will detail some of them here.

* You may notice than some points are more detailed than others, regardless of their importance. One reason for it is that on some subjects, I am using material I had already written - for example the "line spacing" part. Let's start!

==A. Modern wide-screen resolutions==

===1. Laptops===

* There is a clear tendency in screen resolutions in favour of wide resolutions. Laptops have almost all wide resolutions by now, the newest adopting even wider resolutions like 1366x768 (Dell Studio 15, Studio 16, Inspiron 15), which seems to be the new standard, instead of 1280x800, 1600x900 (Sony Vaio FW Series) instead of 1440x900, or 1920x1080 (Dell Studio 16, Sony Vaio AW-Serie) instead of 1980x1200.

* I just goggled around, just to find an article showing that the 4:3 to 16:10 to 16:9 is not my own fantasy:

[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331000,00.asp Widescreen Laptops Get Wider]

* Laptop have topped Desktop computer sales since Q4 2008. So they can't be ignored.

[http://www.internetnews.com/hardware/article.php/3793341/Notebooks%2BTop%2BDesktop%2BSales%2BAhead%2Bof%2BSchedule.htm&cid=1282828729&ei=dYdTSd6zAYrGMtDtqJYC&usg=AFQjCNGDJlt9kS3ikN6vTq8p4xa0KzYhRg Notebooks Top Desktop Sales Ahead of Schedule]

===2. Desktop Monitors===

* TFT monitors are following the same tendency as laptop screens. 1920 x 1080 is the new standard for big monitors, instead of 1920x1200 for the "old" wide-screen format, and 1900x1600 for the "old" non-wide resolution.

* This wider screen tendency has been around for some month, and shows no sign that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

* Don't blame me for screens getting wider, personally I don't like it! But these are facts, we can't ignore them. By the time Renaissance will be implemented, 16:9 will be more probably a standard than 16:10. 4:3 monitors will probably be hard to find.

===3. Conclusion===

* Why all this text about wide-screen resolutions? Well, because in all the UI discussions and drafts I have seen by now, it has not been taken into account. While people are working mostly on vertical sheets of paper (I'm speaking mostly of Writer) screens get wider and wider and the UI doesn't adapt and takes vertical space away, leaving big chunks of the screen unused, left and right of the virtual sheet of paper. (And this empty space is filled with the depressive "Battleship Grey" application background color!)

* Personally, I also regret that the target or the proposal is Impress: Impress is an exception in OOo because the “paper” will be mostly horizontal. But as most people using OOo will use Writer, and a fewer proportion Impress, I really think that the design should be adapted to wider screens, if we want to archive a UI uniformity between the OOo applications. Most thoughts about my design proposal were targeted to Writer – I was surprised that the design seems to works really well in Impress, too.

* I wonder why the resolution for these drafts is 1024x768: try to by any consumer laptop or TFT with this resolution nowadays - it's almost impossible! 1280x768 or even the new 1366x768 would make much more sense.

* If someone would be able to send a screenshot of a default OOo Writer or Impress window (maximized) at a 1366x768 resolution, I would be happy to link it here.

* This Wiki template, if viewed in a maximized window with a 1280x800 resolution (my case), is hard to read. The lines are too long!

==B. Competitors==

===1. Microsoft Office===

* If you are not familiar with Microsoft's new "Microsoft Fluent User Interface" aka "Ribbon", here are some very interesting links where you can find more information:

* Microsoft Office 2007 UI presentation:
[http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx The Microsoft Office Fluent user interface overview]

* How does the Ribbon scale down?
[http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2005/10/18/482233.aspx Scaling up, scaling down ]

* A great video about the creation of Office 2007 new UI:
[http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx The story of the Ribbon]

This last link is a video about the design of the ribbon interface. It shows many interesting UI prototypes, as well as useful data.

* I was specially interested by the vertical "ribbon" UI drafts.

(I think the examples are small and a case of fair use, thus no being copyright infringement. If you think I'm wrong, please remove them or contact me.)

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_1.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 1]]

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_2.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 2]]

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_3.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 3]]

 

The video “The story of the Ribbon” includes useful data about user interaction surveys. Basically, the data describes the most used commands in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and if the interaction was done with the mouse or the keyboard.
I hope that the "OpenOffice Improvement program" will soon provide data of comparable quality.

[[Image:Microsoft Office 2007 Data 1.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Data 1]]

[[Image:Microsoft Office 2007 Data 2.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Data 2]]

 

I would like to highlight one detail about the “The story of the Ribbon” video. At one point (Minute 48), the narrator tries to explain why they didn't end up with a vertical design in Office 2007.

The arguments given by the narrator couldn't really convince me, and my paranoid nature ended up believing that they already had in mind that some day, it would be possible to use the vertical space for displaying... ads! And that may have been one good reason for making the UI horizontal, leaving a lot of space for vertical advertising. We will see what happens with Microsoft Office "Web" 2010.

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|'''Q.''' Why design a vertical UI in times where the market leader has a successful horizontal UI? Don't you think that the guys at Microsoft had good reasons for it?
|-
|'''A.''' Remember than at the time Microsoft was designing Office 2007, back in 2003 – 2004, the 16:10 and 16:9 screen ratio tendency was not actual. The 16:10 tendency had started maybe, but nobody was thinking that 16:9 would ever be adopted on computers. When thinking about laptop and small screen sizes, the common thinking was that the resolution would go from 1024x768 to 1280x800, and then 1440x900, even on 13 inch laptops. Office 2007 UI is not a real pleasure to use with a 768 pixels height, but it is ok with 900. Note that all the [http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080308/office-2007-interface-prototypes/ prototypes they were making] were in 1280x1024!
|}

What I personally like a lot in Office 2007 is that there is a lot of text. I don't remember icons very well, and as I could observe while watching to ordinary people using computers, neither they remember the signification of a lot of icons – except the classical B, I, U, font, paragraph alignment, save and print.

To be honest, in Writer, despite using it quite a lot, I never know which one is Font Color, Highlighting, and Background Color. An icon with text, or even text only would really be much more useful to me than an icon only. Even Office 2007 has too much icons and not enough text for me. Look at Windows 7, for example. It has much less icons and more text than previous Windows versions. To me it is much better.

===2. RedFlag RedOffice 4.5===

Have a look [http://products.redoffice.com/show/fshow.php?showname=prodesk.swf here] for a swf presentation of the RedOffice 4.5 UI.

Or [http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=redoffice here] for my older review of 4.0 beta.

I don't understand Mandarin, but Google translator helped me a little. New features of version 4.5 seem to be mainly support of Office 2007 file formats, new color management, and smaller UI changes. But please don't take me as a reliable source of information about RedOffice !

Though I couldn't use it a lot due to evident linguistic limitations, I like the RedOffice UI very much. It is obvious that the RedFlag team made a great job.

However, due to the compactness of the Chinese writing , it seems difficult to adapt the UI without major changes.

===3. IBM Lotus Symphony 1.2===

I am not really convinced by the sidebar in Lotus Symphony. First reason is the rather poor screen space management. For example, if there is an UI element everybody knows, it is the Font dropdown menu. There is no need to write "Font:" on it... Same thing for other really obvious UI elements.
(It is the same, but not that worse, for Microsoft Office Mac 2008)

The other reason I'm not convinced it that in many cases the sidebar simply duplicates the normal toolbar elements. In some cases, it is even worse: the Font Styles dropdown menu, for example is absurd. It is just more complicated and less intuitive than the traditional [B] [I] [U], without any other advantage - it even doesn't take less space.

[[Image:Martinu_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_-_Font_Style_selector.png]]

===4. Sidebar width in differen Office Suites===

Here is an image I pasted together last February, as I was working on my first design.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Sidebar_Width_in_different_Office_Suites_applications.png]]

==C. My proposal: "Martinů"==

As you probably guessed it by now, my proposal will feature a vertical toolbar / pane / sidebar / menu structure.
Personally, I prefer to use the "Sidebar" term, as I don't really like the word "Pane".

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|'''Q.''' Won't it be too difficult for users to adapt to a vertical menu structure?
|-
|'''A.''' In fact, many users are already used to vertical menu structures. They are present in a lot of software, for example designed for Apple. Here it can be useful to remember that Macs especially have the reputation to be easy to use. Good examples for existing vertical menu structures would be Apple iWorks or Microsoft Office Mac. Of course vertical menus are not only present on Macs. The GIMP, for example, as well as most image manipulation programs, have vertical UI elements.
The OpenOffice.org based Chinese office suite RedOffice has already made the jump to a vertical menu structure, so that it would be useful to ask them for user feedback.
|}

===1. The sidebar selector===

The main problem that came out designing a vertical IU is: how to select the content of the sidebar? In the "Story of the ribbon", for example, there are some funny design proposals:
* leaving the tabs horizontal on the whole screen width
* grouping a text menu at the bottom of the sidebars

Both of them are imperfect, and at first I didn't want to have icons only, because it takes a long time to the users to learn what they mean, and text is more intuitive.

