unity-design team mailing list archive

[Evan Huus <eapache@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Feb 22, 2012 at 6:16 PM, Jo-Erlend Schinstad <
joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> In lenses, it is not obvious what the filters do, if anything at all. It
> might be understood as the search phrase being the filter and that the
> results are the Filter results. From my testing, I don't think I've seen
> any user clicking on that text in order to display the filters. In order to
> make it easier for new-comers to explore and learn how things work, I
> propose the following;
>
> Filters should be displayed by default. That way, when the user first
> explores the system, he or she will immediately know what the filters do
> and that there are different filters for different lenses. This is
> important knowledge.
>
> The header should not only display "Filter results", but should also
> display a smaller "show" or "hide" the same way that categories do when you
> can show more results. This will make it more obvious what filters are and
> how to show or hide them.
>
> Some users prefer to browse applications by category. Those who do, should
> see the categories by default, and those who don't should understand how to
> hide them. It should not be necessary to keep displaying the categories
> every time you open the applications lens. Since the filters are displayed
> by default, if they are hidden, that means the user has understood how to
> show or hide them. Therefore, the visibility of the filters should be
> remembered forever on a per-lens basis. Having to repeat the same task over
> and over for no obvious reason, is very annoying. As long as the situation
> doesn't change, I should not be required to perform actions.
>
> Whether or not the selections in the filters pane should be remembered, I
> don't know. Whereas the filters visibility affects your general workflow,
> the actual filter selection is probably more temporary. If I open the
> calculator once, I'm not sure that means Accessories is an important enough
> category to require me to unselect it the next time I want to run
> something. For these reasons, I think I'd probably prefer that filter
> visibility is remembered forever, but the actual filter state be forgotten
> when the dash is closed.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> --
> Jo-Erlend Schinstad
>

Reasonable, well-justified and simple suggestions.

+1

Evan