Proposed changes to the IDE User Interface

[Mag]

Since I work in the field of usability and user interface, these days I tried to imagine how it could be the LiveCode's IDE to be more in line with the look of current applications and easier for new users.

Many of us, find quickly what they want, but new users perhaps would have a bit more difficult, and so, I thought about what you could change. Of course this is my personal view, many of us might see things differently, and of course, this applies also for the creators of LiveCode.

Below, I attach the IDE images as a whole, but for each element I posted detailed images with explanations in specific topics.

Toolbar:
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28147

Tools Palette:
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=28162

Inspector:
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28184

Project Browser:
http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28204


Current IDE:

Proposed IDE:

[Klaus]

Hi Mag,

looks really great, I like that!


Best

Klaus

[dunbarx]

So much nicer. I could never understand how the team, which seems to understand (dare I say "Mac-like") graphics and look-and-feel, could have regressed so badly in v8.

It should not matter so much, but it does.

Thanks, Mag, and keep pushing them to see reason.

Craig

[Mikey]

Engineers and artists are two different personalities. Some people have an eye more than others.
Unfortunately, your resdesigned IDE doesn't restore thumbnails to the project browser...BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
but I do like the thinking and the icons.

[Mag]

Thank you so much Klaus, Craig and Mikey for the comments.

Mikey, I'm no a fan of the previews in the IDE but I understand your point of view. Maybe the team has removed this feature in an attempt to improve the stability of the Project Browser. It is just a hypothesis

[Mag]

I have also proposed a new unified window with the Project Browser and the Property Inspector.

I think it might increase the productivity of the IDE, where now the functions are distributed in a myriad of windows and palettes and where there is also a lot of redundancy.

Utility Window: http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28222

[Mikey]

I don't think I'm a fan of one window to rule them all. There are functions that I want to be able to move around on the screen.

[Mag]

I don't think I'm a fan of one window to rule them all. There are functions that I want to be able to move around on the screen.

Thank you Mikey, I understand that the idea of uniting two different windows cannot please to everyone it would be a fairly radical change.

[SparkOut]

Perhaps you could arrange the tools into a ring

[Mag]

Hello SparkOut, thanks for the post, could you explain what you mean?

I updated the image on the first post to show better that the selected items in the card corresponds to the selected items in the Project Browser (to learn more why I proposed this change, please visit this topic: http://forums.livecode.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28204 ).

Also, there is now a filter bar in the Project Browser.

[SparkOut]

I was being silly- Mikey mentioned "one window to rule them all". I was just flippantly latching on to the LotR reference

[Mikey]

Am I the only one who uses multiple property windows, simultaneously? Whenever I'm working on a new project, I'm comparing multiple objects, and tweaking properties. I don't know if I ever have three property windows open at the same time (unless the third one is the card properties), but I do have two open...a lot.

[Mag]

I was being silly- Mikey mentioned "one window to rule them all". I was just flippantly latching on to the LotR reference

Ops, I thought you were talking about one of those interfaces where it hovered and appear the cloves with the various commands... or even to one of these:

https://techcrunch.com/2014/01/08/the-f ... interface/

[Mag]

Am I the only one who uses multiple property windows, simultaneously? Whenever I'm working on a new project, I'm comparing multiple objects, and tweaking properties. I don't know if I ever have three property windows open at the same time (unless the third one is the card properties), but I do have two open...a lot.

I think you're not the only one to use the Inspector in this way. There are so many different ways to use LiveCode and many different needs...

[richmond62]

However: the Livecode GUI has not changed much since the 2.6 interface.

I don't really think that whether the icons are "modern" (whatever "modern" means - never could work that one out) is important:

what IS important is what one can get done with Livecode.

But then I dress out of second-hand shops because I care more about comfort and warmth than fashion.