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#7 Interface revamp/redesign

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open
Paulo Assis
GUI (1) interface (1) design (1) icon (1) usability (1)
2014-03-31
2014-03-28
Nathanel Titane
No

I would like to submit this ticket more as a feature request than a bug, in the sense the GUVCView is feature complete and is the only software availabl eon linux that seems to be able to control my Logitech Orbit Cam adequately.

The interface, unfortunately, is quite the sore thumb and makes the experience uneasy.

Is there such way to maybe consider an 'up to standards' redesign of the interface?

Best Regards.

Related

Tickets: #7

Discussion

  • Paulo Assis

    Paulo Assis - 2014-03-30

    Hi,
    what would you consider an 'up to standards' redesign ?

    I'm currently working on version 2.0, the code is being re-write from scratch, so I wouldn't mind improving the GUI, although IMHO, the current interface, introduced in 1.7.0, is pretty good, and much better than the previous one.
    In any case, in version 2, there is a complete split between the interface and the core functions, that are now part of a library. So it is easy enough to write different GUI's and even use different API's (gtk, qt, ...), you can have as much different interfaces as you want, even none at all (command line) ;D

    Regards,
    Paulo

     

    • Nathanel Titane

      Nathanel Titane - 2014-03-30

      Hello,

      I did not think you would be replying anytime soon. Well, for one, the
      use of the gtk toolkit would be one thing to consider. Removal of all
      those ugly button icons would be another interesting point. Another thing
      I've noticed is that the menu bar is overly detached from the top of the
      window under GS 3.xx ... You could maybe consider making the overall window
      scroll-less and render the options and buttons in a slightly more compact
      manner within the available space.

      Do you have a preview of the current interface on 2.0 ?
      On Mar 30, 2014 6:04 AM, "Paulo Assis" assisp@users.sf.net wrote:

      Hi,
      what would you consider an 'up to standards' redesign ?

      I'm currently working on version 2.0, the code is being re-write from
      scratch, so I wouldn't mind improving the GUI, although IMHO, the current
      interface, introduced in 1.7.0, is pretty good, and much better than the
      previous one.
      In any case, in version 2, there is a complete split between the interface
      and the core functions, that are now part of a library. So it is easy
      enough to write different GUI's and even use different API's (gtk, qt,
      ...), you can have as much different interfaces as you want, even none at
      all (command line) ;D

      Regards,
      Paulo

      Status: open
      Milestone: next
      Labels: GUI interface design icon usability
      Created: Fri Mar 28, 2014 10:13 PM UTC by Nathanel Titane
      Last Updated: Fri Mar 28, 2014 10:13 PM UTC
      Owner: Paulo Assis

      I would like to submit this ticket more as a feature request than a bug,
      in the sense the GUVCView is feature complete and is the only software
      availabl eon linux that seems to be able to control my Logitech Orbit Cam
      adequately.

      The interface, unfortunately, is quite the sore thumb and makes the
      experience uneasy.

      Is there such way to maybe consider an 'up to standards' redesign of the
      interface?

      Best Regards.

      Sent from sourceforge.net because you indicated interest in
      https://sourceforge.net/p/guvcview/tickets/7/

      To unsubscribe from further messages, please visit
      https://sourceforge.net/auth/subscriptions/

       

      Related

      Tickets: #7

  • Paulo Assis

    Paulo Assis - 2014-03-31

    Well, for one, the use of the gtk toolkit would be one thing to consider

    Like I said, in version 2, we can have have multiple interfaces.

    Removal of all those ugly button icons would be another interesting point

    If you are talking about the main 3 buttons (photo capture; video capture and quit), I think these should have a graphic identifier.
    The same for the tab headers, although here I would be more inclined to accept the icon removal.
    In any case if you want to send me a gpl replacement icon set, that would be more than welcome, I can even create a icon theme entry in the top menu, to custumize the GUI.

    I've noticed is that the menu bar is overly detached from the top of the window under GS 3.xx

    Could this be theme related ? I haven't notice that at all in my case.

