Task-Centric file creation - First mockups

[Thomas Pfeiffer]

On Tuesday 29 January 2013 21:20:25 Aaron J. Seigo wrote:
> thanks for getting started on this!
> 
> i'll have to ruminate on these mockups a bit, both from an implementor's POV
> and a user's POV ... so i won't comment much yet until thoughts have
> settled in. there is one aspect of it that i am very much of multiple minds
> on immediately:

Great! The purpose of this mockup was mainly to spark discussion, and I'm glad 
you gave feedback so quickly :)

> On Tuesday, January 29, 2013 21:01:07 Thomas Pfeiffer wrote:
> > the Add Items dialog would be a good
> 
> challenges:
> * it means i have to go to the Activity screen and hit "+" every time i want
> to create a new thing

I don't think this should be the only way to initiate file creation tasks. I 
still think we should have a central point for starting any kinds of tasks by 
the time we non-item-creation tasks, but I still think that this alternative 
makes sense for this class of tasks.

> * i can't see all the things i can make in one place; i have to jump between
> Documents, Images, etc to see what i can and can't make

True. I'm not sure how much of a problem this may be, but yes, people might 
not know where to find some tasks this way.

> * these "new..." items will be at the top of documents every time .. so to
> actually add a document, i'll need to move past them (worst case -> scroll)

Yes. How much of a problem this is depends on
- How many file types there are to be created in a given category
- How many files can be displayed in one page on a device
If the "New ..." items occupy a whole - or even multiple - pages, then it 
becomes problematic indeed

> pros:
> * it means every new thing created will be associated with that activity by
> default

Exactly. I think we should encourage users to link at least all the items they 
create on the device to activities.

> * it means i don't have to have to pull down the launch and start a
> different app to get to this functionality

Yes, that's what I wanted to achieve. Maybe we can find even better ways to 
achieve it, though. We'll see.

> as a wild thought: would it work at all to have a "create" button between
> "+" and "configure"?

Nice idea, that could work as well.

> maybe it just needs more time to sink in .. maybe i'll find the gumption to
> make some paper mockup to try on people even. have you done any testing yet
> yourself of this concept? (if you have or are going to then i won't bother
> duplicating that effort)

No. I haven't tested the concept yet, but I will do so. However, that doesn't 
mean that if you'd do it as well that would be duplicated (aka wasted) effort. 
It's not like I'm going to do a full-scale comprehensive usability study, and 
two people testing something with a few friends/family members/colleagues is 
always better than just one person doing it.

I guess we should make another mockup with the "Create" button on the activity 
screen so that we can compare the two. We'd have to think about what the next 
screen will look like, though.