I'm working on a document-editing application using CKEditor, where the user can open multiple documents side-by-side in a pair of editor instances.
Most of the time, the user will be editing two different documents, but it's also possible that the two editor instances might contain different views of the same document. That makes things tricky, since I'd like to changes in one editor instance to be immediately reflected in the other instance.
Without hacking the CKEditor core, is something like that possible?
If not, would it be possible to write a plugin that would provide that kind of functionality?
What about if I was willing to get into the core code and hack around a bit? How difficult would it be?
This is a very similar case to a collaborative editing like Google Docs allows. The only differences are that you won't need to synchronize this via network and that it's very unlikely (if not impossible) that the same documents will be modified by two users at the same time. This makes things simpler... a little bit.
A year ago me and my colleague (we are both CKEditor core devs) took part in Node.JS Knockout and our plan was to create a collaborative editor based on CKEditor. It was only 48h, so the result is not impressive, but it worked. The source code is here.
The main problem you'll have is applying changes from editor A to editor B without breaking a caret position in editor B. Basically, you cannot just take data from editor A and set them in editor B, because everything in editor B will be reset including scroll position and caret. Unless this is not a problem, but I assume it is.
So you would need to:
either find a nice algorithm for extracting changes (like diff, but working on a DOM tree, not an HTML string) made in editor A and an algorithm to apply them to editor B (and this is what we implemented on Node.JS Knockout),
or find a way to guess caret position after resetting data in editor B; for example you can remember the caret context in editor B before setting data and try to find it in data that will be loaded.
Both ways are doable, but the first way will give better results if you'll implement it well. However, if your you don't know enough about DOM and contenteditable, then this task may overwhelm you. In this case I would advise to block possibility of opening one document twice.
If any one has got an explanation for why does flickering occur on a UI (for windows form) when it incorporates more sub controls (like, data grid's, images etc).
Thanks in advance.
Flickering is usually a problem that has to do with intensive graphics operations or custom draws. The best way to solve it is to make the flickering controls double buffered. Since you don't give us much to go by, that would be an obvious first choice. You could also manually invalidate controls triggered by certain events.
Here's an article that should get you started:
Double Buffering Windows Forms
when i use pivot with in the panorama .pivot are used as a gallery view. i want to move pivot when i swipe it .but the problem is this because of both panorama and pivot are the same gesture event so both are they move .
i want swipe only my pivot view .
I would like some sample code or any other suggestion to do this.
so please give me a solution for doing this and
also give me a link where i easily understand this. Thanx in advance
You shouldn't have a Pivot in a Panorama control. End of discussion.
I believe it is achievable, because I've already solved similar issues with having WebBrowser control inside a custom horizontal-scrollable overview container like Pivot/Panorama, but believe me, it is NOT worth it. I've had to dig very deep into the visualstructure of the controls and attach my own manipulation-handlers to their viscera, manually choose which horiz/verti events to pass and which to cancel, and so on. This is not so easy, takes a lot of time, and doesn't guarantee that on the end you will have something behaving in a way you wanted to achieve in the first place. If you are not bound by some contract to preserve the shape of the UI, please, drop the idea and redesign your UI, just to save on your sanity and nerves.
But, if you are already insane or really want to dig where noone should, start on analysing your UI as a two rectangles: large pano and small pivo, and think which part should behave how on different possible touches/h-v swipes/h-v pans/pinches/so on. Write it down just to for reference, or soon you will probably start making small mistakes that will interfere with your understaning of the flow of the events.
I've checked the version I have, and "my" Panorama uses internally the UIElement.ManipulationXXXX events. In that case:
Display visualtrees of your UI and try attaching manipulation-events to every control. In those events, write/log which control's which handler was invoked. Then make some swipe/scroll on your APP and observe events. Analyze how they were bubbling and try cancelling (e.Handled=true) the manipulation-completed and/or manipulation-delta events somewhere between pivot and panorama. Your goal is to have the panorama see that e.Handled=true, while your pivot must see e.Handled=false. Your Pivot will probably see the event sooner than the Pano, so that point should be relatively easy.
If it fails to work, then you should check your version of the Pano, and check how it detects movements. If, for example, it uses the GestureListener - try the same trick with it. Etc.