My first "sidebar selector", a mixture between the one in RedOffice and the Preferences dialog in Firefox looked like this:

[[Image:Martinu_-_OOo_Renaissance_Mockup_-_Sidebar_Selector_old_draft.png]]

The problems of this sidebar selector were: to keep its vertical size (height) acceptable, I had to limit the elements to 6, which is not enough. With 9 Elements, it was too tall. For the curious, the whole old design + sidebar (for OOo Writer) was like this:

[[Image:Martinu_-_Old_OOo_UI_draft_proposal_-_Renaissance_-_Mockup_1.png|500px|thumb|left|Old UI mockup for Writer]]
 

The main flaw of this old design is that the group labels are under the group. Very unintuitive! The main Idea did not change in the current proposal, though.

Finally I had to accept leaving out the text, and adopting an approach which was more like The GIMP, Apple Pages or Microsoft Office Mac, with small icons. I still think that text is important, and unlike in the software I just named, the name of the current sidebar should be clearly displayed.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Renaissance_project_-_Sidebar_Selector_Mockup.png]]

When the mouse goes over an icon in the sidebar selector, the text should change (maybe a very fast, smooth blend effect) and be displayed transparently (as in the the "add new slide" feature), until the user clicks "definitely". Maybe color themes could be used to help identify each sidebar with its title and icon.

A single left click on the text ("Home", "Slides", "Draw", ... all the blue area) should pop down a menu with a list of all the possible tabs.

The lightening ↯ icon (or whatever, ▼ / ▾ are more standard) is a button with general sidebar options - equivalent to the right click. It should display a menu with these kind of options:


┌──────────────── 
│ Undock Sidebar 
│ Duplicate Sidebar 
│ Close Sidebar (only if there are more than one) 
│ ──────── 
│ Sidebar preferences 
└──────────────── 


===2. The sidebars===

The proposed organization I have for Sidebars is the following:

A. Home 
B. Slides 
Layouts | Master Pages 
C. Effects 
Transition | Animation 
D. Draw 
E. Insert 
All | Table (| Chart) 
F. More 
Options | Notes (| Navigator) 
(G. Navigator) 
(H. Search) 
(I. Gallery) 

===2.1 Sidebar A: Home – The "File" Group===

NB. I'm still wondering if the "File" and "Standard Tools" groups should be placed above the Sidebar Selector, thus be always visible. Or if there should be a kind of "quick shortcut toolbar".

My option for now is to have a two or three lines menu group, featuring the most used actions:

[[Image:Martinu_-_File_menu_without_title.png]]

The "Round Orange +" button would give a dropdown menu of all less used options, in this example:


┌──────────────── 
│ Recent Documents 
│ Wizards 
│ ──────── 
│ Reload 
│ Versions 
│ ──────── 
│ Properties 
│ Digital Signatures 
│ Templates 
│ ──────── 
│ Preview in web browser 
└──────────────── 


How to know which elements to put directly accessible in the menu group, and which one in the "Round Orange +" menu? Well, as no one has a perfect answer to this, the best thing would be to wait for the results of the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience/OpenOffice.org_User_Feedback_Program "OpenOffice Improvement program"].

Therefore, the "Martinů" proposal as it is now is not at all intended to be anything reliable, it's only a vague idea, which should be improved by real user data as base.

The round "Help" button should show the content of the "Help" menu in current OOo versions.

The two printer icons shouldn't be looking the same. One is the "Print File Directly", the other the standard "Print…" dialog.

===2.2 Sidebar A. Home – The "Standard Tools" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Standard_tools_menu_without_title.png]]

The ugly "planet" icon should open a dropdown menu with the options in "Tools → Languages". (Thesaurus, Hyphenation, More dictionaries.)

===2.3 Sidebar A. Home – The "Character" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Character_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

NB. I did borrow the [+][-] font size idea from Miroslav Mazel. (I don't know if it was his creation, though.)

===2.4 Sidebar A. Home – The "Paragraph" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Paragraph_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

===2.5 Sidebar A. Home – The "Find a Command" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Find_a_command_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

If a user doesn't find a command, he can search it here. This Group should have a minimal size of two or three results should be able to expand if there is enough vertical space.

I have no time right now to imagine how the result list could look like. Not so easy problem which maybe goes beyond the scope of this proposal ;-)

===3. Details about a small subject: line spacing icons===

I would like to take line spacing as a usability example. The line spacing icon shows a very different implementation and behavior depending on the platforms and office suites.

Basically there are two methods for displaying the line spacing icon(s). On one side, Office 2007, Pages '08, and Lotus Symphony, which display only one icon with a dropdown menu. On the other side, Office Mac 2008 and OOo, showing 3 icons and only 3 choices.

* Microsoft Office Mac 2008:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_Mac_2008.png]]

* OpenOffice.org 3.0:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_OOo_3.png]]

* Microsoft Office 2007:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_2007_small.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_2007_expanded.png]]

* Apple Pages '08:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Apple_Pages_08.png]]

Apple pages offers the most complete range of choice for line spacing in its "inspector" menu:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Apple_Pages_08_-_Inspector.png]]

* IBM Lotus Symphony 1.2:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_small.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_expanded.png]]

Though Lotus Symphony has a dropdown menu, it offers only 3 choices. A line space of 1.15 or 1.25 is not possible via this icon/dropdown menu.

'''Conclusion:''' My favourite implementation of the Line spacing "problem" is the one chosen by Office 2007. It does take only a small amout of space in the UI, whilst offering a clear and wide range of options.

Three icons as in OOo and Office Mac 2008 definitely take too much UI space, without offering enough options and being clearer. And why only these exact 3 choices? Is 1.5 really more useful than 1.15 or 1.25? Intermediate values are really useful.

At least in Office Mac 2008 there is a text description saying "Line spacing", which is missing in OOo.

PS. I just checked RedOffice, here is how it looks like:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_RedFlag_RedOffice_4.png]]

===4. Sidebar B: Slides===

This is an example of how a sidebar can be subdivided. Whether the user selects "Layouts" or "Master Pages", the bottom part of the sidebar changes. It basically acts like a tab. In this case, the color code makes it really intuitive.

[[Image:Martinu_-_General_Mockup_2_-_Slides_Sidebar.png]]

The layouts could be really simplified and we wouldn't need that much different thumbnails if we would adopt the very smart behavior of Microsoft PowerPoint (and maybe others). In the layout thumbnails, only make the difference between an object and a text field. Then when the layout is applied on a slide, have a list of objects to insert as buttons, directly on the slide:

[Icon] Table 
[Icon] Chart 
[Icon] Pictures

Once the user creates one type of object, the list vanishes.

===5. Sidebar C: Effects===

This sidebar should have to subdivisions:

Transitions and Animations

(Same principle as "Layouts" or "Master Pages" in the Slides sidebar.)

Unfortunately, I have no time to make a mockup.

===6. Sidebar D: Draw===

This sidebar should have to subdivisions:

Drawing and Fontworks.

Again, I don't have time to make a mockup. But basically, it should work these screenshots of Redoffice:

[[Image:Martinu_-_RedOffice_Drawing_1.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_-_RedOffice_Drawing_2.png]]

I like this big list of drawing elements: it is much more easy to find a good shape in a big list than in all the small menus of Impress.

===7. Sidebar E: Insert===

Pictures from file, Scan, Clipart, Header & Footer, ...

Following subdivisions:

All | Table | Chart

* When having created or "being in" a table, or having a picture selected, the sidebar should change to a Table / Picture sidebar.
(Which icon would appear in the last box of the Sidebar Selector, so that the user can leave and return as many times as he wishes.)

===8. Sidebar F: More===

Options that don't fit anywhere else, Page setup, View (Grid, Rulers, Guides, Black & White/Grey/Color), ...

Maybe other sidebars for

G. Navigator and Gallery (two subdivisions of the same sidebar?)

H. Search & replace

===9. Generalities about the Sidebar===

The Sidebar should be configurable! In my imagination, there should be a way like in Firefox to move the Groups inside (or outside) the sidebars. It should also be possible to choose which elements should be displayed or not displayed inside each groups.

As in Apple iWorks, there should be a possibility to have more than one sidebar, as well as to undock sidebars. This would it make possible to have one sidebar with the "Home" view, plus a second with, for example, drawing elements. (one beside or above/below the other, or floating / undocked.)

