Very neat. I'm the kind of person who likes having everything laid out before him, i.e. I don't like organization that relies too much on depth. For example, I usually prefer prefixing my file names rather than splitting them into subfolders.
It's a version 0.0.1, so here's my 2 cents: the only thing that really bothers me is the menu. The whole UI is quick and responsive, but this menu opens very slowly. The thing is, I don't think you actually need it. Why hide tools that users will probably interact with a lot? There's so much space in the header, left to the logo. Just put the buttons there and forget about the menu.
You're not the only one I see making this "mistake": not appropriately using the space available, especially when there are only a few elements to show. The greatest misuse I see is dropdowns [1]. On a personal level, I hate them (because, like I said, I prefer having all my options available before my eyes). But on a more general level, dropdowns are often used for a few items only, and remove any sense of hierarchy. They're just hidden lists of frequently-used options, put on the same level of importance.
To give an example related to your app: "add item" is on the same level as "email". But the former is both frequently used and non-penalizing (you can undo it easily), whereas the latter is rarely used and makes you leave the app, which might make the user lose some valuable data.
Hey bbx.
Thanks very much for the feedback. Yeah the menu is a strange one, because I wasn't sure whether people would like something tucked away or something they could see but then having just icons for buttons, do you think that would communicate enough? or is it worth it for people to just have that short learning curve for what the icons do?
This was my first prototype; http://jsfiddle.net/WtGYx/2/
I had icons in the header for that one.
It's really great to have people to discuss this with because obviously UX is important as the goal is to make it as simple and intuitive as possible.
I have to kinda agree on the dropdowns front ha.
Thanks again, really appreciated.
Well, I think the solution is to NOT have something tucked away (like the current menu). You have space in the header, use it! Especially for buttons that will be frequently used.
And don't use icons only. Users went mad when GMail replace text-buttons with icon-buttons. [1] Just use text! Or use text with icons, but not icons only.
It's a version 0.0.1, so here's my 2 cents: the only thing that really bothers me is the menu. The whole UI is quick and responsive, but this menu opens very slowly. The thing is, I don't think you actually need it. Why hide tools that users will probably interact with a lot? There's so much space in the header, left to the logo. Just put the buttons there and forget about the menu.
You're not the only one I see making this "mistake": not appropriately using the space available, especially when there are only a few elements to show. The greatest misuse I see is dropdowns [1]. On a personal level, I hate them (because, like I said, I prefer having all my options available before my eyes). But on a more general level, dropdowns are often used for a few items only, and remove any sense of hierarchy. They're just hidden lists of frequently-used options, put on the same level of importance.
To give an example related to your app: "add item" is on the same level as "email". But the former is both frequently used and non-penalizing (you can undo it easily), whereas the latter is rarely used and makes you leave the app, which might make the user lose some valuable data.
[1]: http://jgthms.com/dont-use-dropdowns-for-a-few-items-only.ht...