And remember, you can always make your own horizontal-overwiew-container that will look like Pano, behave like Pano, and that will work with Pivo better - because it will be your code and you will tell it what and when to move. if you want to go this way, start on google and check all the preliminary Panorama previews that random people have published before that control was published by MS.
I'm rebuilding a language selection interface for a multi-national website, and I'm beginning to think it might be better for usability to use a simple form drop down rather than the custom JavaScript drop down menu that they're currently using. Am I way off base here, or should I go with my instinct? What do you think?
Simple drop down has its advantages. When you let the browser decide what to do, instead of forcing it to do what you want via JS, then browsers for unique circumstances (such as mobile devices) will format the drop down as its native selector.
If the custom js menu provides no additional functionality then definitely go with the basic select menu. However, if there's a good reason to use the custom menu, consider implementing it in a way that uses progressive enhancement so you can be sure it provides the basic functionality for everyone and adds features for browsers that can support it.
Any user who reaches the page for setting languages, comes with a specific aim in mind. He already knows what language he wants to set here (just as in most forms people know what they want to fill in for their birth date).
For this reason, I would recommend a text box with autocomplete functionality. Here are the advantages:
a text-box with a type-ahead works much better than a dropdown in most cases when the user knows what his options are
a dropdown with searching for "R" functionality doesn't always work the same way for all browsers, and not all browsers implement searching for "RUS...." and beyond.
from a purely is-this-usable standpoint, the type-ahead will prove to be far more useful over time.
I wouldn't use a drop down for countries - they are cumbersome to use when the number of items are large (https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/31738/what-is-the-maximum-recommended-number-of-item-to-put-in-a-drop-down-list).
The "start typing a letter" to jump directly to say Russia when pressing R is a great feature in drop down lists - although I suspect that this is a power user feature - one that a lot of users will be unaware of (basically because it's a hidden feature).
Check out this solution instead -
http://uxdesign.smashingmagazine.com/2011/11/10/redesigning-the-country-selector/
Cheers
Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers.
Want to improve this question? Update the question so it's on-topic for Stack Overflow.
Closed 12 years ago.
Improve this question
I'm writing an internal-tools webapp; one of the central pages in this tool has a whole bunch of related commands the user can execute by clicking one of a number of buttons on the page, like this:
toolbar http://img709.imageshack.us/img709/1928/commands.png
Ideally, all of the buttons would fit on one line. Ordinarily I'd do this by changing each widget from a button with a (sometimes long) text label to a simple, compact icon - e.g.
button labelled "Save" http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/773/saver.png
could be replaced by a familiar disk icon:
Unfortunately, I don't think I can do this for every button on this particular page. Some of the command buttons just don't have good visual analogs - "VDS List". Or, if I needed to add another button in the future for some other kind of list, I'd need two icons that both communicate "list-ness" and which list. So, I'm still considering this option, but I don't love it.
So it's come time for me to add yet another button to this section (don't you love internal tools?). There's not enough room on that single line to fit the new button. Aside from the icon solution I already mentioned, what would be a good* way to simplify/declutter/reduce or otherwise improve this UI?
*As per Jakob Nielsen's article, I'd like to think that a dropdown menu is not the solution.
Edit: I'm not looking for input about the icon idea. I'm looking for other solutions. Sorry my example disk icon was a small one; it was just an example. I'm showing a bigger one now to hopefully be more clear.
I would add a More Link Like Google does.
See the Top Bar of Google with WeB Images Map More >>
To this more >> drop down you can add logic to add button less frequently used by user or something like that.
If you read Jef (and Aza) Raskin, you'll probably realize that icons are also not a good solution – both were pretty vocal in their dislike for them (with very few notable exceptions). For a start they're even harder to hit than tiny buttons, then their symbols can be confusing, culture-dependent and misleading. We're already good at reading text, parsing and interpreting icons is often slower.
In any case, that button bar looks like it accommodates pretty much anyone and their dog who might be using that product. You might have had some specific scenarios in mind when creating it that should be easy to do and are important. Most likely not all buttons are needed at once for such a task to complete.
Another thing is that maybe not all buttons are even useful at any single state of the application. Can you maybe branch into different sets of buttons, depending on the state. That's only possible however, if each state has clearly defined what actions can be taken. If all buttons are equally pressable regardless of state this won't do anything.
