What makes a good UI good?

It contains no copyright information,

Which, given how copyright works, means that the default setting is no rights unless it specifically states otherwise.

© FJG 2006. Licence GPL.

Which means it’s unsuitable for the OS… For different reasons.

That said, having Switcher run a file upon an Adjust click is actually a really good idea – let the user decide what the Adjust click behaviour should be.

Gnome 3 is something I’ve been enjoying lately and is a minimalist UI. Also I really like the Adwaita dark theme.

Personally I think its a difficult question to answer “What makes a good UI good?”.

For example, for me, !Director enhances RISC OS UI experience – Right-click menu lists. Also RISC OS select where it focused on functional things such as zero network config and the recycle bin were to be applauded, but some of the changes like displaying images in directories were perhaps suited to a future world where the SSD existed.

Although saying that I think over the years one of RISC OS biggest strenghts has been its ability to drag a picture from the filer and drop it into a document being worked upon. I can recall talking to someone about this when I had to write my dissertation and remember them trashing my suggestion that in comparison to other systems at the time, it was easier on RISC OS. However they did apologetically say they had spent far too long faffing about with graphics for their disseration. I didn’t feel smug about it, I just thought how much time I’d saved. Of course RISC OS has many other good examples of good UI design, but thought I share the most memorable one.

On further reflection a good example is to observe an IT illiterate pensioner use an unfamililar system, soon highlights poor UI design.

A particular bug bear of mine has always been a lack of standardisation across apps and the OS, in terms of keyboard short-cuts, no matter whether they are F keys or other keyboard combinations. So consistency across apps for keyboard short-cuts would IMHO be good UI design.

I seem to think that Ovnpro for Windows – allows you to drag a pic file in from a filer.

Being able to change ‘F3’ to save the file would be nice :-) – and being able to see the version of the program you are running like RISC OS ‘Info > About this program’.

Dunno why this thread is in Aldershot. The UI is at the very heart of RISC OS.
One of the features I miss on other platforms is directory icons showing when their directory is open. Applications should do the same, of course.
When new versions of the OS come out one of my first actions is to patch the filer so that the Delete ^K option in filer-object menus show up as red. Giving the Delete option a different colour from the other options helps avoid accidental unintended deletions, I think. I cannot understand why the filer-object menu has to be hardwired into the Filer module instead of being put into a file in Resources:$.Resources.Filer.

Started looking again very recently – takes me ages to get my head into the assembler that’s required in that part of the OS.

While trying to get my mind back i the right frame I was reviewing a few things and one thing I noted was Chris Mahoney saying:

Edit: I could, of course, look at the screenshots in the User Guide. ^R is not listed in the menu, so adding it could be a simple improvement.

and the answer to that is that the code is already there:

 [ AltRenaming
        TEQ     r0, #18                   ; Ctrl-R
        BEQ     key_rename
 ]
        TEQ     r0, #19                   ; Ctrl-S
        BEQ     key_toggle_sort

The missing bit is the entry in Messages:

MT1T:Application
MT10:Copy
MT11:Rename
MT11T:Name
MT110:TenLongxxx
MT12:Delete   ^K
MT13:Access
MT13T:Access

So the change is actually even easier than anyone would think.

Giving the Delete option a different colour from the other options helps avoid accidental unintended deletions, I think.

I keep mentioning it and Fred does have it readily available on his web pages:
Transient and TrapDelete. Load that and you have a “Recycle Bin” with a configurable scheduled deletion and a genuine restore. Colouring relies on the user registering it and thinking. Transient/TrapDelete rescues the user from their latest daft trick.

Eeek! I’m in Aldershot. But, then, this is sort of on-topic (RISC OS style behaviour for a RISC OS program ported to Windows…)

I seem to think that Ovnpro for Windows – allows you to drag a pic file in from a filer.

Yes – quite a lot of programs allow data to be dragged into the program. It’s just the “drag a file to the taskbar icon” that doesn’t work like RISC OS, leading to faffing around with the Open File dialogue.

Being able to change ‘F3’ to save the file would be nice :-)

It’s OvationPro. Of course you can do that!

Menu → Misc → Macros…

Choose “Key”, then click “New…”.

Press the F3 key.