It should be possible to dock the sidebar left or right.

===10. The "Slides" panel===

In the default configuration of my project, the "Slide Pane" would be horizontal at the bottom of the screen, instead of vertical on the left as in previous Impress versions. It always seemed logical to me, as it gives a "temporal" vision, as in video editing software. Of course, it should be able to be moved vertically, to accommodate wider screen resolutions. (Sony P-Serie anyone?)

Note the "New Slide" feature, which is a little bit like the "New Tab" icon of some modern web browsers.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Slides_panel.png]]

The transition symbol between the slides miniatures should be clickable, and should open the transition sidebar.

As many people don't use the right-click, the slide number should open a menu with the right-click options.

===11. About the status bar===

Personally, I love to use directly the status bar for selecting the language. I use it '''a lot'''. It is fast, and the actual language is always displayed, which is really useful. The page count is also very useful, not to speak about the indispensable zoom slider.
By the way, I am not really enthusiastic about the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Zoom_Slider#Gear_Stick_Metaphor Gear Stick] zoom slider, which seems to be really complicated.

Nevertheless, the zoom slider should be enhanced by an precisely editable zoom, as in the GIMP.

The right bottom corner will be the geographic place of the zoom, so there is no necessity to put other zoom elements in the UI. (No zoom option in a View sidebar, for example. It would just be duplication of existing options.)

Please keep (and enhance) the status bar!

===12. About the rulers===

In Impress, the rulers are already hidden by default, which is a good thing. Nevertheless, the addition of a ruler button could be useful.

In my opinion, the rulers should also be hidden by default in OOo Writer. I wrote a detailed article about it, [http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=ooo_hidden_ruler here it is]!

===13. About tabbed documents and the menu bar===

* One rule of the game was not to add new features, and I already cheated enough. So I don't have any mockup for tabbed documents. I have to mention that I like Miroslav Mazel's ideas about the tabs very much.

* About the menu bar / File menu on MacOS: by default, the most minimalistic will be fine. What about only "Exit"?

===14. Some random thoughts: "Reconception"===

While being really interested in the Renaissance project, sometimes I wonder if a new IU would really be the most needed improvement in OpenOffice.org. Some days ago, I stumbled about this page:
[http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience/DirectManipulationSnippets DirectManipulationSnippets]
and thought that this would be a incredibly useful feature for OOo. As well as a new color selection tool, anchor selection for notes, "live preview" or a better Office 2007 file format support. In fact I am missing these features much more than a new UI.

Anyway, I'm wondering how, with the relatively small manpower of the OOo, Renaissance could be implemented. Wouldn't it be interesting to have a smooth transition to the new UI? Many things could be implemented in transition versions of OOo, Renaissance could be an evolution instead of a brutal change. In fact, a good UI project could be like a final target, and would give to OOo a global direction.

Some days ago I was thinking about the term "re-conception". To go back to the French origin of the term, a "naissance" (birth) isn't possible before a "conception" (fertilization!), would a "renaissance" be possible before a "reconception"? Would reconception be a good name for a period of transition?

===15. Backward compatibility===

Backward compatibility is not a term that is often used for UIs. I think that a new UI for OOo could and should be backward compatible.

For example, the "Martinů" proposal could be backward compatible. How? Just by keeping the possibility to use the old toolbars and menus.
For people needing it, it would be possible to keep the standard menu and toolbars! They just would fit perfectly in the "Martinů" design, at the same place than they always have been.

Why not? I am pretty confident that the users would get smoothly used to the sidebars.
It would be a good thing for the development, because the sidebar could even be only an extension first. (No idea these kind of extensions / plugins are possible.) It would not break anything old. Renaissance could be a smooth transition, for the users and the people making it.

===16. The most important part - Georges tryes to open a .odp file===

Have you ever observed a normal user opening a .odp file?
I will tell you about things I have observed many, many times.

Well, first, '''a lot of people who open a .odp don't want to edit it'''. I would even say, most of the users. They probably don't know what a presentation is. (I'm not joking!) They don't know that you can either play it (Slide Show) or edit it.

The standard user - let's call him Georges - is opening this damn file because a friend of him sent a funny picture slideshow by email. Georges has no clue what software to use to open it, and no idea that OOo Impress is not exactly the same than OOo Writer.

If he is lucky, the file will open correctly in Impress. And now? What?
'''Georges is perplex.'''

If Georges has time / patience / really wants to see the pictures, he will click every thumbnail, one after another, to see all the pictures. There are very few chances that he hits the F5 key, or clicks the Slideshow button.

If he does (or someone tells him to ;-) click the Slideshow button, unfortunately, he will land in the fullscreen mode. Surprise! '''There are no hints about what to do, and even no hints about how to exit!''' Many users don't know about the [Escape] key. I have seen users who wanted to exit go through a whole presentation because they didn't know any other way to exit!

'''Conclusion.''' This part is maybe the most important of my proposal! There are 2 solutions to the problems in the Georges scenario:

* 1. In full screen mode, there should be a menu by default. Something like in GThumb, for example, that automatically hides after a few seconds, but only in a corner. It should at least have a clearly labeled "Exit" and "Next Slide".

* 2. It is '''very''' important that a simple dialog shows up the first time a user opens an .odp file. So that the majority of the users who just play .odps are able to play them! I could be like the following dialog:

[[Image:Martinu_-_Opening_an_odp_file.png]]

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| [http://www.johannes-eva.net/ Johannes Eva]
| OpenOffice.org Login Name

|-
| Real Name
| OpenOffice.org Login Name

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Thanks. I'm glad you like my ideas. For the most part, I think your proposal is great, but I have a few comments (please don't hate me for being too critical -- I'm dissatisfied/unsure with half the things in my proposal, and I'm very nitpicky):
* I think that, if we want to be cross-platform and we want browseability, we need to have menus. And I also think that not all features should be packed into the sidebar. The sidebar, in my opinion, should present only the features you need often, but features like "Options," which the user uses rarely, don't really need a quick access icon. Menus would really help in uncluttering the sidebar and leaving what's important.
* I am, again, voicing my opinion about the "Show rulers" button. It doesn't make sense in the scroll bar, just like sheets don't make sense there. A scroll bar is for browsing, period. A "View" menu (or, in your case, panel) is meant for hiding/showing elements. Let's not throw away meaning and logic to follow Microsoft's example or to make a feature more visible.
* You mention a feature of Firefox being "to move the Groups inside (or outside) the sidebars." What exactly are you referring to?
* If you give the average user (who's used to the old way of doing things) the option of toolbars and menus, he usually won't slowly move away from them. He'll stick to the menus and toolbars, just because he's used to them. On top of that, developers will have extra work, as they will have to adjust panels, menus, AND toolbars as new features come up. I think if the interface was truly intuitive and logical, the user should be able to adjust to it easily, and we wouldn't have to worry about keeping things the old way.
* I'm really glad that someone agrees with me on the status bar issue. And I agree that Direct Manipulation Snippets (I still like "pockets" better) are great.
* I think "Language" should go under "Text," since only text can have language, and different sections can be in different languages.
* Thanks for the "Competitors" section.
* As for the line spacing, I think we should make it like the font chooser (although the "Add/remove space before/after paragraph" should be there too), with a slider on the left side and common choices on the right (I still need to put that into my proposal; oh well).
* Anyway, I really, really like this proposal (but I still prefer mine :D, but maybe that's because I made it up, and therefore understand it a whole lot more) and I'm looking forward to more ideas as you add them.--[[User:Mirek2|Mirek2]] 01:04, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| *Very well thought out, I'm not sure I'd want to lose so much width in writer (not all displays are widescreen yet), but it defiantly works well for impress. It should be easy to hide the sidebar for when you just want to view documents (this dosn't really apply to impress),
*I defiantly agree about backwards compatibility. No matter how intuitive a UI some people are going to prefer the old way. Could The way that your sidebar uses groups would allow users to simply move the groups to the top and use them as toolbars (this has the advantage that keeping the old way doesn't require extra maintenance)
*While i think that there should be an obvious "play slideshow" option, im worried that using a dialog would slow down people that open and edit many presentations.--[[User:RiotingPacifist|RiotingPacifist]] 01:27, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|Thanks a lot Miroslav and RiotingPacifist for your first comments! I'm really tired now and tomorrow I won't have much time for answering. But I'll surely do it on Wednesday or Thursday! All the best, --[[User:Johanneseva|Johanneseva]] 01:42, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| This is one of the best over-all UI implementations I have seen in any number of programs, proprietary or open source, since wide-screen monitors have become the rage. I recommend two changes, one little and one bigger. The little problem is that I think some of the functions you relegate to the "home" section should be available no matter what sidebar menu is available. These includes truly basic functionality, like save, back, forward, etc. FLUX UI does a good job of mixing different UI elements for "whatever works" in that regard. Maybe you could have some basic functions that are near the sidebar, but outside the realm that changes with each menu selection, so that they are always there.

