AOO UX Design Exploration - Task Pane Content - Information Design

< AOO User Experience Home | < AOO 4.0 Dockable Task Pane (Side Bar) Design Exploration

Task Pane Content - Analysis

LS 3.0.1 Content Analysis

Lotus Symphony 3.0.1 makes the following task panes available. The user is presented with default task panes in each editor. A user can customize the task panes by evoking the task pane container view menu.

Table Legend
D = Default task pane
A = Available task pane

LS Task Pane Content	Document Editor	Spreadsheet Editor	Presentation Editor
Properties	D	D	D
Style List	D	D	A
Clipart	D	D	D
Navigator	D	D	D
Functions		D
Data Pilot
Slide Templates			D
Animation Effects			D
Slide Transition			D
Colour Palette			A
Eyedropper			A
Image Animation			A
3D Effects			A

AOO 3.4.1 Content Analysis

The document editor and spreadsheet editor each have a number of task views available, which can be docked. Dockable task views are evoked via the view options on the main toolbar. The presentation editor has a number of task panes which are docked by default.

Table Legend
D = Docked task pane
T = Task view

AOO Task View Content	Document Editor	Spreadsheet Editor	Presentation Editor
Navigator	T	T	T
Gallery	T	T
Data Sources	T	T
Master Pages			D
Layouts			D
Table Design			D
Custom Animation			D
Slide Transition			D

AOO & LS Content Comparison

Both AOO and LS's current task pane implementations have strengths that should be emulated, and some weakness that present opportunities for improvement. Our design direction should seek to build off the strengths of each design, and address known issues as we seek the optimal hybrid solution.

While AOO currently provides the ability to dock and stack task panes, the available content is limited. Each of the core editors (Writer, Calc, and Impress) include navigator content. Wrter and Calc also include clipart gallery content and data sources content. These task panes are evoked from the main toolbar and are rendered by default as modeless dialogs. Impress includes a number of task panes which are docked by default. An accordian list view contains the following task panes: master pages, layouts, table design, custom animation, and slide transition.

LS provides a rich collection of task pane content supported by a tabbed, docked, sidebar container. The task pane includes two types of content: 1) contextual 2) non-contextual. Each of the core editors (Writer, Calc, and Impress) include contextual content. Relative to the active selection set, the properties include: text, paragraph, page, line, area, graphic, position and size. Impress uses slide layout instead of page properties. Non-contextual panes include styles, clipart, navigator and formulas.

Presentation Pane Content

Both AOO Impress and LS Presentation include docked task panes. While the actions are similar the information architecture and language is slightly different. The following list reflects a mapping between the content in each tool.

• AOO Master Pages = LS Slide Templates
• AOO Layouts = LS Contextual Properties > Slide Layout
• AOO Table Design = LS Contextual Properties > Table Design
• AOO Custom Animation = Animation Effects
• AOO Slide Transitions = LS Slide Transition

LS Presentation also includes a number of additional content panes which are not present in AOO. They include: image animation, colour palette, eyedropper and 3D effects.

Additional Pane Content Candidates

Beyond merging and migration content from LS into AOO, their are other properties and other content that could be considered for the task panes.

Here is a list of some potential candidates for each of the core editors:

Common Content

• Share (send)
• Find and Replace
• Clipboard
• Hyperlink
• Comments
• Bullets and numbering
• Extension manager
• Community extension
• User assistance (help)
• Template organize
• Special character
• Table design

Writer Content

• Table of contents

Calc Content

• Chart properties
• Calculator

Task Pane Content - Proposal for discussion

Here is a starting point to discuss the task pane content:

Table Legend
D = Default task pane
A = Available task pane

Must Have

The following table reflects the minimum viable content that will satisfy our user's basic expectations, and should form the minimum acceptable baseline for release of this feature:

Dockable Task Pane	Document Editor	Spreadsheet Editor	Presentation Editor
Properties	D contextual sections text paragraph page area line position and size (text, line, shape) graphic position and size (graphic) wrap	D contextual sections text (cell selected) text (editing cell text) alignment number format cell appearance area line position and size (text, line, shape and graphic) graphic position and size (chart and media)	D contextual sections slide layout text paragraph line area position and size graphic table design
Style List	D	D	A
Clipart	D	D	D
Navigator	D	A	D
Functions		D
Data Pilot		A
Slide Templates/Master Slides			D
Custom Animation/Animation Effects			D
Slide Transition			D

Could Have

The following table reflects additional content that could be added to the task pane after the minimum viable content (see above) has been deployed:

Dockable Task Pane	Document Editor	Spreadsheet Editor	Presentation Editor
Properties	D contextual sections table chart	D contextual sections chart	D contextual sections table chart
Find and Replace	D	A	D
Visual Clipboard	D	A	D
Colour Palette		A	A
Eyedropper		A	A
Graphic Animation			A
3D Effects			A