Revision as of 07:01, 11 May 2009

Design Proposal Complete Sidebar Design

The following design proposal is part of the collection of design proposals for “Accessing Functionality”, which is part of Project Renaissance.

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: WIP

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

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)

	This is the basic setup, 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?)
	This is the basic setup, with the formating section on top and the changing at the bottom. The bottom is divided into single text setup, alignment, numbering, colors and page setup. The red and yellow things should be replaced by icons. Also there is missing lower ans upper case, and maybe some further under/over-line possibilities

Calc

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.

• Describe dynamic behavior: The mockup above is something static. To better illustrate what will happen on the screen, describe what actions would be taken by the user and what would appear on screen.
• Explain the rationale and assumptions: If you decided to go for a certain concept, then please explain why you chose this.
• Highlight particular design ideas and alternatives: A concept usually incorporates many individual ideas. If you think certain ideas are really unique, then please highlight them. And if you think that there were other really good ideas which could not be implemented at the same time, tell us about them.
• List issues and open questions: Please list any issues you are aware of and open questions. Do not worry if your proposal or concept isn't perfect. If you have discovered any stumbling blocks or worries, then please provide this information right from the start. Maybe the team can help find answers/solutions.

Additional Material and Mockups

Please share everything you might think is important to better understand your proposal. Perhaps you also have other ideas which are not directly related to “Accessing Functionality”? You might add further documents, Internet links, or additional mockups - e.g. showing a workflow or different states of the software.

Author or Team Working on This Proposal

Comments

Your space :-)