[Digikam-devel] [Bug 225471] Change Digikam to follow usability guidelines

[Supreme1012]

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=225471





--- Comment #4 from Supreme1012 <supreme1012 gmail com>  2010-02-05 18:43:42 ---
Great response! Are you the same person as Fri13 on kde-look.org by any chance?
I've been thinking a lot about showing the file name, rating, etc underneath
the thumbnails in Album view and I think Ive changed my mind. I think it SHOULD
be available, but I think it should be turned off by default(or just show
simple information like name and date created as the default) and you can later
go into the settings and specify the metadata you want shown below/above the
image. I'm not going to make a mockup of metadata in album view though, at
least not anytime soon.  

“The sidepanels in the mockup has the normal usability flaw that does not allow
hiding them.”

That's why I added the show/hide “sidebar” buttons to the toolbars on the left
and right sides (Same as how Firefox's Bookmark button works). This actually
saves the user a lot of horizontal space. In the current setup its impossible
to get rid of the half-inch on each side that displays the vertical tabs. I
will be experimenting with tabs at the top of the panel though, as that is how
its “supposed” to be according to usability guidelines. 

“And what someone says "duplicate" like having tags on left and right, I say it
a feature because I can do more accurate searching and filtering together. Like
first choosing a whole tag parent from left and then from right to do more
accurate filtering with parent, children or just selected.”

The same thing can be done by entering the tag's name into the search bar and
then searching through the results. This is better than scrolling through a
long list of tag names, and that list should already be included in the Tags
sidebar on the right-hand side anyways. You're showing multiple views of the
same list of tags, whereas you can combine it to make the tags selectable as a
group as well as editable in the same Tab view. Also, you should not need to
show two Marble globes in the sidepanel in order to do map searches and
geolocation.

“We can not integrate image editor to photo management window.”

I think having the “Editor” tab listed may confuse some people as to what would
be available from that view. Im not proposing adding ANY new image editing
abilities to Digikam, and it would not be a mashing of Digikam and Showfoto's
capabilities. The Image tab would display those simple editing options that are
available already in Digikam, but are not located together in a cohesive or
easy to use way. Most of those options are currently located under “Tools” in
the main menu and some in the context menu.

“What I think is that we should continue doing what we are doing, making a sane
defaults what works for the most people but does not stop skilled users to get
their needed tools.”

I DO NOT want to get rid of functionality in Digikam. Digikam's features are
what makes it such a great program, but I want to get rid of the layout design
clutter, duplication, and unstructured menu and view organization. I'm not just
saying “Hey! This doesnt work, go fix it!” Im working on coming up with
solutions to how to fix things. The biggest problem at this point is that it
just takes too long to make the mockups and then explaining how each thing
works. BTW, the changes Im proposing are NOT drastic changes to Digikam. It'll
still be toolbar, right and left sidepanels, and main middle view and keeps all
the same features it has now.

“We just end up that we can not have one simple GUI for everyone. We can not
integrate image editor to photo management window.”

I dont think this is true. The way Digikam looks right now it would maybe be
impossible to come up with a great default view that works for everyone, but I
think that is a flaw in Digikam's basic layout that needs to be addressed. I
think I can come up with a GUI that has a great simple default view that lets
everyone do the most frequent photo management tasks, while still keeping the
flexibility to show and hide information, change the tabs/toolbars/panels, and
maintain overall control of how digikam looks and feels without interfering
with those advanced tools and tasks that advanced users want. But it has to
start by putting tools/options in the right places and having a clear idea of
how Digikam should look and work. Right now Digikam is not PROGRESSING, and a
start for this progression should come with the porting the view to Qt4. But I
want you guys to PLAN!!! how things should look and work in the best possible
layout and design.

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