In the writeable, enter: {savedocument("")}

It doesn’t work quite like RISC OS, it will report “File not previously saved” if you have not given it a name yet. But, then, pressing ^S has the same effect.
You can sort of fake it using Save As instead of Save. For that, the command is: {openfilesaveas()}

Click OK to test the macro, or Save to make it permanent. If you subsequently delete the F3 macro, the previous behaviour (search again) will be restored.

and being able to see the version of the program you are running like RISC OS ‘Info > About this program’.

Huh??? Menu → Help → About OvationPro. v2.92 from October 2016 is the latest available.

Eeek! I’m in Aldershot. But, then, this is sort of on-topic (RISC OS style behaviour for a RISC OS program ported to Windows…)

The mere mention of RISC OS style behaviour makes it off-topic here, but then fairs fair it re-balances things.

This seems an appropriate place to repost a rant that I posted on another forum a couple of days ago:

I decided it was about time for my bi-annual “see whether Linux is any good yet”. I tried the latest version of Mint (which I’d never tried before) and wasn’t impressed.

* The first thing the installer does is ask whether you want to install third-party software, with absolutely no guidance on whether you should do so. Fortunately I know from experience, but a new user is going to get scared and leave it on the default (which is “no”).
* It then told me that since my current OS was installed using BIOS, continuing to install Debian with UEFI may cause issues. This message was apparently concatenated using non-breaking spaces because it stretched all the way across my screen before finally hitting a new line when it ran out of space. Combined with the identity crisis (calling itself Debian) this is also something that would scare people off.
* Next came contradiction; despite just telling me about my previous OS, the next screen told me that no existing OS was detected.
* After installation I booted the system and was presented with a “welcome” screen featuring several icons that turned into buttons when hovered over. Are they icons or buttons? I clicked on Apps once, and nothing happened. I double-clicked, and nothing happened. Perhaps I accidentally moved the mouse in the middle of the click, so I double-clicked again. A second or so later, five instances of the Apps window appeared. So they’re buttons, they only need one click, and they don’t give any immediate indication that they’ve been successfully activated.
* I then checked for updates and was prompted for my password. At this point I went “meh, I’m going to have dinner” so I cancelled the password request. This caused it to corrupt the package cache (big red error message). Closing and restarting the updater didn’t fix it.

At this point I just gave up. It seems that Linux, or at least Mint, still isn’t very good…

As you can see, I wasn’t very impressed. Part of that was the UI, and part was the decisions underneath it.

@ Chris Mahoney
Hmm, I haven’t tried latest version, so I will suggest Mint 17.3 in live mode, to get a feel for it without trying to install. I am surprised that there was no indication about the third party stuff, it’s usually the media codecs, which can’t be included in the underlying Debian distribution.
HTH

What makes a good user interface, and why?

AS to the 1st part of the Q. – I would say that actions analagous to “real-world” actions play a large part, eg. drag-n-drop.

Unfortunately “like” and “bling” are subjective. So for any given feature, there will be somebody who will tell you it’s the most important change in user interfaces since the invention of the pointer

A while back my son-in-law who was once a RISC OS user brought his new iMac along and was keen to demonstrate a feature of the UI. He moved the mouse pointer along the icon bar and each icon in turn swelled up and then deflated as the mouse moved on to the next. He was bewitched by it.

I would say that actions analagous to “real-world” actions play a large part, eg. drag-n-drop.

I’d say that (inter)actions that are analogous to real world actions is covered under “Intuitive”, which interestingly was a label that was knocked down before anyone mentioned it. (Stefan Huber, October 14th)
I was inclined to disagree at the time but left it for others to comment.

I think you’re right, doing something similar to what you’d do if the object was real and the move or remove was a real physical action.
Buttons should be pushed in real life and clicked on in virtual so, as the Linux Mint incident shows, things like buttons should look like buttons and show evidence of the action immediately (turning a button from colourless to coloured or red to green isn’t difficult. It can’t be, Apple do it on an iPhone in the settings section.)

He was bewitched by it.

“I need to be efficient and… ooh, shiny and I always incentivise maximum leverage of ooh, more shiny”

A while back my son-in-law who was once a RISC OS user brought his new iMac along and was keen to demonstrate a feature of the UI. He moved the mouse pointer along the icon bar and each icon in turn swelled up and then deflated as the mouse moved on to the next. He was bewitched by it.

