|
|
|
|
|
|
by patio11
6182 days ago
|
|
|
Don't start users with a blank sheet of paper. Give them some indication as to what to do next -- for example, starting them off with an in-progress document or giving explicit "Click this, click this, click this" direction on the sidebar. If you're worried about screwing up their work flow you can use heuristics to figure if they're still newbies and, if so, give them the prompting. (My online app figures you're a newbie until you save your first document, and continues prompting appropriately. Five lines of Rails code plus the template, doubles the percentage of users who successfully save a card.) Can you figure out a way to do live preview prior to hitting the Apply button? I know, having done it, that it is NO FUN whatsoever to code, but it is a HUGE win in terms of usability. Users are spoiled by years of using MS Word which gives instant visual feedback for every action -- you should try to be more like Word. You might consider a drag&drop metaphor for putting elements on the page. At present you click a button and they get thrown into the top left corner, which might cause them to cover an element already there and will always require repositioning. This is friction, consider eliminating it. |
|
|
[I have edited the following paragraph a few times revising my understanding of the definition of live-preview as I go along] With regards to the live preview: by live-preview do you mean editing the text in rich-text editor fashion within the actual page? Or, just applying attributes as they are changed in the attribute editor without the user having to click the "Apply" button? The former would be hard I guess. The latter should be easy.
Regarding element placement, it can be confusing right now. You might be scrolled down all the way, add a text field and not even notice because it's placed in the top-left corner. Drag and drop would be the way to go.
Thanks, these are subtle yet crucual points you're making - your experience is invaluable.