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-   OmniOutliner for iPad (http://forums.omnigroup.com/forumdisplay.php?f=66)
-   -   + button functionality not intuitive (http://forums.omnigroup.com/showthread.php?t=21873)

mdevitt 2011-08-13 04:05 PM

+ button functionality not intuitive
 
Hi,

I like OO for iPad but find the + button functionality a little confusing. I don't find them intuitive - especially during rapid note taking in meetings. I get what they do but the icons don't reflect the action and I find that I have to think what will this do if I tap on it.

There is plenty of real estate on that bar to have more buttons spread out.

Does anyone else feel the same?

whpalmer4 2011-08-13 05:56 PM

+ obviously adds a row, I hope we can agree on that! If you just tap it, you get another row right after the current row, at the same level of indentation. That's the most common case, so it makes a good default, I think. The other choices (which appear if you tap and hold, but can be immediately taken by swiping in the right direction) let you point where you want the new row to go, relative to the current one. How do you propose to offer those 5 choices in a fashion that is both more intuitive and at least as fast and easy to use? I don't think lining them up along the toolbar is it, because that decouples the gesture from the meaning and adds confusion. There are two choices for putting in a row at a level to the left of the current one; which one comes first, the button that makes a new parent or the one that makes a new child? Now instead of a set of related gestures anchored in the same spot, you've just got a line of buttons, and what have you gained?

While I won't disagree that figuring out all the uses of that widget without any recourse to a demonstration or documentation might be initially challenging for some, it is the case that you get both built-in documentation and online video demonstrations to help you over the discoverability hump. That control is something you are going to use frequently if you do any actual outlining — or, it's something you don't need at all! If you use it, you'll remember it once you've learned it, and if you don't need to use it, you don't need to remember it. For what it is worth, you can work pretty quickly just using the + button and tab in|out buttons in many cases, if you don't like the + "constellation".

It seems suboptimal to base the design of an important part of the user experience on the convenience of a set of users who don't use the tool very often vs. the convenience of the users who want to work it hard, don't you think? After all, presumably most people are shelling out the usual premium Omni price at least in part because they want a powerful tool and plan to use it accordingly. Users who want just a bare-bones list-making tool where they don't need to invest any effort in learning have a number of inexpensive apps to choose from, but there's only one OmniOutliner for those of us who want the whole 9 yards.

mdevitt 2011-08-14 12:12 PM

Thanks again!!

I haven't used this app as much as I wanted to because I thought it would be more beneficial to me during meetings. The app is simple but the only frustrating thing is that + button.

If you have the time check out an app called 'thinkbook' then you will understand what I mean. That bar (with all the icons) is far more intuitive.

Yes, OO has more to offer in terms of functionality but using the + button you need to think about it which is not great if you are in a meeting and are busy typing up notes and lose your train of thought.

HappyCatMachine 2011-08-14 11:34 PM

[QUOTE=mdevitt;100573]Thanks again!!

I haven't used this app as much as I wanted to because I thought it would be more beneficial to me during meetings. The app is simple but the only frustrating thing is that + button.

If you have the time check out an app called 'thinkbook' then you will understand what I mean. That bar (with all the icons) is far more intuitive.

Yes, OO has more to offer in terms of functionality but using the + button you need to think about it which is not great if you are in a meeting and are busy typing up notes and lose your train of thought.[/QUOTE]

Agreed mdevitt. I like what myMind did though you cannot get the product any more. If you pressed and held on an object you could then swipe in a diction to set a newly created child's location. How we could apply a mind mapping tool's UI to an Outliner is something Omni should consider since the paradigmns are fundamentally similar.

All UI feedback is good UI feedback.


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