Earlier versions of Mac OS went “poof!” with a puff of smoke animation when you dragged an icon off the dock. A friend (adult!) discovered this and systematically “poofed” every single icon. There was no Undo…

Poofs and flying pages are bling, IMHO. But the visual metaphor of files as objects and directories as spaces in which objects can reside is a useful one. RISC OS has not yet bought in to 3D visualization, apart from the superficial raising and lowering of slabs and having a consistent direction for drop-shadows. I believe that Apple has experimented with perspective, and with turning objects round to see notes glued to the back or other attributes. I find myself recognizing where I am in the filing system by visual clues. The possibility of giving directory windows customizable backgrounds would be useful, even if it was only colour-coding. I do not think directory windows are always an appropriate visual representation. A directory of 100 files of the same kind, named foo_1, … foo_100, for example, could be better pictured as an old-fashioned rolodex.
Although I do not like hidden files, it would be useful to indicate visually which objects are ignorable for most purposes and which are not. Actually why stick with 3D? Higher-dimensional spaces could play a role. When you wander off to the right of the picture do you come back from the left? So different topologies can perhaps play a useful role? Archived emails could recede into the distance. A good GUI for databases is a rich field for speculation.

The possibility of giving directory windows customizable backgrounds would be useful, even if it was only colour-coding.

What is wrong with using !ColourFiler to change filer window backgrounds?
I have it in Boot.Tasks and use it to set the background colours of shared directories to be the same across all the machines on my home network.

What is wrong with using !ColourFiler …

Nothing at all. But one can concieve of more comprehensive facilities, such as background graphics and a scriptable filer so that the choice of graphic depends on matching the pathname to a chosen pattern. A long time ago I had a chance to play with Riscix, whose Gnome GUI allowed the user to put command scripts in a directory which allowed user-actions (clicks and drags) to have associated actions. This sort of possibility is where personalization of GUIs leads to.

allowed the user to put command scripts in a directory

Whoa!

I’m not saying it’s a bad idea – but given RISC OS (still) can’t sensibly cope with boot errors, you’re pretty much asking for magic pixie dust! ;-)

Whoa!

Perhaps command script was misleading. Gnome provided a limited language in which actions could be assigned to user-actions.

Phew! Thanks for the above clarification ;-)

A repeat key might be useful in a UI, not a copy key, something similar to a macro but different in that it repeats a number of operations previously executed. An example might be, I’ve selected a particular block of text and gone through a sequence of actions to change it. I could then use a single key to have those actions re-applied to another piece of text or cell, rather than go through the whole process again. I could just place the cursor in the area needed and use a single keystroke to apply the same attributes or actions to another part of the document or spreadsheet. I’m not thinking of what we know as styles, but re-playing a combination of actions to a cell or text area where the cursor is placed.

Another thought might be to have a set of universal keys that applied to all applications and the OS for the same thing (e.g. cut, copy, paste). Perhaps the application domain could have a larger set of universal keys and key combinations. Re-usable object library – !Toolbox?

Another thought might be to have a set of universal keys that applied to all applications and the OS for the same thing (e.g. cut, copy, paste).

You mean like the ones defined in the Style Guide?

Another thought might be to have a set of universal keys that applied to all applications and the OS for the same thing (e.g. cut, copy, paste).

You mean like the ones defined in the Style Guide?

I can understand Andrew not being aware of that if he doesn’t either have a copy of the DDE¹ or a individually purchased paper copy of the Style Guide.

Charging for a paper copy I can understand but charging for the PDF seems a touch daft if you want people to follow the style guide for everything they develop.

¹ Having an elderly copy of the ROOL issue DDE I already have the PDF so I think I can say I’m not biased.

but charging for the PDF seems a touch daft

GIYF – https://www.riscosopen.org/binaries/TechPubStyleGuide.pdf

GIYF – https://www.riscosopen.org/binaries/TechPubStyleGuide.pdf

Not the Style Guide I was expecting as it doesn’t mention keyboard functions or key combinations. It would appear to be a guide aimed at writing RISC OS publications. ;-) GIYF – not this time!

Charging for a paper copy I can understand but charging for the PDF seems a touch daft if you want people to follow the style guide for everything they develop.

True, I expect it might provide an incentive to conform, whether you were a casual or full-time developer.

Thanks Rick – for the added extra to OvnPro – save with ‘F3’ – if you don’t mind – I will pass it on.