When we'll finally see a new UI?

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#1

We’ve read many requests for a new UI. Specifically, this question: Are there any plans for a new Interface (GUI)? is a good account of the situation.

I have to return to this subject because all the arguments in the last post of the -now closed- above thread are very valid and must be SERIOUSLY taken into account.

Although we won’t doubt bjoern-michaelsen’s arguments about the difficulty of the endeavour, it IS CRUCIAL to constantly remember those points, which I can confirm from OUR OWN EXPERIENCE in our non-profit Organization:

“STOP to add and add new functions but just go there > http://pauloup.deviantart.com/gallery/28216273 and try URGENTLY to change your prehistoric UNERGONOMIC very old UI and you will see how fast The Document Fundation will be a REAL alternative to MSO.”

and:

“1) i saw how hard it was for the workers to adapt theirs skills on an UI witch is really NOT ERGONOMIC. 2) i saw their efficiency going down with the actual interface, a very old conception not any more used in any kind of software in present days. 3) the workers are really more efficient with an UI which is beautiful (they are really happy to work with nice tools), simple, without sub - sub - sub… menu option. 4) they can learn a lot faster with a software which has easy and “cool” UI (which is very important for a compagny who want to switch, because “time is important”). 5) May be LibreOffice or OOo have a lot of downloads but I’m SURE that not even 10% of the people who have downloaded LO or OOo are using it.”

So, PLEASE, DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE UI NOW! See at http://pauloup.deviantart.com/gallery/28216273 (with which I am not affiliated in any way), and PLEASE understand that without this change LibreOffice makes our life difficult and unproductive, while, WITH this change, it CAN become the killer project worldwide.

PLEASE, PLEASE, start a UI revision project NOW, and, why not, perhaps start a public fund raising effort for the UI-revision project only. PLEASE!

#2

@ROSt53: Bug fixing is always crucial. Starting a UI-revision project would be a new one, with its own resources, designers, developers, that’s why separate funding is suggested. Current developers should definitely focus on bugs. UI-revision in LO is very important because current UI is UNERGONOMIC

#3

@vojo: See previous comment. Stability (i.e. bug fixing) is of primary concern. BUT without a contemporary, friendly and ergonomic design, users and esp. companies cannot endorse LO! Note the above points, ALL of them confirmed in practice again and again. Both bug fixing and UI cannot wait.

#4

It’s a shame someone has down-voted, when I think it’s clear that WE SHOULD NOT regard bug fixing / UI as either/or fields. BOTH are extremely important. It’s just that UI evolution has been largely neglected.

#5

THE REAL QUESTION IS (as Jaret below has pointed out): Why don’t you immediately start a new, coordinated, well-defined and well-designed project to invite the public/organizations to fund specifically a total LO UI redesign/rebuild aiming at offering the best user experience?
Please reply to this.

#6

@ROSt53: Ask for UI-development funding as suggested and you’ll be able to get the devs you need for it. You are doing a great job. Why not expand it to other important areas? The world puts more hopes than you think to LibrO!

#7

NO ONE TO UPVOTE FOR UI-REDESIGN YET? Even from those who favor the change (and have an adequate karma)?

#8

I hope this thread might help make clearer the point that productivity is NOT only a result of bug-free operation, compatibility and features but of a well-designed UI too, esp. with such software (like LO) which provides the main daily working environment. This truth seems to have been overlooked.

#9

Those Mock-up thing, with left-side menu are good for LO Write, but not good enough for LO Calc.

My wide screen isn’t wide enough to fit my 50+ columns of tables and freeze 3 columns at left. I work everyday from 9 to 5 (mostly to 9 to 7), and most of my work time is using Calc.I wish I had 20:9 screen or wider to fit my Calc’s sheets.

