[dev] New UI Design

[Chuck Hagenbuch]

Quoting "Gloves (Jesse Padilla)" <jesse at pluginbox.com>:

> *Background:*
> I have been developing a web application suite to end all web
> application suites.  My partner and I have just started v2 .0 when we
> found Horde.org and found you are developing exactly what we were going
> to do on our own.  I would like to contribute to Horde instead of
> reinventing the wheel.

Great!

> *Design:*
> Static image displayed in a small browser window to show frames:
> http://jessebox.com/downloads/181.png
> Static HTML to show the flow, look and feel:
> http://sjp-mail.pluginbox.net/www.original/www/frames.php
> [If you are interested there is a matching UI for the administrator site]

That'd certainly be good to see. My overall reaction is pretty mixed - I
like some parts of it, but some parts of it just seem inconsistent. You
waste a ton of space across the top for anyone not looking for banner ads,
for example.

> *Pros and Cons*
> + Designed for minimal server side stress

k...

> + Designed to hold unlimited modules (far left frame)

Have you looked at how CVS HEAD does this? I have nearly 30 applications in
my menu right now; scrolling them 1 by 1 with the format you have wouldn't
be so fun.

> + Designed for easy navigation

This is pretty subjective, but okay.

> + Designed to work in 1024 x 768 very easily and even works with 800x600.

Great...

> + UI Designed like an OS application not a web application.

My problem with this is that it *is* a web application. Useability is one
thing, but trying to be something you aren't is another.

> + Less stress & faster loading times for client side. (Only have to
> download small parts of the page instead of the whole page at a time.)

Why/how/explain/back this up.

> - Many people don’t like frames. (This may be due to bad browser
> compatibility experiences in the 90s? Other than that, I can’t think of
> any other reason.)

People using text browsers, people using entirely keyboard navigation
(where's the cursor focus?), people using voice-controlled/reading browsers,
etc...

> - Existing users will have to relearn the New UI. However it shouldn’t
> be difficult at all.

I find that a bit hard to believe, really.

> +/- (if you can list more pros or cons please list)

A few above; one more *huge* problem is that you put text into some of your
graphics. Horde is an entirely internationalized suite; graphics with text
break that *badly*.

> ***Main Question:***
> If you like this design or think I can contribute, how can I submit this
> new UI design and begin developing it or a design specifically for Horde?

Send patches to this list.

-chuck

--
Charles Hagenbuch, <chuck at horde.org>
must ... find ... acorns ... *thud*