Difference between revisions of "Inventory UI Design"
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=== Design Ideas === | === Design Ideas === | ||
==== Packaging and Outfits ==== | |||
==== Icons and Previews ==== | |||
==== Recently Used ==== | |||
==== New and Unread ==== | |||
==== Inventory Types and Categories ==== | |||
Revision as of 14:03, 12 March 2007
Thoughts on Inventory UI in SL
By Kelly Linden 14:01, 12 March 2007 (PDT)
Right now our inventory is already too complicated for new users with few items and not powerful enough for advanced users with thousands of items. In the end we end up with an inventory that is not good for anyone. At the same time, making it more complex, adding filters and links and more and more is not likely to make it really usable for anyone but the most hard core.
I think something drastic is probably needed to make our inventory actually work, and I'd love to be part of a discussion about it.
What do other's do?
There are existing software systems that have the same problem our inventory does (lots of files). A couple of those are File Systems and Email.
OSX Applications
Apple has shown a will to put ease of use before any other priority so it makes sense to look a bit at some things they do.
One thing I do really like is how they handle applications. An application on windows is a single executable file burried somewhere with all the other files needed to run the program, and linked to from your desktop or start menu. In OSX an Application is *actually* a folder. Usually it doesn't look like one and it doesn't act like one. You double click it to start the app, and it is the only thing you have to move around if you want the app somewhere else. There are no links (though you can make them if you want) and you only see at the top level the data you need. At the same time an advanced user can browse the contents to see the actual executable(s) and other files needed for running the application.
Windows Start Menu
Windows has its cruft and kludge but they do get some things right. In particular the Start menu contains a list of recently or frequently used applications. I don't even know the algorithm used to decide what goes there, but the applications I use most are usually in that short list.
File Systems (more generally)
Both Windows and Mac, and even Linux, limit the locations user created files generally go. Your files go on the desktop or Documents (My Documents) or your home directory. These locations are easy to get to, relatively few and they don't contain any of that 'extra' stuff (programs, config info) that is actually filling your computer.
GUI Filesystems
GUI Filesystems support icons. Any recent incarnation supports custom icons on a per application basis. More recent versions even support thumbnail icons based on the actual data in the file. All these help to quickly and easily visually sort a collection of data and find specific items within the larger set.
Email has it's own problems. However it is a (mostly) full text medium which makes searching it easier. All email clients highlight 'new' items - those that have not yet been viewed - within the normal list. Additionally Google's gmail and 'Threaded' views in traditional email readers automatically attempt to group related data.