Grouping like functions with like (UX ideas for the UV)

[mialondon]

As part of work to coordinate development of the Universal Viewer and Universal Player within the BL, I'm documenting notes from a discussion with internal stakeholders (AT, RA, MW, MR) about how we might group different functions currently scattered across the UV interface.

'Navigate within an item' controls include:

• Buttons to jump to the start or end of an item, go to the next and previous page (or forward and back 20 seconds for AV).
• 'Search within' form and results display

Page manipulation:

• Zoom in, out; rotate
• (In other viewers: adjust contrast, brightness, colour saturation)

'About this item'

• Metadata display
• Rights statements
• Text transcriptions

Auxiliary controls

• Full screen maximise, minimise
• Print
• Download
• Feedback
• Reuse - copy manifest link; embed, share
• Change display language
• Change other settings

Page view options

• Single page
• Double page
• Gallery view (expand thumbnail view)

[mialondon]

Examples from the UV / IIIF community of different ways of grouping functions and information

All icons moved to the top bar (and image contrast controls added)

[mialondon]

Search results display from Google Books

[mialondon]

Tify, a simpler viewer, incorporates foliation alongside image numbers in their 'jump' box. They use a hamburger 'View' which changes the RHS panel from Pages (thumbnails), Contents (like Index), Info (like 'about this item), 'Export', Help.

[mialondon]

JISC Historical Texts with text transcription panel

[LlGC-szw]

All issues will be triaged for further investigation or closure by the 28 September 2023. If your issue is still relevant and would like for it be investigated further please comment by 14 September 2023.

[mialondon]

That's not a lot of time given that it's still holiday season! I can see if relevant folk at the BL have time in their diaries before then, but it might not be realistic.

[LlGC-szw]

Hi @mialondon, hopefully you and they will be able to join the issues call. All we need to know is if the issue still needs looking at or not.

[mialondon]

I don't think I've seen anything about the issues call? But I was on leave last week so mightn't be caught up with UV Slack conversations.

I've managed to get a meeting time for most of us around various leave dates. We're already doing a pretty extensive internal backlog review so hopefully it'll be quite straightforward.

[LlGC-szw]

It was posted this morning at https://universalviewer.slack.com/archives/C08N0ELVB/p1692963073198369

We're trying to create an efficient issues workflow so we don't end up with such a large backlog. Any help with that will be great, even if it's just a yes to keeping the issue open or closing those that aren't.

[mialondon]

Sounds good! If any of our issues are obviously redundant now, I'm happy for others to update and close them. I'm just returning to all things UV and IIIF after a long time on the Living with Machines project...

[mialondon]

This issue has general UX improvement requests that would ideally go onto a roadmap as individual items where they're still considered necessary. @LlGC-szw will that be part of the process?

[LlGC-szw]

@mialondon Any issue that has improvement requests will of course be considered by the Steering Group.