    You could maybe consider making the overall window scroll-less and render the options and buttons in a slightly more compact manner within the available space

    For cameras with many controls, this is almost impossible, if you have 3 or 4 controls only then if you can enlarge the GUI so that the scroll bars disappear, if you have 15 or so controls then you need them, otherwise the window height will just be to big for most screens.
    Another option would be to split the controls among more tabs if needed, but I think that's even worse than the scroll box.

    Do you have a preview of the current interface on 2.0 ?

    you need to built it from git:

    git clone ssh://assisp@git.code.sf.net/p/guvcview/git-master guvcview-git-master
    git fetch
    git checkout 2.0_devel

    and follow the build instructions in the readme:
    https://sourceforge.net/p/guvcview/git-master/ci/2.0_devel/tree/

    the command line options are now quite different just check them with 'guvcview --help'

    the --gui option allows you to chose your prefered interface, for now only 'none' and 'gtk3' (default) are available, in the future I expect to add at least a qt interface.

    Regards,
    Paulo

     

    • Jeff

      Jeff - 2018-01-09

      If you are talking about the main 3 buttons (photo capture; video capture and quit), I think these should have a graphic identifier.
      The same for the tab headers, although here I would be more inclined to accept the icon removal.

      As an interaction designer I agree with the original poster. Nuke the icons; people can read faster than they can "identify" what these icons means (because they are way too similar and visually complex/overloaded. That grunge icon set—I once knew its name, I forgot... it's been a decade since I've seen it—is not a good choice from a usability point of view)

      • Absolutely remove the icons from the tabs, yes.
      • Remove the quit button entirely, that's what the window manager's decorations "X" is for.
      • For the "Save image" and "Record video" buttons, 1) labels on the side of the icons, not below 2) consider not using icons at all and using GTK3 client-side decorations buttons in the titlebar (see https://developer.gnome.org/gtk3/stable/GtkHeaderBar.html …)
      • Rename the menu entries that just say "File" to reflect what they do as an action (ex.: "Save a still image" and "Start video recording")
      • Do not show the "H264 Controls" tab if the user hasn't actually selected H.264 as the camera output in the video controls! And even then, it should probably not be a tab, but a separate window (or GtkExpander container) that is triggered with a button (or expander widget) from within the "Video controls" tab.

      You could maybe consider making the overall window scroll-less and render the options and buttons in a slightly more compact manner within the available space

      For cameras with many controls, this is almost impossible [...]

      Not impossible at all... Just autodetect the required height of the widgets, exactly like I did in Pitivi. See http://fortintam.com/blog/2011/06/24/dont-make-me-scroll/

      You may be particularly interested in these 14 lines of code that show how it's done: https://git.gnome.org/browse/pitivi/commit/?id=8bc73d4cba

      Hope this helps! Would love to no longer have to scroll down everytime I start the app and want to control my camera's zoom, especially since scrolling is a pain with the thin "floating" scrollbars we have these days.

      Theoretically, if you want I could do a full usability review (as a designer) but that would mean more radical changes and more work for you... so I'm just making suggestions on low-hanging fruits here ;)

      [...] if you have 15 or so controls then you need them, otherwise the window height will just be to big for most screens. Another option would be to split the controls among more tabs if needed, but I think that's even worse than the scroll box.

      Food for thought: 99% of screens are widescreen or ultra-widescreen today. A desktop interface whose contents are mainly vertical is a big waste/misfit of that screen space. If you want to be radical (ex: in the situation where you'd want to combine Video controls with H264 controls and/or Image controls, for example), consider something laid out with columns in landscape mode...

       

      • Jeff

        Jeff - 2018-01-09

        Here is a mockup of what it looks like if you implement the most basic changes I proposed (nuke icons, nuke the Quit button, relabel buttons, use standard GtkNotebook labels, use a better default window height). Much more compact vertically (and even horizontally, the window is allowed to shrink by 33%!), much clearer and easier to understand.

        I did this "mockup" live by using the GTK Inspector, so I know it's functional and "non-invasive".

         

        Last edit: Jeff 2018-01-09
        Thumbnail
        guvcview - 1 (before).png
        Thumbnail
        guvcview - 2 (mockup).png

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