MSDN/SDK viewer first storyboard and primary principles
So it's day 2, and I'm starting to learn some more things about user interface design. Worked with an architect in the user experience group who's mentoring me and we came up with the first cut at a “storyboard“. The process of going from a whiteboard, to storyboards, UI mockups, prototyping and finally the finished product feels really exciting, the next couple of months are going to be fun as we go through all this. (I think I'm going to lose the little personal life I have over the next few months - it's 10 pm, and I'm still at work, my wife finds out what I do all day by reading my blog, so I'll pre-empt you and say “yes I should get a life...“) Anyways.... below is the search result page storyboard, I'd love to hear what you, my faithful reader, think...
What we're trying to show here is the “content type “ categories view, our primary goal is for the user to quickly and easily pick the right “kind“ of content (sample, reference etc) that they are looking for, or within this view, the user can use the centered type (samples in this case) to quickly navigate and narrow down to what they're looking for. In the example above, the user has selected the “Cool Grade“ sample, and is shown a quick description of the sample, a screen shot of the sample running, the user rating for that sample and a snippet of the relevant code in the sample. The user can make any of the other content types the center and get a similar view for that content type. Later this week I'll try to post a different “view“ that we're playing with that looks very much like outlook.
Keep in mind that this is really early stuff, we've got a ton of other features to load balance with, so if you don't see this in any release in the future please don't try to find out where I live to complain :)
We've also been thinking about more generic user experience stuff, here are some fundamental “primary principles” we're trying to lay down as we make this product:
“The user experience is….
- I know where I am
- The UI is intuitive
- The UI is responsive
- The UI always adapts to my current environment“
So what do you folks think, is this list incomplete, do you like or dislike any of these, which is the most important and do you see anything missing. I'd love to hear your feedback on any of this, we're early enough on the product cycle that any feedback will definitely make an impact.