Grouping commands according to related functionality might also be an option. This doesn't have to be done with menu-like idioms, you can also put them into containers with different background color or even color the buttons themselves (just keep in mind color blindness, though). Depending on how related those individual functions are this can be a good way of speeding up interaction. It might requier some training for users to know what the colors refer to but for an in-house tool that's only used by people you know (instead of by arbitrary random ones [which is a problem Microsoft faces quite prominently]) this should pose not much of a problem.
What if you use icons and text?
For the commonly understood commands - use just an icon (like the save)
For the uncommon commands use an Icon + the text.
If you put a border around the button as a whole it should tie the icons / text together nicely and show it's still a button. You could also do some hover effects.
Since you can't do a dropdown menu (or similar techniques like clicking a button to generate a secondary menu). The best I can think of is what Prescott did or showing an area of buttons that are grouped in such a way to make it easy for the user to know which section their button should be in.
I would start by changing some of the longer labels. At a minimum, "Application Loading" could be abbreviated "App Loading." What's another (shorter) way to say "Quick File Transfer"?
You could also group the buttons into tabs (i.e. make it a ribbon). That might work particularly well if different classes of users tend to use different, non-overlapping sets of buttons.
Numerous options:
Group and labeling. Any time you have more than eight commands, you should divide the menu items into semantic groups of about four to help the user scan for the command they want. Labeling the groups also helps the scan and can make the menu more compact. For example, Instead of VDS Ping and VDS List, Have a group labeled “VDS” with “Ping” and “List” menu items. You’ve one less word to fit in (two if you put the label above it’s associated menu items when using a horizontal orientation).
Pulldown menus. Nielsen is correct about avoiding the use of a dropdown menu for making commands. However, he’s clearly in favor of pulldown menus which look and behave like a menubar in a thick client app (Nielsen calls them “command” and “navigation” menus). I think you’ll find that there are several Javascript pulldown menus out there now, unlike back in 2000 when Nielsen wrote his post. You can fit 100s of commands in a menubar.
Sidebar menu. Arraying the menu items vertically and you should be able to fit 20 or more commands and you won’t have to shorten any command names to something user might not understand. If that’s not enough, consider a “menu bank” than combines the benefits of sidebar menu with the capacity of a pulldown menu.
Ribbon. If your commands fit into discrete tasks, where the user tends to stick to one task for a while, you can arrange the buttons on a tab control, with one sheet per task.
Command Overloading. Represent your data objects as selectable entities in your window and change your commands into more general operations, like Drill-down, Create, Copy, Move, Delete, and Link, that can be applied to various different classes of objects, thereby reducing your total number of commands. The user can select one or more data objects then select the desired command to act on them.
Work Area Attributes. Some of your commands may not be commands by settings or attributes. Remove them from the menu and represent them as data objects in the work area of the page (or another page, if they are rarely used) using controls like radio buttons, dropdown lists, and check boxes. This has the added benefit clearly showing the user the current setting as well as providing a means to change it.
Variants. For an internal app, you probably have formal roles and responsibilities that vary by work position. Include the user’s position in your model, and dynamically hide commands (and other controls and pages) that aren't relevant to that position.
What about a combobox and a Confirm button?
Or a simple dropdown menu?
Add a "Tools" or "Actions" menu bar, and stick rightmost 4 commands (or more) into the menu.
Would it be possible to implement a "most used" or "preferred" set of buttons (preferably for the user, but globally if necessary) and button to take you to the rest of the items if you need one of those?
You could group them (like the two 'vds' buttons) behind a single button that, when clicked pops a context menu with the individual icons.
It truly seems like what you're developing is a administration console which happens to present its UI through a web page, rather than something which I'd quantify as a web app. As such, especially given your statement that this is an internal use application, Jakob Nielson's advice regarding <select> tags being poor design need not apply.
For this particular set of assumptions, I think the better option is to imitate a system menu setup using one of the many CSS-based menuing designs possible.
Icons are terrible from a user experience stand point. A picture of a Floppy Disk doesn't un-equivocally mean SAVE. It means something to do with a Floppy Disk. A Floppy really, its 2010, SAVE on a web app means save to the server, how does a Floppy Disk even compute?
Here is an application that has had the same extremely usable interface for 10 years! And hardly any images for buttons, and it is one of the most productive applications in its category.
You know what ICONS stand for I ncomprehesible C ryptic O bfucsated N onsense S ymbol!
Also how do you internationalize an icon?