#10

I definitely agree. The LO is in dire need of a UI redesign. I would love to replace MSO with LO but I just cannot since the workflow is just way more complicated in LO. The MSO pivot table is straight forward and so easy to use. The same cannot be said for the LO version. The functionality is great but the UI totally gets in my way…

#11

Ugly design also makes LO such a hard sell to others. I may install it on my friends’ PCs when I service their laptops but they still prefer to go down the “find cracked MSO” path when they see the UI. 80% of them only care for 20% of the features, while dated design is almost universally noticed and complained about almost immediately. Many of them come to pretty negative feelings about LO very quickly.

#12

+1 here
Functionality is fine for most day to day work, User Interface is badly lacking.
Love the mock-ups provided at the top of the page :slight_smile:
If money is the issue, start raising it.
Thanks for a great application though, have been with you since the early days of OpenOffice.

#17

A nice and maybe more functional UI is definitely a good thing. However, when I have the choice of having less bugs and don’t have to learn a new UI, I personally go for less bugs.

MSO came with new UIs and I am forced to work with Outlook 2010. It is quite a change and I am often searching for the right menu or button. Thus coming back to LibO, I rather have less bugs.

#22

It is worth looking at the LO user research results as this indicates the wide range of opinions among users.

Personally, I would welcome a new interface along the lines of the now famous pauloup mock-up. :wink: It seems a shame that UI development and bug-fixing are seen to be “either/or” options, instead of “both/and”.

#23

Thanks for the link to the research results. Very interesting to read!

“both/and” would be very nice but…“either/or” results IMHO from the limited number of devs we have (who do a great job!!) and the very large number of bugs and not full compatibility with MSO we have.

#13

+1000. UI sure must get top priority.

Let us rephrase this question as: “Why don’t you immediately start a new, coordinated, well-defined and well-designed project to invite the public/organizations to fund specifically a total LO UI redesign/rebuild aiming at offering the best user experience?”

Can some representative of The Document Foundation please respond? How soon can you publish such an initiative?

#14

I too believe that a major effort to redesign the UI is anxiously expected and will be welcome all over the world. Just set a funding target, and publicly ask for donations (e.g. using: https://www.paypal.com/webapps/mpp/donations).

You will be amazed by the size of donations. See for example: I don't want donate you, because...

From all input I can get (by many Windows- and Linux-oriented geeks) UI is the most needed part of LO. The need for it has been hugely underestimated.

I agree you should act on it asap.

You could in parallel find some UI experts (in UI design & implementation) to propose design ideas and publish them for the users to vote on the UI design proposals.

Also set very specific hallmarks. No more than 6 months for alpha, 9 mo for beta, a year for final release.

Ideally the UI should be theme-based and modifiable (by experts, of course).

Why such simple actiion were not pushed forward yet?

I cannot accept that The Document Foundation is incapable to prepare and coordinate the UI upgrade project. It must be seen not as a difficult assignment, but rather as an opportunity: to refresh LO, provide momentum, increase user/organization adoption and interest, integrate features in an easily-accessible way, etc.

#15

Could not agree more! It pains me to keep getting TDF’s “we’re releasing another point release fixing N bugs”, “electing board members”, “another feature implemented” RSS posts, when all these news from my POV pale in comparison to the real issue of design (UI, templates, etc) at hand. IMHO TDF buries its head in the sand when it comes to the fact that design-wise LO looks and feels like ‘back to 1995’. Shame to see such a promising OSS project slowly fade into irrelevance.

#16

I work with those using both MSO and LO (writer). It’s the ribbon that people like. It has proved to be well designed, functional, and is the one thing people comment on when choosing MSO.

But this is not really a good enough reason for upgrading the UI. Need a little research maybe to focus on the need. I’d like to see an official forum/pace to bring al the issues and docs and opinions together. To me this is the touchstone whether LO will really really take off.

#18

wouldnt it be more important to get some stability in LO before worrying about UIs. With all the problems on 3.6.x (install issues, file association issues, etc), not sure you would even get a chance to use the new UI if there was one.

To be fair, I had the need to change header behavior on a file using 3.5.6…it went well (much simpler than changing header formats in mid doc for Word)…so well done LO team!!!

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