Subject: AbiDraw UI (was: Re: A new draw on XP refactoring)
From: Paul Rohr (paul@abisource.com)
Date: Fri Feb 01 2002 - 11:10:56 CST
At 09:33 AM 2/1/02 +0000, F J Franklin wrote:
>Also, I know little about GUI stuff, so if anyone feels like whipping up
>an interface, that would make my life a lot easier :-)
Frank,
The most important step in deciding on a GUI would be to figure out the
intended scope of the product:
- who will use it,
- what they'll use it for, and thus
- what it will do, and most importantly
- what it *won't* do.
As Dom pointed out elsewhere in this thread, there are lots and lots of
vector-drawing programs out there we could use as models. For example, the
following user populations may have very different needs:
- geeks who use Visio to draw cloud diagrams of networks
- CAD professionals who build wireframe blueprints
- professional illustrators who create pretty clip art
- etc.
The important thing here will be to choose wisely among a wide range of
possible feature sets, so that the final experience is coherent for
whichever set of users you've chosen to make happiest.
In *their* minds, the final UI should Just Work, period.
And no, off the cuff, I don't have any suggestions of what that UI would be.
It's been a long time since I've used a vector-drawing program. ;-)
However, to get the ball rolling, I *would* suggest that the intended user
be an AbiWord user. What would they expect of a "vector drawing" package?
What comparable products, if any, are they using now? Etc.
Paul,
GUI fanatic
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