Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
LibreOffice UI Mockups (with sidebar)
40hz:
These are not official mockups. Just some designs by some guy at deviantart.
http://pauloup.deviantart.com/gallery/28216273
@OP should have posted this vital info. Renders the whole discussion useless :P
-InstantFundas (January 23, 2011, 10:39 AM)
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Not really.
These mockups have some great ideas. And Libre is very open to suggestions.
So until somebody at Libre says this particular concept is a complete crock and won't be considered, it remains part of the meme surrounding LibreOffice. And being an open software project, there's also nothing to stop the implementation that interface as a side project even if the Document Foundation's LibreOffice programming team decides to ignore it. (I say ignore because you can bet somebody has already brought it to their attention.)
There's even a page on their website specifically for UX and Visual designers. Link here.
UX/Visual Designers
Primary points of contact: the Design Team wiki page and the Design mailing list.
LibreOffice aims to be a great tool for people to let them create, edit and share any kind of information - to enable them to turn their ideas into documents. But offering that much capability requires the software to be easy and intuitive to use.
The LibreOffice Design Team wants to, "Make it just work, and look great, too!" We set out to do this by offering user experience [UX] design and visual identity design.
We need people to get involved in one or some of the following areas:
* User experience: User experience considers the user's point of view even before and also during the use of LibreOffice. It aims for productivity, usability and enjoyment and targets both the the LibreOffice project's Web resources and the LibreOffice software. If you're interested in or have expertise in research, design and evaluation methods, we want to hear from you!
* Visual identity design: Visual identity design is about creating stunning artwork to be used in the LibreOffice productivity suite, in the LibreOffice project's Web infrastructure, and in the LibreOffice project's marketing material. It is also about improving the quality and consistency of the visual branding language, which represents our whole community.
* Accessibility: Accessibility is about making the software usable for everyone: people with and people without special needs. To achieve this challenging goal, we implement the laws and technologies that are that are widely-recognized requisites in the field.
* User support and training: This is about sharing your experience when providing support and training for end users. It helps us identify important areas for improvement and establish essential requirements.
Consequently, if you'd like to work on improvements that target both the community and our large end-user base, then the Design Team is the right place for you.
To contact the Design Team, please visit the Design Team wiki page and sign-up for the Design mailing list.
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That's the beauty of GPL projects - you never have to say: Never! The very existence of the LibreOffice fork is itself proof of that.
:)
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Note: DevArt is consulted for design ideas and inspiration a lot more often than most people realize - so don't rule something out just because it's found there. I've seen many interface concepts displayed on DeviantArt that mysteriously appear in software products later on.
"Coincidence? You be the judge..." as the saying goes. ;D
InstantFundas:
Uh, I did. Right there in the first sentence: "Web Upd8 has the latest LibreOffice UI mockups...." And it's also in the subject line. :huh:
-zridling (January 23, 2011, 01:38 PM)
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Mockups can be official and unofficial. If the mockups come from the official team it means that the proposed designs could very well make into the actual product. Any other mockups by independent designers are unofficial. They are unlikely to find their way into the final product, unless the product developers embraces it, in which case, it becomes the official mockup. :)
Not really.
These mockups have some great ideas. And Libre is very open to suggestions.
So until somebody at Libre says this particular concept is a complete crock and won't be considered, it remains part of the meme surrounding LibreOffice. And being an open software project, there's also nothing to stop the implementation that interface as a side project even if the Document Foundation's LibreOffice programming team decides to ignore it. (I say ignore because you can bet somebody has already brought it to their attention.)
There's even a page on their website specifically for UX and Visual designers. Link here.
Note: DevArt is consulted for design ideas and inspiration a lot more often than most people realize - so don't rule something out just because it's found there. I've seen many interface concepts displayed on DeviantArt that mysteriously appear in software products later on.
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I agree what you say, but my initial argument still holds - that they are not official, so don't pin your hopes on THIS particular design. And just like you said, there could be and IS dozens of Liberoffice designs floating around the web, any of which (or none) could becomes the actual UI.
I just want to say that if you don't label a mockup as unofficial, people assume they come from the developer.
40hz:
I just want to say that if you don't label a mockup as unofficial, people assume they come from the developer.
-InstantFundas (January 23, 2011, 11:13 PM)
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Well...I didn't assume the mockup was from the developer because zridling's link was to Web Upd8 as opposed to documentfoundation.org. But I guess I can (sort of) see what you're saying. :)
Mockups can be official and unofficial. If the mockups come from the official team it means that the proposed designs could very well make into the actual product. Any other mockups by independent designers are unofficial. They are unlikely to find their way into the final product, unless the product developers embraces it, in which case, it becomes the official mockup. :)
-InstantFundas (January 23, 2011, 11:13 PM)
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That would be true only if the interface "look" was hard-coded into Libre Office. But there's nothing to stop them from making the UI 'skinnable' to allow for easy integration of 3rd-party UI themes. My understanding is that eventually giving the user the option to customize the interface was one of the design goals for LO.
And again, LO is an open source project. Just because the development team may choose not to use this particular UI, there's nothing stopping someone else from implementing and releasing it. If enough people like it, that will be more likely to occur than not.
Deozaan:
I just thought I'd chime in and say that I did assume they were official mockups because I don't follow LibreOffice close enough to know that documentfoundation.org is the official developer and I didn't think it would be unusual for another website (Web Upd8, which I've never heard of before) to post news about (official) mockups.
It's not uncommon for news blogs to get (sometimes exclusive) screens or information from official sources and report on it. I assumed this was the case with these mockups.
Although if I had bothered to click through to the article and read it, it does make it clear that these are not official. So my ignorance is mostly my own fault. :D
Since these are just fan-made images I do agree that it changes the discussion somewhat, from "Oh, look what they're considering" to "Oh, look what someone who doesn't necessarily have any influence on the decision thinks they should consider."
40hz:
BTW: Downloaded the newest Libre release and got a chance to use it pretty heavily today.
It seems lighter on it's feet than Oo. Wonder if it's really true - or just wishful thinking on my part. :huh:
Anybody else notice that to be the case?
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