Open erosman opened 1 year ago
marperia
commented
8 months ago
Don't want to open an issue, but there are two almost identical interfaces. Second one is yours, first one is designed by me in an hour. Could I rewrite some of your CSS & Translations in order to improve UI?
Best wishes,
erosman
commented
8 months ago Could I rewrite some of your CSS & Translations in order to improve UI?
What changes are there?
marperia
commented
8 months ago Some paddings changed, font-family set to "Helvetica", arial, sans-serif, changed background color and a few words
erosman
commented
8 months ago Some paddings changed, font-family set to "Helvetica", arial, sans-serif, changed background color and a few words
You can change the version you are using for yourself. AFA the general version, it depends if there is a popular demand for it.
User Interface Design
Arguably, designing the user interface (UI) is one of the most difficult part of any software development.
Intuitive
The word "intuitive" is often used when describing user interfaces. Cambridge Dictionary states:
In practice, people often refer to "what they know or used to" as intuitive. While simple software with very few settings can have an easy-to-use or intuitive user interface, a software with complex settings often requires "special knowledge".
As an analogy, old TVs had a few buttons and limited functions. Further developments resulted in more buttons and functions; which later changed to fewer button plus a remote-control. A few years ago, TVs still had some buttons on their side to operate in case of remote-control problems, but newer models no longer have any buttons. Remote-controls have also evolved to a point that require special knowledge to fully utilise all their functions.
User interface in cars have evolved greatly as well. When comparing the latest model with one from a few years ago, users may find a knob instead of a gear stick, or a button instead of a handbrake, or AC controls that are no longer visible and have to be accessed via a monitor. Majority of people know how to drive a car but using features of a modern car requires special knowledge. Even getting the spare tire in some cars requires reading the manual. Steering wheel in some cars are on the left and some on the right (and a few in the middle). Some people find left hand drive cars as intuitive, and some the right hand drive cars.
There are extensive changes to the user interface between Windows 7 and Windows 10. The user interface in Firefox (and other browsers) have changed considerably over the years. As an advanced user myself, when upgrading my mobile phone from Android 8 to Android 12, although I could operate the device, I had to search the internet (and still do) multiple times to learn how to do certain tasks.
It is also worth noting that software that maintain the same user interface for years are often reviewed as having an "aged user interface".
Read the Manual
RTM (and RTFM) used to be a catchphrase some years ago. Nowadays, users expect to operate devices and software without any knowledge and/or with most the basic knowledge, and label anything else as unintuitive. However that is rather shortsighted. The best approach for software with complex features would be to provide an easy to access Help guide.
Practical Examples
Consider having 10 proxies, each with their own configurations, all on port 3128 and you want to change their ports to 443.
In one type of user interface, users have to:
In another type of user interface, users have to:
With the first user interface, changing 10 ports on average takes many times longer than the second type.
In another similar example, let us consider userscript managers. There are 4 main userscript managers for Firefox & Chrome. The well established 3 use an interface type similar to the first type mentioned above.
When editing a userscript, users will have to:
FireMonkey on the other hand, has an all-in-one interface where users can switch between userscripts and make changes rapidly without hoping between tabs. FireMonkey has received comments calling it unintuitive which in realty means they are not used to it (and not interested to learn the benefits of the new user interface).