OG4 nits and...

[Ken Case]

On Aug 29, 2005, at 8:28 AM, Juhan Sonin wrote:
> Nits in OG 4 release candidate 1
> * Holding down option (alt) on the keyboard makes the first 7 icon/ 
> actions in the document status bar dance... shouldn't the icons  
> just flip without shifting space as well?

We don't like the way they dance around either, but we're working  
with the standard Mac OS X toolbar and haven't solved this in a way  
we'd like yet.  (The problem is with the changing widths of the text  
labels; if you turn the labels off, the toolbar doesn't dance.  Maybe  
the answer is to always make the toolbar items as wide as the widest  
alternative label, but then the basic set of toolbar items which  
we're trying to provide wouldn't fit.)

> * The Geometry panel had a larger manual control in OGv3... now the  
> 18x18 pixel dial is microscopic and hard to hit. It's a tiny target  
> and hard to control vs OGv3's geometry input circle.

We decided to try using the standard Mac OS X dial control in version  
4, so we could be as consistent as possible with other Macintosh  
applications (and have less code of our own to maintain).  I agree  
that it does feel a bit small, though it helps when you learn that  
you can click anywhere on the dial and that you don't have to stay  
over the dial when you drag.  We're tracking feedback on this, so do  
let us know if you find the small dial too awkward!

> * Why isn't the curved corned rectangle shape in the Shape dialog?  
> If one has it in the basic stencil, have the same shape in the  
> shape palette.

Thanks for the feedback.  The shape inspector currently shows all of  
OmniGraffle's built-in shape paths, and we no longer have a built-in  
rounded rectangle path (because we now create rounded rectangles by  
applying our our new corner radius control to a standard rectangle  
path)--which is why that shape is no longer there.

That said, I can see why it would be more intuitive to include a  
rounded rectangle shape in there, and we'll think about what we can  
do in a way that makes sense.

> General UI nits:
> * Is Omnigroup following a standard set of widget schema throughout  
> their apps... so the Omni products feel like a suite?

The same patterns don't always work in different applications (since  
the tasks are different), but we certainly strive for consistency  
between our applications.  I think that we've done pretty well with  
establishing consistent designs for OmniGraffle 4 and OmniOutliner 3  
(better than we've done in the past).

> * What is the UI strategy for Graffle? It looks like OG4 palettes  
> are moving towards non-standard behaviors and actions. 'Standard'  
> is a loaded word but isn't the canvas, layer and outline pull out  
> too cute by half? Why aren't they stand-alone palettes?

In our design, the drawer provides additional content which is part  
of the document, while inspectors (or palettes) always operate on the  
current selection.  An inspector's state is completely ephemeral,  
changing based on the attributes of the currently selected shapes or  
document, and they inspect content from the document, never each other.

Does that make more sense?

Hope this helps!

                 Ken