RoundEdgeSkinExperiments < Codev

This topic has some UI experiments on a smoother TWiki look, while still preserving the classic look&feel.

A first cut is the RoundEdgeSkin. Example:

(a skin can be activated also site-wide in the TWikiPreferences, in a WebPreferences or as a user setting.)

Here are some other studies:

Or this:

Opinions?

-- PeterThoeny - 12 Jan 2002

I find the top one the easiest to understand. Personally the others seem more crowded. Here is a variation on the top one, with hopefully fewer visual elements - which should simplify usage and understanding.

-- AdrianLynch - 15 Jan 2002

I prefer Adrian's first example for the way it uses the coloured background, but with the text as for Peter's second example, i.e. keep the 'tabbed' feel but include the full TWiki > Web > Parent > Topic info.

One comment - why do we need the 'TWiki' bit on every page? Seems like this is a bit redundant for most sites, except on the home page of each web perhaps. Most other Wikis don't include their name on every page, just a logo that includes the name of the Wiki.

While we are on the logo, could there perhaps be an official alternative logo? Most corporate intranets would not look very professional with a Buck Rogers character as the logo, I'm afraid, so the first thing most people do is probably to replace it... This is not an issue for Internet sites of course, and I do realise that the logo has been around a long time.

See CustomisableWebLogos -- MartinCleaver - 21 Jan 2002

Also, while we are changing this, can we please put in a reference to a CSS stylesheet pointed to by a TWikiVariable? This would avoid having to hand-edit this reference into the templates. More modular templates would be great too, to simplify modifications, but perhaps that's too complex a feature to be done soon.

-- RichardDonkin - 15 Jan 2002

Looking at this again, If I was to arrange the objects in the most logical way I think it would be like this, with the web information as the top line, the contents of the web the second, and the current topic info the last. Visually however I think I prefer my first 2. I would be interested in taking a step back and looking at the whole visual side if no one has taken on this role already.

Note: It took me a while to track down how to display the above correctly in Internet Explorer, Mozilla and Netscape 4.x. The trick is to add "style="display: block;" to the image tag for the corner graphics. Otherwise Mozilla displays extra space around the corner graphic and it does not fit together correctly.

-- AdrianLynch - 17 Jan 2002

I like AdrianLynch design, because IMO it is in logical layers: top level has info about webs: what web is current, what other webs are available. Below that, menu for current Web. Below that, current topic in large font. Nice and concise. I found myself manually entering topic names on start of each topic in our TWiki, to have it where it feels right: as a header on top left corner, below menu, where TITLE should be.

One small suggestion for third (grey) layer: because most people tend to read from left to right, why not to put topic name on left? And then, to continue "menu" pattern: after topic name please put menu for the topic: EDIT, ATTACH, PRINT and MORE links (the most often used)?

My experience suggests that users feel intimidated by menus with too many complex options. They tend to percieve "many options in menu" as "program is too complex, for geeks only". They did not want to see menu options what they do not know how to use. So I propose to "hide" other geeky technical info, like Location, Ref-by, Diff etc. on the footer (with another copy of links to EDIT, ATTACH, PRINT and MORE). This might be one of the reasons of success of TigerSkin: menu is simple.

Yeah, I can just swith to TigerSkin... So just my 0.02 about RoundEdge skin.

-- PeterMasiar - 18 Jan 2002

WebForm
TopicClassification	FeatureBrainstorming

Attachments

Topic attachments
I	Attachment	History	Action	Size	Date	Who	Comment
gif	round_cccccc_ul.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-17 - 09:18	UnknownUser
gif	round_cccccc_ur.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-17 - 09:18	UnknownUser
gif	round_dl.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-12 - 20:29	PeterThoeny	Round edge - down left
gif	round_dr.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-12 - 20:28	PeterThoeny	Round edge - down right
gif	round_ul.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-12 - 20:29	PeterThoeny	Round edge - upper left
gif	round_ur.gif	r1	manage	0.1 K	2002-01-12 - 20:29	PeterThoeny	Round edge - upper right
gif	wikiHome.gif	r1	manage	2.6 K	2002-01-12 - 20:28	PeterThoeny	TWiki logo, transparent background

Topic revision: r12 - 2002-08-25 - PeterThoeny

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