The bigger problem I can see is that the menu section icons along the top of your side-bar might not be intuitive. They are relatively small targets and do not have text labels, making them hard to identify, and even harder to hit, even if you do know what they do. Constantin Bürgi used text for the section labels in a similar mock-up to yours (albeit with different widgit groupings), but he put major menu labels to the side. While his "sidebar" was to the right of the screen, if you were to take his sideways tab idea and apply it to your left-oriented version, your design would take advantage of Fitts' Law when changing menu tabs on fullscreen windows. A user just jerks his/her mouse the the left, and they are at the menus. If you decide it is too much a UX inconvenience to read text sideways, you could use larger icon-based tabs in their place.

Alternatively, you could take a page from the "FLUX UI" design team and incorporate something like their "accordion" menus. Except that instead of the accordion being horizontal, you could make it be vertical. That way would allow you to use full horizontal text labels for each of your sidebar selector sections, and would also (potentially) introduce some cool animation when switching between menu types. Imagine jumping between "home" "insert" "layout" "draw" "navigator" or "tools," where each time you switched there would be this cool swiping animation between each level. I don't know what programming language would work best to support the animations, since OO.o is multi-platform, but it would definitely enhance the UX. I suggest you work together with Constantin Bürgi to come out with one clean finished proposal, since you two effectively share the same design visions. Talk with the FLUX team too, because they seem really fixed on attaining a clean layout, which is itself an important part of UX--[[Brian Fleeger]] 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Your design is very close to mine with the sidebar containing most of the functions in groups. But there are two things, that have to be considered. The point with some static menu part already stated above, isn't easy to achieve (this is the reason I don't have it in my design either), but still very important, especially the undo and redo keys. Maybe a solution could be my update or to keep the bottom/top part of the sidebar static. Also I think, that copying from already present designs (MS, Mac,...) should be minimized to give OpenOffice its unique UI. Maybe for switching between the different menus, we could use my tab design and merge our ideas, as already suggested by several comments;).
--[[Corsbu]] 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-13T18:23:48Z

Corsbu:

File:Mockup fin22.png

2009-05-13T18:16:54Z

Corsbu:

Proposal by Johannes Eva

2009-05-13T16:58:10Z

Corsbu: /* Comments */

__NOTOC__
= Design Proposal [Martinů] =
{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are the original author. Your feedback and comments are welcome in the '''Comments '''section below or on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance. You can find the other design proposals at:
[[Design_Proposals_for_“Accessing_Functionality”]]

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|This project is named "Martinů" in honor of the Bohemian (Czech) Composer [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohuslav_Martin%C5%AF Bohuslav Martinů].
|-
|'''Warning''': I am not a graphic designer! All UI mockups are here just to clarify an idea, and are not supposed to be taken seriously in terms of graphical artwork.
|}

== Summary and Status ==

Status: Request for Comments

After you consider the comments and questions in the comments section, revise your proposal for completeness and understandability. When you feel your proposal is ready for evaluation, please change the status above to “Proposal Complete”. 

== Mockup ==

{| class="prettytable"
| [[Image:Martinu_-_General_Mockup_1_-_Home_sidebar.png|640px|thumb]]

|}

* The size of the picture is 1024x729 pixels. I have taken 39 pixels away in height: it is the size of the task bar in Windows 7, which will probably be the standard when Renaissance becomes reality. The two standard panels in GNOME would take even more vertical space: 50 pixels height.

* This layout leaves more space for the document than in OOo 3.1.

== Detailed Description ==

* This proposal takes its roots in some basic ideas. I will detail some of them here.

* You may notice than some points are more detailed than others, regardless of their importance. One reason for it is that on some subjects, I am using material I had already written - for example the "line spacing" part. Let's start!

==A. Modern wide-screen resolutions==

===1. Laptops===

* There is a clear tendency in screen resolutions in favour of wide resolutions. Laptops have almost all wide resolutions by now, the newest adopting even wider resolutions like 1366x768 (Dell Studio 15, Studio 16, Inspiron 15), which seems to be the new standard, instead of 1280x800, 1600x900 (Sony Vaio FW Series) instead of 1440x900, or 1920x1080 (Dell Studio 16, Sony Vaio AW-Serie) instead of 1980x1200.

* I just goggled around, just to find an article showing that the 4:3 to 16:10 to 16:9 is not my own fantasy:

[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2331000,00.asp Widescreen Laptops Get Wider]

* Laptop have topped Desktop computer sales since Q4 2008. So they can't be ignored.

[http://www.internetnews.com/hardware/article.php/3793341/Notebooks%2BTop%2BDesktop%2BSales%2BAhead%2Bof%2BSchedule.htm&cid=1282828729&ei=dYdTSd6zAYrGMtDtqJYC&usg=AFQjCNGDJlt9kS3ikN6vTq8p4xa0KzYhRg Notebooks Top Desktop Sales Ahead of Schedule]

===2. Desktop Monitors===

* TFT monitors are following the same tendency as laptop screens. 1920 x 1080 is the new standard for big monitors, instead of 1920x1200 for the "old" wide-screen format, and 1900x1600 for the "old" non-wide resolution.

* This wider screen tendency has been around for some month, and shows no sign that it shouldn't be taken seriously.

* Don't blame me for screens getting wider, personally I don't like it! But these are facts, we can't ignore them. By the time Renaissance will be implemented, 16:9 will be more probably a standard than 16:10. 4:3 monitors will probably be hard to find.

===3. Conclusion===

* Why all this text about wide-screen resolutions? Well, because in all the UI discussions and drafts I have seen by now, it has not been taken into account. While people are working mostly on vertical sheets of paper (I'm speaking mostly of Writer) screens get wider and wider and the UI doesn't adapt and takes vertical space away, leaving big chunks of the screen unused, left and right of the virtual sheet of paper. (And this empty space is filled with the depressive "Battleship Grey" application background color!)

* Personally, I also regret that the target or the proposal is Impress: Impress is an exception in OOo because the “paper” will be mostly horizontal. But as most people using OOo will use Writer, and a fewer proportion Impress, I really think that the design should be adapted to wider screens, if we want to archive a UI uniformity between the OOo applications. Most thoughts about my design proposal were targeted to Writer – I was surprised that the design seems to works really well in Impress, too.

* I wonder why the resolution for these drafts is 1024x768: try to by any consumer laptop or TFT with this resolution nowadays - it's almost impossible! 1280x768 or even the new 1366x768 would make much more sense.

* If someone would be able to send a screenshot of a default OOo Writer or Impress window (maximized) at a 1366x768 resolution, I would be happy to link it here.

* This Wiki template, if viewed in a maximized window with a 1280x800 resolution (my case), is hard to read. The lines are too long!

==B. Competitors==

===1. Microsoft Office===

* If you are not familiar with Microsoft's new "Microsoft Fluent User Interface" aka "Ribbon", here are some very interesting links where you can find more information:

* Microsoft Office 2007 UI presentation:
[http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/products/HA101679411033.aspx The Microsoft Office Fluent user interface overview]

* How does the Ribbon scale down?
[http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2005/10/18/482233.aspx Scaling up, scaling down ]

* A great video about the creation of Office 2007 new UI:
[http://blogs.msdn.com/jensenh/archive/2008/03/12/the-story-of-the-ribbon.aspx The story of the Ribbon]

This last link is a video about the design of the ribbon interface. It shows many interesting UI prototypes, as well as useful data.

* I was specially interested by the vertical "ribbon" UI drafts.

(I think the examples are small and a case of fair use, thus no being copyright infringement. If you think I'm wrong, please remove them or contact me.)

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_1.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 1]]

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_2.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 2]]

[[Image:Martinu_Microsoft_Office_2007_UI_Draft_3.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Draft 3]]

 

The video “The story of the Ribbon” includes useful data about user interaction surveys. Basically, the data describes the most used commands in Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and if the interaction was done with the mouse or the keyboard.
I hope that the "OpenOffice Improvement program" will soon provide data of comparable quality.

[[Image:Microsoft Office 2007 Data 1.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Data 1]]

[[Image:Microsoft Office 2007 Data 2.png|300px|thumb|left|Microsoft Office 2007 Data 2]]

 

I would like to highlight one detail about the “The story of the Ribbon” video. At one point (Minute 48), the narrator tries to explain why they didn't end up with a vertical design in Office 2007.

