Description: This is an IDEA... IF there is enough interest I will prototype this idea and pass it on to the GTK/QT/KDE guys as it would require new features to be made available in the toolkits for applications to use.
The idea is that the menu entries have different colours and font styles depending on function.
Say file operations are blue, help is green, dengerious functions are red and italic.
The greatest usability improvement comes when menu entries relating to the currently selected object are coloured.
Imagine using a version of gimp that highlights menu entries that are related to the tool in use, or a version of kword that highlights formatting menu entries when a block of text is selected etc....
This should help flatten the learning curve of new users and those users switching application of changing over from windows.
The mockup isn't that great, bolding some entries would help and don't forget this is going to change on the fly so it should be more obvious than the mockup shows.
I think this is a great idea. Why has no one thought of it before? Perhaps it would benefit from:
1. being subtle
2. having the ability to switch it on or off
Looks odd. But as long as it is an option and can be turned off quickly - why not. In drop down menus I maybe even would turn it on - but never in the menu bar itself .
Ok, I'll put a applet together (or a flash demo) with a scroll bar to control the intrusiveness of the feature.
Max would be very obvious, min would only highlight operations that are tightly linked to the selected object.
The concept has potential... maybe not as a default behaviour, but definitly for KDE Accessibility.
This may be too troublesome, but maybe you could make a small animation demonstrating the feature (in Flash or as a GIF); the current mockups just don't do the idea justice.
I've already got a few prototypes together for other UI improvements, I was thinking about putting together a Java applet to demonstrate some of the ideas, and also measure the time it takes for the user to perform the task and therefore how usable the interface is.
Ratings & Comments
5 Comments
I think this is a great idea. Why has no one thought of it before? Perhaps it would benefit from: 1. being subtle 2. having the ability to switch it on or off
Looks odd. But as long as it is an option and can be turned off quickly - why not. In drop down menus I maybe even would turn it on - but never in the menu bar itself .
Ok, I'll put a applet together (or a flash demo) with a scroll bar to control the intrusiveness of the feature. Max would be very obvious, min would only highlight operations that are tightly linked to the selected object.
The concept has potential... maybe not as a default behaviour, but definitly for KDE Accessibility. This may be too troublesome, but maybe you could make a small animation demonstrating the feature (in Flash or as a GIF); the current mockups just don't do the idea justice.
I've already got a few prototypes together for other UI improvements, I was thinking about putting together a Java applet to demonstrate some of the ideas, and also measure the time it takes for the user to perform the task and therefore how usable the interface is.