[Ayatana] UX Patterns

[Thorsten Wilms <t_w_@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi!

The GNOME 3 HIG is planned to have a UX pattern library. The very few
people with the right skills and in the right position to work on that
most efficiently are of course very busy.

But maybe we could help a bit, at least with the overall structure?
Please feel invited for brainstorming and documentation.

Even if what we come up doesn't fit upstream, I'm confident it will be
of value. It's also quite possible that there will be a divergence
between Ubuntu and GNOME on a pattern level, at some point, though I
hope it can be avoided, except for a few details.

I started at
http://pad.ubuntu-uk.org/ui-patterns
but that is perhaps not the best approach for a larger number of
contributors, so I'll paste the content below. Do feel free to edit on
the pad, but drop me a line if you do so. Otherwise, lets use this list
and then the wiki.

---

UX design patterns for the GNOME 3 HIG

See current list of possible patterns at:
http://live.gnome.org/UsabilityProject/HIG/ThreeZero/LondonHackfestNotes


Ressources on UI/UX patterns:
      * http://www.welie.com/patterns/
      * http://developer.yahoo.com/ypatterns/
      * http://www.designingsocialinterfaces.com/patterns.wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
      * http://uipatternfactory.com/
      * http://interface.fh-potsdam.de/infodesignpatterns/patterns.php


Avoidance (of options, menus, error cases, additional widgets, dialogs,
windows ...)

Visual organisation
      * Layout
      * Use of  colour
      * Display of information

Managing visibility
      * Windows
      * Tabs
      * Expanders

Indicating possible actions
      * Clicking
      * Context menus
      * Dragging

Managing items (Add, Remove ...)

Taking input (validation)

Selection

Feedback and interactive control
      * Avoiding interruptions
      * Process feedback and control (progress, pause/cancel)
      * Event notification
      * Dealing with errors

Presenting options / configuration

Navigation / browsing
      * Dealing with paths and URIs

Search
      * Completion
      * Incremental
      * Defining scope
      * Costructing Queries

Writing text  for GUIs 
      * Writing  style  
      * Tone of voice  
      * Localisation issues  
      * Showing  fields with units

Application types
      * Document editing
      * Viewer
      * Librarian
      * Browser
      * Utility
      * Game

---

The first task is to find on organization that helps to cover everything
and avoids overlap. Of course it does make sense to have several angles,
that sometimes just have to lead to the same thing. Maybe it can't be a
tree, but must become a Venn diagram or even a graph :) 


-- 
Thorsten Wilms

thorwil's design for free software:
http://thorwil.wordpress.com/