The arguments given by the narrator couldn't really convince me, and my paranoid nature ended up believing that they already had in mind that some day, it would be possible to use the vertical space for displaying... ads! And that may have been one good reason for making the UI horizontal, leaving a lot of space for vertical advertising. We will see what happens with Microsoft Office "Web" 2010.

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|'''Q.''' Why design a vertical UI in times where the market leader has a successful horizontal UI? Don't you think that the guys at Microsoft had good reasons for it?
|-
|'''A.''' Remember than at the time Microsoft was designing Office 2007, back in 2003 – 2004, the 16:10 and 16:9 screen ratio tendency was not actual. The 16:10 tendency had started maybe, but nobody was thinking that 16:9 would ever be adopted on computers. When thinking about laptop and small screen sizes, the common thinking was that the resolution would go from 1024x768 to 1280x800, and then 1440x900, even on 13 inch laptops. Office 2007 UI is not a real pleasure to use with a 768 pixels height, but it is ok with 900. Note that all the [http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080308/office-2007-interface-prototypes/ prototypes they were making] were in 1280x1024!
|}

What I personally like a lot in Office 2007 is that there is a lot of text. I don't remember icons very well, and as I could observe while watching to ordinary people using computers, neither they remember the signification of a lot of icons – except the classical B, I, U, font, paragraph alignment, save and print.

To be honest, in Writer, despite using it quite a lot, I never know which one is Font Color, Highlighting, and Background Color. An icon with text, or even text only would really be much more useful to me than an icon only. Even Office 2007 has too much icons and not enough text for me. Look at Windows 7, for example. It has much less icons and more text than previous Windows versions. To me it is much better.

===2. RedFlag RedOffice 4.5===

Have a look [http://products.redoffice.com/show/fshow.php?showname=prodesk.swf here] for a swf presentation of the RedOffice 4.5 UI.

Or [http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=redoffice here] for my older review of 4.0 beta.

I don't understand Mandarin, but Google translator helped me a little. New features of version 4.5 seem to be mainly support of Office 2007 file formats, new color management, and smaller UI changes. But please don't take me as a reliable source of information about RedOffice !

Though I couldn't use it a lot due to evident linguistic limitations, I like the RedOffice UI very much. It is obvious that the RedFlag team made a great job.

However, due to the compactness of the Chinese writing , it seems difficult to adapt the UI without major changes.

===3. IBM Lotus Symphony 1.2===

I am not really convinced by the sidebar in Lotus Symphony. First reason is the rather poor screen space management. For example, if there is an UI element everybody knows, it is the Font dropdown menu. There is no need to write "Font:" on it... Same thing for other really obvious UI elements.
(It is the same, but not that worse, for Microsoft Office Mac 2008)

The other reason I'm not convinced it that in many cases the sidebar simply duplicates the normal toolbar elements. In some cases, it is even worse: the Font Styles dropdown menu, for example is absurd. It is just more complicated and less intuitive than the traditional [B] [I] [U], without any other advantage - it even doesn't take less space.

[[Image:Martinu_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_-_Font_Style_selector.png]]

===4. Sidebar width in differen Office Suites===

Here is an image I pasted together last February, as I was working on my first design.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Sidebar_Width_in_different_Office_Suites_applications.png]]

==C. My proposal: "Martinů"==

As you probably guessed it by now, my proposal will feature a vertical toolbar / pane / sidebar / menu structure.
Personally, I prefer to use the "Sidebar" term, as I don't really like the word "Pane".

{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|'''Q.''' Won't it be too difficult for users to adapt to a vertical menu structure?
|-
|'''A.''' In fact, many users are already used to vertical menu structures. They are present in a lot of software, for example designed for Apple. Here it can be useful to remember that Macs especially have the reputation to be easy to use. Good examples for existing vertical menu structures would be Apple iWorks or Microsoft Office Mac. Of course vertical menus are not only present on Macs. The GIMP, for example, as well as most image manipulation programs, have vertical UI elements.
The OpenOffice.org based Chinese office suite RedOffice has already made the jump to a vertical menu structure, so that it would be useful to ask them for user feedback.
|}

===1. The sidebar selector===

The main problem that came out designing a vertical IU is: how to select the content of the sidebar? In the "Story of the ribbon", for example, there are some funny design proposals:
* leaving the tabs horizontal on the whole screen width
* grouping a text menu at the bottom of the sidebars

Both of them are imperfect, and at first I didn't want to have icons only, because it takes a long time to the users to learn what they mean, and text is more intuitive.

My first "sidebar selector", a mixture between the one in RedOffice and the Preferences dialog in Firefox looked like this:

[[Image:Martinu_-_OOo_Renaissance_Mockup_-_Sidebar_Selector_old_draft.png]]

The problems of this sidebar selector were: to keep its vertical size (height) acceptable, I had to limit the elements to 6, which is not enough. With 9 Elements, it was too tall. For the curious, the whole old design + sidebar (for OOo Writer) was like this:

[[Image:Martinu_-_Old_OOo_UI_draft_proposal_-_Renaissance_-_Mockup_1.png|500px|thumb|left|Old UI mockup for Writer]]
 

The main flaw of this old design is that the group labels are under the group. Very unintuitive! The main Idea did not change in the current proposal, though.

Finally I had to accept leaving out the text, and adopting an approach which was more like The GIMP, Apple Pages or Microsoft Office Mac, with small icons. I still think that text is important, and unlike in the software I just named, the name of the current sidebar should be clearly displayed.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Renaissance_project_-_Sidebar_Selector_Mockup.png]]

When the mouse goes over an icon in the sidebar selector, the text should change (maybe a very fast, smooth blend effect) and be displayed transparently (as in the the "add new slide" feature), until the user clicks "definitely". Maybe color themes could be used to help identify each sidebar with its title and icon.

A single left click on the text ("Home", "Slides", "Draw", ... all the blue area) should pop down a menu with a list of all the possible tabs.

The lightening ↯ icon (or whatever, ▼ / ▾ are more standard) is a button with general sidebar options - equivalent to the right click. It should display a menu with these kind of options:


┌──────────────── 
│ Undock Sidebar 
│ Duplicate Sidebar 
│ Close Sidebar (only if there are more than one) 
│ ──────── 
│ Sidebar preferences 
└──────────────── 


===2. The sidebars===

The proposed organization I have for Sidebars is the following:

A. Home 
B. Slides 
Layouts | Master Pages 
C. Effects 
Transition | Animation 
D. Draw 
E. Insert 
All | Table (| Chart) 
F. More 
Options | Notes (| Navigator) 
(G. Navigator) 
(H. Search) 
(I. Gallery) 

===2.1 Sidebar A: Home – The "File" Group===

NB. I'm still wondering if the "File" and "Standard Tools" groups should be placed above the Sidebar Selector, thus be always visible. Or if there should be a kind of "quick shortcut toolbar".

My option for now is to have a two or three lines menu group, featuring the most used actions:

[[Image:Martinu_-_File_menu_without_title.png]]

The "Round Orange +" button would give a dropdown menu of all less used options, in this example:


┌──────────────── 
│ Recent Documents 
│ Wizards 
│ ──────── 
│ Reload 
│ Versions 
│ ──────── 
│ Properties 
│ Digital Signatures 
│ Templates 
│ ──────── 
│ Preview in web browser 
└──────────────── 


How to know which elements to put directly accessible in the menu group, and which one in the "Round Orange +" menu? Well, as no one has a perfect answer to this, the best thing would be to wait for the results of the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience/OpenOffice.org_User_Feedback_Program "OpenOffice Improvement program"].

Therefore, the "Martinů" proposal as it is now is not at all intended to be anything reliable, it's only a vague idea, which should be improved by real user data as base.

The round "Help" button should show the content of the "Help" menu in current OOo versions.

The two printer icons shouldn't be looking the same. One is the "Print File Directly", the other the standard "Print…" dialog.

===2.2 Sidebar A. Home – The "Standard Tools" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Standard_tools_menu_without_title.png]]

The ugly "planet" icon should open a dropdown menu with the options in "Tools → Languages". (Thesaurus, Hyphenation, More dictionaries.)

===2.3 Sidebar A. Home – The "Character" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Character_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

NB. I did borrow the [+][-] font size idea from Miroslav Mazel. (I don't know if it was his creation, though.)

===2.4 Sidebar A. Home – The "Paragraph" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Paragraph_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

===2.5 Sidebar A. Home – The "Find a Command" Group===

[[Image:Martinu_-_Find_a_command_Group_-_Renaissance_UI_proposal.png]]

If a user doesn't find a command, he can search it here. This Group should have a minimal size of two or three results should be able to expand if there is enough vertical space.

