On Tue, Jan 30, 2007 at 06:06:49PM +0100, Thorsten Wilms wrote:

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this started because the status bar messages were unclear and abbreviated.

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You'd think people are only beginners once but unfortunately many people stay there, I for example dont use Blender often enough to retain what little I have learnt and I'm effectively a beginner everytime. If you have worked in technical support you find many more users are like this when it comes to their computer. without really trying inkscape has been successful in attracting artistic users who want inkscape for their various kidns of crafts work it will help if things can be kept simple with one right way to do things and not too many assumptions made about inkscape users being experts at technical drawing and wanting many different possibilities to achieve the same end results, as it is the results that matter.

You know, it occurs to me that the status messages and the layer dropdown may cater to different crowds. Being able to read the status messages clearly is something novice users need the most. The layer dropdown is something experienced users are after. Of course, there is some overlap (novice users needing layers will spot the layer dropdown first, and even experienced users will find info in the status bar of use from time to time).

But this makes me wonder if the status bar could benefit from some sort of adaptive ui behavior or perhaps just a configuration setting? For new users, the layer dropdown (among other things) could initially just be scary clutter, so clearing off the status bar in favor of status messages could make the application >look< a lot more approachable. Then, later once they've gotten more comfortable, they could graduate into expert mode and have these extra accessories turned on.

This may also fit in with a more mode-oriented usage model that we've discussed previously in the context of technical drawing vs. artistic drawing needs, which shows up in areas like snapping and so forth. The layer dropdown is not a good example here since both technical and artistic drawers need that, but a better example might be a symbol pallete (very important for tech drawing, but not so much for artists), vs. the color pallete (important for art, less so for tech). A framework that allowed the UI to adapt to different user modes could prove handy for a lot of different purposes. Another example would be a "child-oriented mode" where the UI is simplified to basic drawing options.

Ideally, we would be able to come up with a single design that suits all needs (e.g. moving it into the canvas), and it is very wise to always make that the top goal, since the fewer configuration options, the easier the software will be to test and maintain. In practice, though, as Inkscape's usage grows and fills in more and more niches, the need for usage-mode-specific UI layouts is going to grow.

I still think most users make it to some intermediate level. If you look at hours spent with a software, users that only touch it once in a while don't count.

Well, it depends on how you look at the project's goals. Certainly, our most important audience is users who contribute back to the project, and as such it's true that these users will be spending enough time with the project to get over small usability issues such as UI clutter. (Remember, every Inkscape user was a novice at one time.) However, Inkscape also has the goal of being a member of the larger open source community, and I think this involves embracing some of the more occasional style usages, such as if someone just needs to knock out a quick flyer for their club, or make a gift card for a relative. It would be a great sign of success if Inkscape were the only 2D drawing program required to be on the open source desktop.

Bryce