[Feedreader-development] Review of FR user interface

[Kristjan J. <kri...@sl...>]

MAIN WINDOW=20

--- "New..." button ---

1) Maybe it's just me, but I feel most applications have "New" button =
left side of the toolbar. To be consistent I'd suggest to swap the "New" =
and "Update" buttons. Up for discussion.

2) "New..." button dropdown menu is compete mess.=20

- What on earth is "External" and "Local" feeds? Ok, I know, I chatted =
with Toomas and "Local" feeds seems to be a work-in-progress to create =
outcoming (exportable) feeds. Can I use such a functionality? No, at =
least not at a first glance - the internal feed stays empty, I'm not =
explained how to create new items there.

Solution: Remove the "Local" menu opion until the actual functionality =
is there. Just keep two options "New feed" and "New folder".

- Why the "New..." menu is auto-hiding? =
http://www.feedreader.com/node.php?id=3D259 (like Word and other =
Microsoft applications, where not-so-often-used menu options are hidden =
from users). C'mon - there's only 3 options, auto-hiding them is really =
annoying.

- Will "Add new feedlist" be back in the menu?=20


--- Seach headlines ---

Dialog color scheme is weird. Shouldn't the text entry field be white =
(not gray) to be consistent with the rest of the application?


--- Feedlist (the leftmost pane) ---

1) The rightbutton menu usage should be reconsidered:

- Why there's no rightbutton menu on "My feeds"?=20
- Why folder-creating is available under the toolbar, not in the =
feedlist itself (like standard Windows explorer tree)?
- Why I can't add or delete feedlists?

2) The name "Estonians channels" are misleading. Are we using the term =
"channel" elsewhere? No? Be consistent, use the term "feed" thoroughly.=20
Solution: rename it to "Estonian feeds"=20

3) Favourites.
Ok, I see these are my IE favourites, but what the hell they are doing =
here, in Feedreader?=20


-- Feed items (the upper-right pane) ---

"Date" and "Headline" column headers are clickable, but clicking on them =
does nothing. I'd expect clicking will change the ordering and sorting =
of items (like Outlook).
Solutions:
- allow ordering and sorting
- alternatively, just remove clickability


--- Statusbar ---

Why there's two progressbars, one continious, one stepped? Can't we =
settle with one?


DIALOGS

--- Add new feed ---

1) There's currently two titles on the dialog:
"New feed wizard" +
"[XML] Adding new feed"

IHMO such a duplication is unneccessary. We do not have to emphasize =
that we are using "wizard" here.=20
Solution:
- Just use a string "Add new feed" in titlebar, remove the second =
"Adding new feed" line.=20
- Also remove XML icon, it's usage here is incorrect. We need a proper =
icon/graphic here.=20
Btw, no second page of wizard ("Please enter the name of the feed") the =
[XML] icon is mysteriously gone already :)


2) "Username" and "Password" are too intrusive in first step of the =
wizard. They seem to FORCE user to fill these fields - there's no =
information are these fields optional or not (In fact, the whole dialog =
looks like a standard login box, more or less).

Solutions:
- Write short explanation what these fields are and stress that they are =
OPTIONAL.=20
- One should also consider to make the dialog expand/collapse in the =
bottom (like the Windows login box) - something like "v Advanced =
options". When expanded, power user can specify login/password, when =
collapsed, novice user just won't see the fields.=20
- Ideally these fields should be on the second step of wizard, but I =
understand this is not possible to implement - FR must connect and =
validate feed (using loging/password info if neccessary) before moving =
from step 1 to step 2, right?


3) Change "Next" to "Next >" and "Previous" to "< Previous"

See also http://ranchero.com/images/nnw/subscribe1.jpg
and http://www.feedreader.com/node.php?id=3D253


--- Subscribe from "Available feeds" ---

The "Subscribe" button what appears on toolbar is almost unnoticable for =
user.=20

I suggest to introduce a narrow information bar above the headline pane, =
with a text like "You can subscribe this feed by clicking here: =
[subscribe]". The bar should appear just like "Search" pane, sliding =
from the top. =20


--- Feed properties ---

- Once again, I am against the [XML] image. Yep, I know the dialog badly =
lacks color, but the [XML] is meant to be the link, and should have a =
tooltip when hovering above the icon. Using it here as a static =
illustation is misguiding.
Solution: create a new fancy icon :)

- Again, IHMO "Username" and "Password" should not be emphasized - they =
should be moved to the bottom, separated with a horizontal line (with a =
be a short explaination?)

- BTW, you can put these fields on a same line:
Username: [          ] Password: [          ]

- "Directly show headline link" Whatthehellizit? I'm clueless.

- "Archive" and "Refresh feed" show "Default" as a standard option. Why =
not display the *actual default value* instead?=20
If one really wants to stress that we are dealing with defaults (why?), =
he could write "50 headlines - default" or similar.
When I am new to FR, I might not even touched the global properties and =
never changed defaults, so I never know what the actual value is.

- Left side of the "Refresh feed" field must be aligned with other =
fields, right now it is shorter than others.



--- (Global) Properties ---

There's currently two methods of sturcturing - tabs and checkbox-list. =
Why not settle for classic tree+properties pane, like IE, Mozilla and =
numerious other applications?
See NewzCrawler preferences windows: =
http://www.feedreader.com/module.php?mod=3Dimage&uid=3D2  (of course it =
is bloated, using too much structuring, but you will get the idea)
Such way options can still be nested/structured, but properties dialog =
itself is far more logical and familiar to user.=20

Current checkbox-list does not provide enough flexibility. What if I =
want to add a different kind of field to "General > Misc > Play sounds", =
say a button "Select a sound sample"?

I'd start with following:

- replace current checbox-list component with standard tree+properties =
component
- create properties pages for "Startup" and "Miscallenous" (not "Misc"! =
-=20
  do not use abbreviations)
- merge the "Appearance" checbox-list and "Appearance" tab into a single =
"Appearance" properties page.
- move "Connection", and "Webserver" properties under the general tree, =
get rid of tabs.

In next step we can start discussing better structure/arrangement of the =
properties.



-- About Feedreader --

- "Version" and "Build" number fields look like a text-entry fields. =
Can't they be outputted as a plain text, not as a form control?

- Check for new version work ok, but leaves the user clueless. Right, =
new version is avaliable...now what? The dialog should give me some =
clues how to proceed, at least provide a link to www.feedreader.com page =
(even better, a downloads page)



More to come :)

Regards,

Kristjan