I have no time right now to imagine how the result list could look like. Not so easy problem which maybe goes beyond the scope of this proposal ;-)

===3. Details about a small subject: line spacing icons===

I would like to take line spacing as a usability example. The line spacing icon shows a very different implementation and behavior depending on the platforms and office suites.

Basically there are two methods for displaying the line spacing icon(s). On one side, Office 2007, Pages '08, and Lotus Symphony, which display only one icon with a dropdown menu. On the other side, Office Mac 2008 and OOo, showing 3 icons and only 3 choices.

* Microsoft Office Mac 2008:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_Mac_2008.png]]

* OpenOffice.org 3.0:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_OOo_3.png]]

* Microsoft Office 2007:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_2007_small.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Microsoft_Office_2007_expanded.png]]

* Apple Pages '08:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Apple_Pages_08.png]]

Apple pages offers the most complete range of choice for line spacing in its "inspector" menu:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_Apple_Pages_08_-_Inspector.png]]

* IBM Lotus Symphony 1.2:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_small.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_IBM_Lotus_Symphony_expanded.png]]

Though Lotus Symphony has a dropdown menu, it offers only 3 choices. A line space of 1.15 or 1.25 is not possible via this icon/dropdown menu.

'''Conclusion:''' My favourite implementation of the Line spacing "problem" is the one chosen by Office 2007. It does take only a small amout of space in the UI, whilst offering a clear and wide range of options.

Three icons as in OOo and Office Mac 2008 definitely take too much UI space, without offering enough options and being clearer. And why only these exact 3 choices? Is 1.5 really more useful than 1.15 or 1.25? Intermediate values are really useful.

At least in Office Mac 2008 there is a text description saying "Line spacing", which is missing in OOo.

PS. I just checked RedOffice, here is how it looks like:

[[Image:Martinu_Line_spacing_icons_-_RedFlag_RedOffice_4.png]]

===4. Sidebar B: Slides===

This is an example of how a sidebar can be subdivided. Whether the user selects "Layouts" or "Master Pages", the bottom part of the sidebar changes. It basically acts like a tab. In this case, the color code makes it really intuitive.

[[Image:Martinu_-_General_Mockup_2_-_Slides_Sidebar.png]]

The layouts could be really simplified and we wouldn't need that much different thumbnails if we would adopt the very smart behavior of Microsoft PowerPoint (and maybe others). In the layout thumbnails, only make the difference between an object and a text field. Then when the layout is applied on a slide, have a list of objects to insert as buttons, directly on the slide:

[Icon] Table 
[Icon] Chart 
[Icon] Pictures

Once the user creates one type of object, the list vanishes.

===5. Sidebar C: Effects===

This sidebar should have to subdivisions:

Transitions and Animations

(Same principle as "Layouts" or "Master Pages" in the Slides sidebar.)

Unfortunately, I have no time to make a mockup.

===6. Sidebar D: Draw===

This sidebar should have to subdivisions:

Drawing and Fontworks.

Again, I don't have time to make a mockup. But basically, it should work these screenshots of Redoffice:

[[Image:Martinu_-_RedOffice_Drawing_1.png]]

[[Image:Martinu_-_RedOffice_Drawing_2.png]]

I like this big list of drawing elements: it is much more easy to find a good shape in a big list than in all the small menus of Impress.

===7. Sidebar E: Insert===

Pictures from file, Scan, Clipart, Header & Footer, ...

Following subdivisions:

All | Table | Chart

* When having created or "being in" a table, or having a picture selected, the sidebar should change to a Table / Picture sidebar.
(Which icon would appear in the last box of the Sidebar Selector, so that the user can leave and return as many times as he wishes.)

===8. Sidebar F: More===

Options that don't fit anywhere else, Page setup, View (Grid, Rulers, Guides, Black & White/Grey/Color), ...

Maybe other sidebars for

G. Navigator and Gallery (two subdivisions of the same sidebar?)

H. Search & replace

===9. Generalities about the Sidebar===

The Sidebar should be configurable! In my imagination, there should be a way like in Firefox to move the Groups inside (or outside) the sidebars. It should also be possible to choose which elements should be displayed or not displayed inside each groups.

As in Apple iWorks, there should be a possibility to have more than one sidebar, as well as to undock sidebars. This would it make possible to have one sidebar with the "Home" view, plus a second with, for example, drawing elements. (one beside or above/below the other, or floating / undocked.)

It should be possible to dock the sidebar left or right.

===10. The "Slides" panel===

In the default configuration of my project, the "Slide Pane" would be horizontal at the bottom of the screen, instead of vertical on the left as in previous Impress versions. It always seemed logical to me, as it gives a "temporal" vision, as in video editing software. Of course, it should be able to be moved vertically, to accommodate wider screen resolutions. (Sony P-Serie anyone?)

Note the "New Slide" feature, which is a little bit like the "New Tab" icon of some modern web browsers.

[[Image:Martinu_-_Slides_panel.png]]

The transition symbol between the slides miniatures should be clickable, and should open the transition sidebar.

As many people don't use the right-click, the slide number should open a menu with the right-click options.

===11. About the status bar===

Personally, I love to use directly the status bar for selecting the language. I use it '''a lot'''. It is fast, and the actual language is always displayed, which is really useful. The page count is also very useful, not to speak about the indispensable zoom slider.
By the way, I am not really enthusiastic about the [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Zoom_Slider#Gear_Stick_Metaphor Gear Stick] zoom slider, which seems to be really complicated.

Nevertheless, the zoom slider should be enhanced by an precisely editable zoom, as in the GIMP.

The right bottom corner will be the geographic place of the zoom, so there is no necessity to put other zoom elements in the UI. (No zoom option in a View sidebar, for example. It would just be duplication of existing options.)

Please keep (and enhance) the status bar!

===12. About the rulers===

In Impress, the rulers are already hidden by default, which is a good thing. Nevertheless, the addition of a ruler button could be useful.

In my opinion, the rulers should also be hidden by default in OOo Writer. I wrote a detailed article about it, [http://www.johannes-eva.net/index.php?page=ooo_hidden_ruler here it is]!

===13. About tabbed documents and the menu bar===

* One rule of the game was not to add new features, and I already cheated enough. So I don't have any mockup for tabbed documents. I have to mention that I like Miroslav Mazel's ideas about the tabs very much.

* About the menu bar / File menu on MacOS: by default, the most minimalistic will be fine. What about only "Exit"?

===14. Some random thoughts: "Reconception"===

While being really interested in the Renaissance project, sometimes I wonder if a new IU would really be the most needed improvement in OpenOffice.org. Some days ago, I stumbled about this page:
[http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/User_Experience/DirectManipulationSnippets DirectManipulationSnippets]
and thought that this would be a incredibly useful feature for OOo. As well as a new color selection tool, anchor selection for notes, "live preview" or a better Office 2007 file format support. In fact I am missing these features much more than a new UI.

Anyway, I'm wondering how, with the relatively small manpower of the OOo, Renaissance could be implemented. Wouldn't it be interesting to have a smooth transition to the new UI? Many things could be implemented in transition versions of OOo, Renaissance could be an evolution instead of a brutal change. In fact, a good UI project could be like a final target, and would give to OOo a global direction.

Some days ago I was thinking about the term "re-conception". To go back to the French origin of the term, a "naissance" (birth) isn't possible before a "conception" (fertilization!), would a "renaissance" be possible before a "reconception"? Would reconception be a good name for a period of transition?

===15. Backward compatibility===

Backward compatibility is not a term that is often used for UIs. I think that a new UI for OOo could and should be backward compatible.

For example, the "Martinů" proposal could be backward compatible. How? Just by keeping the possibility to use the old toolbars and menus.
For people needing it, it would be possible to keep the standard menu and toolbars! They just would fit perfectly in the "Martinů" design, at the same place than they always have been.

Why not? I am pretty confident that the users would get smoothly used to the sidebars.
It would be a good thing for the development, because the sidebar could even be only an extension first. (No idea these kind of extensions / plugins are possible.) It would not break anything old. Renaissance could be a smooth transition, for the users and the people making it.

===16. The most important part - Georges tryes to open a .odp file===

Have you ever observed a normal user opening a .odp file?
I will tell you about things I have observed many, many times.

Well, first, '''a lot of people who open a .odp don't want to edit it'''. I would even say, most of the users. They probably don't know what a presentation is. (I'm not joking!) They don't know that you can either play it (Slide Show) or edit it.

The standard user - let's call him Georges - is opening this damn file because a friend of him sent a funny picture slideshow by email. Georges has no clue what software to use to open it, and no idea that OOo Impress is not exactly the same than OOo Writer.

If he is lucky, the file will open correctly in Impress. And now? What?
'''Georges is perplex.'''

If Georges has time / patience / really wants to see the pictures, he will click every thumbnail, one after another, to see all the pictures. There are very few chances that he hits the F5 key, or clicks the Slideshow button.

If he does (or someone tells him to ;-) click the Slideshow button, unfortunately, he will land in the fullscreen mode. Surprise! '''There are no hints about what to do, and even no hints about how to exit!''' Many users don't know about the [Escape] key. I have seen users who wanted to exit go through a whole presentation because they didn't know any other way to exit!

'''Conclusion.''' This part is maybe the most important of my proposal! There are 2 solutions to the problems in the Georges scenario:

* 1. In full screen mode, there should be a menu by default. Something like in GThumb, for example, that automatically hides after a few seconds, but only in a corner. It should at least have a clearly labeled "Exit" and "Next Slide".

* 2. It is '''very''' important that a simple dialog shows up the first time a user opens an .odp file. So that the majority of the users who just play .odps are able to play them! I could be like the following dialog:

[[Image:Martinu_-_Opening_an_odp_file.png]]

== Author or Team Working on This Proposal ==

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Author / Team Member'''
| '''Contact (OpenOffice.org login name, used for email)'''

|-
| [http://www.johannes-eva.net/ Johannes Eva]
| OpenOffice.org Login Name

|-
| Real Name
| OpenOffice.org Login Name

|}

== Comments ==
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Thanks. I'm glad you like my ideas. For the most part, I think your proposal is great, but I have a few comments (please don't hate me for being too critical -- I'm dissatisfied/unsure with half the things in my proposal, and I'm very nitpicky):
* I think that, if we want to be cross-platform and we want browseability, we need to have menus. And I also think that not all features should be packed into the sidebar. The sidebar, in my opinion, should present only the features you need often, but features like "Options," which the user uses rarely, don't really need a quick access icon. Menus would really help in uncluttering the sidebar and leaving what's important.
* I am, again, voicing my opinion about the "Show rulers" button. It doesn't make sense in the scroll bar, just like sheets don't make sense there. A scroll bar is for browsing, period. A "View" menu (or, in your case, panel) is meant for hiding/showing elements. Let's not throw away meaning and logic to follow Microsoft's example or to make a feature more visible.
* You mention a feature of Firefox being "to move the Groups inside (or outside) the sidebars." What exactly are you referring to?
* If you give the average user (who's used to the old way of doing things) the option of toolbars and menus, he usually won't slowly move away from them. He'll stick to the menus and toolbars, just because he's used to them. On top of that, developers will have extra work, as they will have to adjust panels, menus, AND toolbars as new features come up. I think if the interface was truly intuitive and logical, the user should be able to adjust to it easily, and we wouldn't have to worry about keeping things the old way.
* I'm really glad that someone agrees with me on the status bar issue. And I agree that Direct Manipulation Snippets (I still like "pockets" better) are great.
* I think "Language" should go under "Text," since only text can have language, and different sections can be in different languages.
* Thanks for the "Competitors" section.
* As for the line spacing, I think we should make it like the font chooser (although the "Add/remove space before/after paragraph" should be there too), with a slider on the left side and common choices on the right (I still need to put that into my proposal; oh well).
* Anyway, I really, really like this proposal (but I still prefer mine :D, but maybe that's because I made it up, and therefore understand it a whole lot more) and I'm looking forward to more ideas as you add them.--[[User:Mirek2|Mirek2]] 01:04, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| *Very well thought out, I'm not sure I'd want to lose so much width in writer (not all displays are widescreen yet), but it defiantly works well for impress. It should be easy to hide the sidebar for when you just want to view documents (this dosn't really apply to impress),
*I defiantly agree about backwards compatibility. No matter how intuitive a UI some people are going to prefer the old way. Could The way that your sidebar uses groups would allow users to simply move the groups to the top and use them as toolbars (this has the advantage that keeping the old way doesn't require extra maintenance)
*While i think that there should be an obvious "play slideshow" option, im worried that using a dialog would slow down people that open and edit many presentations.--[[User:RiotingPacifist|RiotingPacifist]] 01:27, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed #ff9900; padding:5px; background:#ffff99"
|-
|Thanks a lot Miroslav and RiotingPacifist for your first comments! I'm really tired now and tomorrow I won't have much time for answering. But I'll surely do it on Wednesday or Thursday! All the best, --[[User:Johanneseva|Johanneseva]] 01:42, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| This is one of the best over-all UI implementations I have seen in any number of programs, proprietary or open source, since wide-screen monitors have become the rage. I recommend two changes, one little and one bigger. The little problem is that I think some of the functions you relegate to the "home" section should be available no matter what sidebar menu is available. These includes truly basic functionality, like save, back, forward, etc. FLUX UI does a good job of mixing different UI elements for "whatever works" in that regard. Maybe you could have some basic functions that are near the sidebar, but outside the realm that changes with each menu selection, so that they are always there.

The bigger problem I can see is that the menu section icons along the top of your side-bar might not be intuitive. They are relatively small targets and do not have text labels, making them hard to identify, and even harder to hit, even if you do know what they do. Constantin Bürgi used text for the section labels in a similar mock-up to yours (albeit with different widgit groupings), but he put major menu labels to the side. While his "sidebar" was to the right of the screen, if you were to take his sideways tab idea and apply it to your left-oriented version, your design would take advantage of Fitts' Law when changing menu tabs on fullscreen windows. A user just jerks his/her mouse the the left, and they are at the menus. If you decide it is too much a UX inconvenience to read text sideways, you could use larger icon-based tabs in their place.

Alternatively, you could take a page from the "FLUX UI" design team and incorporate something like their "accordion" menus. Except that instead of the accordion being horizontal, you could make it be vertical. That way would allow you to use full horizontal text labels for each of your sidebar selector sections, and would also (potentially) introduce some cool animation when switching between menu types. Imagine jumping between "home" "insert" "layout" "draw" "navigator" or "tools," where each time you switched there would be this cool swiping animation between each level. I don't know what programming language would work best to support the animations, since OO.o is multi-platform, but it would definitely enhance the UX. I suggest you work together with Constantin Bürgi to come out with one clean finished proposal, since you two effectively share the same design visions. Talk with the FLUX team too, because they seem really fixed on attaining a clean layout, which is itself an important part of UX--[[Brian Fleeger]] 12 May 2009 (UTC)
|}
:
{| style="border: thin dashed DarkGreen; padding:5px; background:#c3ebae"
|-
| Your design is very close to mine with the sidebar containing most of the functions in groups. But there are two things, that have to be considered. The point with some static menu part already stated above, isn't easy to achieve (this is the reason I don't have it in my design either), but still very important, especially the undo and redo keys. Maybe a solution could be to keep the bottom/top part of the sidebar static. Also I think, that copying from already present designs (MS, Mac,...) should be minimized to give OpenOffice its unique UI. Maybe for switching between the different menus, we could use my tab design and hence merge our ideas, as already suggested by several comments;).
--[[Corsbu]] 13 May 2009 (UTC)
|}

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T09:51:18Z

Corsbu: /* Author or Team Working on This Proposal */

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T09:49:08Z

Corsbu: /* Author or Team Working on This Proposal */

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T09:42:21Z

Corsbu:

File:Mockup ws fin.png

2009-05-11T09:37:56Z

Corsbu:

File:Mockup ns fin.png

2009-05-11T09:37:16Z

Corsbu:

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T08:46:55Z

Corsbu:

Renaissance/Design Proposals for “Accessing Functionality”

2009-05-11T07:38:01Z

Corsbu: /* Design Proposals Submitted */

{{User Experience Community}}
{| style="border: thin dashed #CC2222; padding:5px; background:#FFDAB9"
|-
| Please do not edit this page unless you are on the Renaissance team. Your feedback and comments will be welcomed on the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
|}

<center>[[Image:ProjectRenaissance DesignProposalCollection Logo.png]]</center>

== Introduction ==

The Project Renaissance team now invites you to unleash your creativity to find a new concept to “Accessing Functionality” in Impress, the presentation application.

The wiki page you are now reading describes the first call for proposals of design ideas.. As you may know, the mission of Project Renaissance is to “Create a User Interface so that OpenOffice.org becomes the users' choice not only out of need, but also out of desire”. Due to the incredible complexity of the overall task, it is essential to define ambitious but realistic sub-tasks which can be achieved more easily. Thus, the first sub-task will be to improve how functionality is accessed in Impress.

Basically, anyone can participate and contribute new and innovative design ideas. In the first call for proposals, it is important to accumulate, without interference, as many independent design ideas as possible that can later contribute to the creation of a new UI concept for OpenOffice.org Impress.

After the proposals have been submitted and evaluated, the design ideas with the greatest potential will be integrated into one modular design concept that will be evaluated with respect to the design goals and the design directives. Then, the design concept will be refined through iterative cycles of evaluation and modification until the whole concept or parts of it reach a maturity level that is ready for high-fidelity prototyping. High-fidelity prototypes will help us mimic and test fundamental behavior of the design concept before anything actually gets put into OpenOffice.org.

So, the current focus is to carefully develop the initial ideas. Why carefully? The changes will have an enormous impact on all of our users – both our existing and future user base will be heavily affected. So we take responsibility for about one hundred million people. Consequently, once the proposals have been collected, they will have to be evaluated in an objective manner– nothing should be based on opinions of individuals.

Until now, a lot of data has been collected within the research phase of Renaissance to better understand what people think about OpenOffice.org, to know who our users are, and to know what they want to accomplish with our office suite. That data is the basis for a set of goals, constraints and documents which will – hopefully – help you to develop your design proposal. Find data here: [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Renaissance:Phase_1 Data Collected in Phase 1]

Well, what's next?

* If you want to participate, then please keep reading. :-) Instructions and schedule follow.
* If you have general questions concerning Project Renaissance, then please visit the official Project Renaissance wiki page.
* If you have questions that the wiki page above didn't provide answers for or you would like to make comments about these instructions or the details of the call for proposals, then please send a mail to the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.
* Check the User Experience planet to get the latest news and track the progress.

'''Thank you '''for making OpenOffice.org even better!

== Schedule ==
The following table contains the official schedule and provides some procedural information. Basically, there is a certain time frame for community members to privately work on their own ideas. These ideas are to be made public as design proposals published on the wiki on a given date. If anything in the proposal is unclear, the authors will be asked for clarification. That's it so far. Currently, we may only guess what the outcome of this call for proposals will be, so we won't look at next steps yet.

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Date'''
| '''Phase'''
| '''Description'''

|-
| 2009-04-20
| Call for Design Proposals
| Starting with this announcement, members of the community are officially invited to propose designs based on their ideas.

The team of Project Renaissance will provide media and information covering goals, constraints and how to proceed.

If you want to participate, please have a look at Developing a Design Proposal.

|-
| ...
| Work Phase
| Individuals or teams use their creative energy to develop their own designs. The design ideas are kept secret to avoid undesired harmonization between the different submissions ... fresh ideas are most valuable in this phase.

|-
| 2009-05-11
| Publish the Design Proposals
| The authors publish the design proposals on separate pages in the OpenOffice.org wiki. That makes it possible to check and compare the proposals.

The section Design Proposals Submitted will list what has been submitted so far.

|-
| 2009-05-12
| Review the Submissions
| The proposals can be commented by the whole community and the contributors are asked to act upon requests regarding completeness and clarity of their proposals.

The comments are to be made in the comments section on the wiki page of each proposal.

|-
| 2009-05-25
| Final date for Revised Versions
| This is the due date for the authors to present their revised design proposals in the wiki.

|}

== Creating a Design Proposal ==
=== Procedure ===
In order to participate in submitting a design proposal, please follow these steps:

# '''Use the template '''for creating a design proposal and work out your design (see [[#Design_Proposal_Template|Design Proposal Template]]).
# '''Send a short email '''to [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] to announce that you have started working. This is so that everyone knows how many people are working on proposals and how they can be contacted.
# '''Work while keeping your proposal contents secret''' until the date for publishing the design proposals (see [[#Schedule|Schedule]]).
# '''Publish your proposal on the wiki''' and announce it with a link on [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] (see [[#Design_Proposals_Submitted|Design Proposals Submitted]] and [[Renaissance/Design_Proposals_for_%E2%80%9CAccessing_Functionality%E2%80%9D/Design_Proposal_Wiki_Template|Design Proposal Wiki Template]])

If you have any questions or comments at any time, please send a mail to the [mailto:ui@ux.openoffice.org ui@ux.openoffice.org] mailing list.

=== Design Proposal Template ===
Template for developing a Design Proposal including e.g. goals and graphic styles: [http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Image:ProjectRenaissance_DesignProposalCollection_Template.odp Design Proposal Template] (OpenOffice.org Impress File)

[http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/w/images/a/ad/Impress_toolbars_and_functions.odt Collection of all toolbars and functions in Impress.]

== Principles ==
Although any ideas are welcome, the following principles shall give you an idea of what we have in mind for the collection of design proposals. If you have any questions concerning their meaning, then please ask on ux-discuss.

* The '''purpose''' of the collection of design proposals is to brainstorm for as many proposals as possible without interference

* The '''focus''' is set on:
** information architecture (e.g. grouping of elements, labeling of elements, integration of elements, prioritization of elements)
** interaction design (e.g. task mapping, work flow)
** ''The focus is not'' on visual design (e.g. gradients, shadows, transparency)

* The '''goals''' are to:
** help users to find and use essential functionality more easily
** help users to gain in expertise quickly
** help users to create eye-catching documents in less time

* The '''design directives '''are to:
** minimize clutter and maximize consistency (similar elements are grouped and positioned in similar ways)
** minimize redundancy and maximize relevancy (required information is revealed on demand)
** minimize recall and maximize recognition (visual decision aids are provided when they are beneficial)

* The '''constraints''' are:
** do not remove functionality in OpenOffice.org that is currently available
** do not add functionality in OpenOffice.org that is not available
** be visually scalable (the target screen size is 1.024 x 768 pixels, but if you want you may even think of netbooks 1.024 x 600 … large screens 2.560 x 1.600)

* The required '''UI ingredients''' are
** global navigation (e.g. menu)
** local navigation (e.g. toolbars)
** contextual navigation (e.g. context menu)
** supplemental navigation (e.g selecting slides)

* The '''task focus''' is on ''Impress''
** creating and editing of presentations
** managing presentations
** reviewing presentations
** running presentations

== Frequently Asked Questions ==
'''Question: '''May I choose my favorite application to create the design proposals?

'''Answer:''' We prefer an OpenOffice.org application such as Draw or Impress. However, you may use anything else that you are comfortable with.

'''Question:''' Which file format may I choose for my proposal?

'''Answer: '''You may choose any graphics file format which can be embedded in our wiki, e.g. working with OpenOffice.org and exporting the vector graphics into PNG.

== Design Proposals Submitted ==
The following table will list the design proposals which have been submitted. Proposals will be added to this list once they have been published (refer to [[#Schedule|Schedule]]).

{| class="prettytable"
| '''Proposal Title'''
| '''Wiki Page'''
| '''Author / Team Members'''

|-
| Wiki Template
| [[Renaissance/Design_Proposals_for_%E2%80%9CAccessing_Functionality%E2%80%9D/Design_Proposal_Wiki_Template]]
| The Renaissance Team

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Jaron Baron]]
| Jaron Baron
|-
| Complete Sidebar Design
| [[Proposal by Constantin Bürgi]]
| Constantin Bürgi

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Johannes Eva]]
| Johannes Eva

|-
| Iced Coffee
| [[Proposal by Miroslav Mazel]]
| Miroslav Mazel

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Jörg Sievers]]
| Jörg Sievers

|-
| FLUX UI
| [[Proposal by Knoxy]]
| Joshua Martin, Adam W. Knox

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Michel Renon]]
| Michel Renon

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Jörg Wartenberg]]
| Jörg Wartenberg

|-
| ...
| [[Proposal by Rodrigo Carvalho]]
| Rodrigo Carvalho

|-
| ...
| ...
| ...

|-
| ...
| ...
| ...

|-
| ...
| ...
| ...

|-
| ...
| ...
| ...

|}

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T07:35:25Z

Corsbu:

File:Tablebar1 imp.png

2009-05-11T07:29:12Z

Corsbu:

File:Animbar1.png

2009-05-11T07:26:30Z

Corsbu:

File:Vers 1 form imp.png

2009-05-11T07:23:21Z

Corsbu:

File:Filebar1imp.png

2009-05-11T07:20:45Z

Corsbu:

File:Screenshot-2 mockup.png

2009-05-11T07:18:54Z

Corsbu:

File:Vers 2 ins.png

2009-05-11T07:15:21Z

Corsbu:

Proposal by Constantin Bürgi

2009-05-11T07:01:53Z

Corsbu:

File:Vers 1 form edit.png

2009-05-11T07:00:27Z

Corsbu:

File:Filebar1 writer.png

2009-05-11T06:53:49Z

Corsbu:

File:Simple mockup.png

2009-05-11T06:50:32Z

Corsbu: