5 ms·

Don't worry I won't take it the wrong way. I am looking for criticism, suggestions and feedback. This was a personal project and a tool I kinda build for mysel

by codez 13y ago

Don't worry I won't take it the wrong way. I am looking for criticism, suggestions and feedback. This was a personal project and a tool I kinda build for myself but then people showed some interest in it and made little suggestions here and there but it has never had a wider audience which is why it's here. I will certainly look into that book for an xmas gift for myself :) 1. if I load the default config as standard, do you think that that is enough? or should there be some modal still introducing it in some way? 2. how would you tackle this? I have it in the menu as well but I wanted the ability to add a card to a particular column without using dropdowns etc. hence the icon on the column. 3. another user has suggested scrapping the menu altogether and I think this is something I will do and move to icons in the header. 4.Wow, thanks for pointing that out. This may be a bug with twitter bootstrap then as I am using their modal as I didn't want to spend time writing my own for a first iteration. 5.Cool, I will take a look at them, I haven't been too sure on save options. The initial idea was that developers wanted to save something they could then send to a PM who could load the same thing make changes and maybe send back. 6. There is a confirmation if the column is not empty, you should be asked if you wish to do so and that all cards will be lost. Yeah it was built as a personal thing, I was using post it notes a lot and then I changed desk and had no post it notes or I would lost a post it with a load of things on, simple things like hex colors for some css or ring this person and it kinda went from there. I really appreciate the feedback so thank you very much for your time to give me it and thanks for the link to the book to, I will certainly look at checking that out. Thanks again!

alistairjcbrown 13y ago
As many other have said, this looks similar to Trello. It may be worth looking into how they have their UI set up. Noticeable differences - In trello, the button which will action something is located close to where you would expect the result. eg. The new card functionality is at the bottom of the column, the new column functionality is in the top right. Further "more advanced" functionality is hidden in drop down menus for which the indicator appears on hover.
- codez 13y ago
  hey alistairjcbrown! Thanks for the feedback!, it's much appreciated. I am certainly going to take a look into this, many people have mentioned trello. Thanks again!
  - mercer 13y ago
    I use quite a few web apps and desktop apps in this space, and have experimented with many more. I find Trello one of the most amazing apps I've used, both in it's general design and in the little details. Especially the little details. My expectations of web apps are generally not so high, so when, for example, trello remembers my input when I accidentally close something, it's a surprise. The most recent discovery I made was that when you hover over a card and press the copy keyboard shortcut, it copies the card. Something I don't use much, but comes in handy every once in a while. I think studying Trello's functionality would be great inspiration to improve your tool!
    - codez 13y ago
      hey mercer! Thanks for your insight, I will certainly look into taking on board a lot of peoples ideas and insights. Thanks again!
untothebreach 13y ago
> 5.Cool, I will take a look at them, I haven't been too sure on save options. The initial idea was that developers wanted to save something they could then send to a PM who could load the same thing make changes and maybe send back. To me (and I am no usability expert so, ya know, 'grain of salt' and all that), this sounds more like an "Export" operation than a "Save" operation. I agree with the parent that localStorage or IndexedDB would be good, and combining one of them with auto-save would be even better. Perhaps the 'Save' button in the menu could then be changed to 'Export' or something? EDIT: Also, the use of localStorage could make this 'todo' from the README partly obsolete: > online persistence if there was demand. this does however mean accounts which isn't cool but maybe the notion of guest accounts and persistent accounts whereby multiple boards could be saved. LocalStorage wouldn't enable a user to get their boards from anywhere, but could help, as the parent says, with the 'oops i closed my browser' case.
- codez 13y ago
  hey untothebreach! Yeah export actually sounds much more fitting and the correct wording. localStorage is certainly something I am going to be looking into to add to this. Another poster had suggested the available save APIs from say google drive, what do you think of that approach? Thanks again for the feedback!
  - untothebreach 13y ago
    I like the idea of Google drive...it would also help solve the problem of Accounts if a user could sync their data through their GDrive or Dropbox or something... Anyway, I have forked the repo. Can't work on it now (at work) but I will try to play around with it this week and might be sending you a pull request or two.
    - codez 13y ago
      Yeah I do like the idea, to me it is better than having some database for it or the likes. Going to compile an issue list of what's come up in the feedback and start looking into making those changes. Thanks again for your feedback!
erre 13y ago
I'm not the person you're replying to, but there are my comments. 1. Skip any modals. First time users don't care about loading configuration, and current users don't care about it that often that it merits such prominent placing. Have sensible defaults, and load them automatically. 1a. Sensible defaults are hard to achieve :) Measure user activity and see how people *actually* use the product, and extract your default behaviour from that. 1b. There is already a "load" link at the menu, that's enough for users to load config later. 2. Have you ever used Trello? They serve a similar purpose, and have a nice solution to this: the bottom of a column ("list", in their parlance) is clickable, to create a new card. 3. FWIW, I've grown to expect a small gear on the top-right as being the menu, and end up always clicking there when I'm looking for something I can't immediately find on the main interface. 4. There is no #4 :) 5. You could also check into external services that provide a save api, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Localstorage would be cool, but my usage pattern includes accessing from different devices, and having the data saves somewhere externally accessible is crucial. 6. Undo. Have undo. You can completely forget about confirmation if you have undo. It's not trivial to implement, but man. Have undo :) And congratulations, it's a cool product :) BTW: grandparent, I'll look at that book as well, thanks :) [Edit: formatting]
- codez 13y ago
  her erre, Yeah I noticed I made that mistake too lol. Thanks for the feedback! it's super appreciated as I can take all of this on board. google drive is certainly something that would be very cool to be using. with an undo though, how many done actions would you want to be able to undo?? Because I would store column json as deleted I guess and then retemplate it in at the appropriate position if I can. Thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated!
  - erre 13y ago
    About the undo, try and make things simple. The ability to undo only your very last action will probably account for most people's needs.
    - codez 13y ago
quarterto 13y ago
On #4, you can avoid it by adding data-keyboard="false" data-backdrop="static".
- codez 13y ago
  hey quarterto! Ahh thanks for that! I obviously had overlooked it. Although it looks like I may get rid of the modals altogether and opt for menu actions within the header and loading a default config. What's your opinion on this approach? Thanks again for the feedback!
paulftw 13y ago
Regarding 2. 'add item button is too small' - I'd personally try a large-ish grey plus icon in the middle of a column, that is only visible when that column is hovered.
- codez 13y ago
  hey paulftw! that's a nice idea too. However, do you think it would work in a nice way? if the column is filled with items then you thanks for the feedback! are hovering over an item and the column then you may go to drag but want to add an item and vice versa. i guess this could be tackled with correct behaviour in event listeners. I'd be interested in any more input you have on this behaviour and the opinion of others on this approach. thanks again for the feedback, it's much appreciated!

by codez 13y ago

alistairjcbrown 13y ago

As many other have said, this looks similar to Trello. It may be worth looking into how they have their UI set up. Noticeable differences - In trello, the button which will action something is located close to where you would expect the result. eg. The new card functionality is at the bottom of the column, the new column functionality is in the top right. Further "more advanced" functionality is hidden in drop down menus for which the indicator appears on hover.

codez 13y ago
hey alistairjcbrown! Thanks for the feedback!, it's much appreciated. I am certainly going to take a look into this, many people have mentioned trello. Thanks again!
- mercer 13y ago
  I use quite a few web apps and desktop apps in this space, and have experimented with many more. I find Trello one of the most amazing apps I've used, both in it's general design and in the little details. Especially the little details. My expectations of web apps are generally not so high, so when, for example, trello remembers my input when I accidentally close something, it's a surprise. The most recent discovery I made was that when you hover over a card and press the copy keyboard shortcut, it copies the card. Something I don't use much, but comes in handy every once in a while. I think studying Trello's functionality would be great inspiration to improve your tool!
  - codez 13y ago
    hey mercer! Thanks for your insight, I will certainly look into taking on board a lot of peoples ideas and insights. Thanks again!

untothebreach 13y ago

> 5.Cool, I will take a look at them, I haven't been too sure on save options. The initial idea was that developers wanted to save something they could then send to a PM who could load the same thing make changes and maybe send back. To me (and I am no usability expert so, ya know, 'grain of salt' and all that), this sounds more like an "Export" operation than a "Save" operation. I agree with the parent that localStorage or IndexedDB would be good, and combining one of them with auto-save would be even better. Perhaps the 'Save' button in the menu could then be changed to 'Export' or something? EDIT: Also, the use of localStorage could make this 'todo' from the README partly obsolete: > online persistence if there was demand. this does however mean accounts which isn't cool but maybe the notion of guest accounts and persistent accounts whereby multiple boards could be saved. LocalStorage wouldn't enable a user to get their boards from anywhere, but could help, as the parent says, with the 'oops i closed my browser' case.

codez 13y ago
hey untothebreach! Yeah export actually sounds much more fitting and the correct wording. localStorage is certainly something I am going to be looking into to add to this. Another poster had suggested the available save APIs from say google drive, what do you think of that approach? Thanks again for the feedback!
- untothebreach 13y ago
  I like the idea of Google drive...it would also help solve the problem of Accounts if a user could sync their data through their GDrive or Dropbox or something... Anyway, I have forked the repo. Can't work on it now (at work) but I will try to play around with it this week and might be sending you a pull request or two.
  - codez 13y ago
    Yeah I do like the idea, to me it is better than having some database for it or the likes. Going to compile an issue list of what's come up in the feedback and start looking into making those changes. Thanks again for your feedback!

erre 13y ago

I'm not the person you're replying to, but there are my comments. 1. Skip any modals. First time users don't care about loading configuration, and current users don't care about it that often that it merits such prominent placing. Have sensible defaults, and load them automatically. 1a. Sensible defaults are hard to achieve :) Measure user activity and see how people *actually* use the product, and extract your default behaviour from that. 1b. There is already a "load" link at the menu, that's enough for users to load config later. 2. Have you ever used Trello? They serve a similar purpose, and have a nice solution to this: the bottom of a column ("list", in their parlance) is clickable, to create a new card. 3. FWIW, I've grown to expect a small gear on the top-right as being the menu, and end up always clicking there when I'm looking for something I can't immediately find on the main interface. 4. There is no #4 :) 5. You could also check into external services that provide a save api, such as Google Drive or Dropbox. Localstorage would be cool, but my usage pattern includes accessing from different devices, and having the data saves somewhere externally accessible is crucial. 6. Undo. Have undo. You can completely forget about confirmation if you have undo. It's not trivial to implement, but man. Have undo :) And congratulations, it's a cool product :) BTW: grandparent, I'll look at that book as well, thanks :) [Edit: formatting]

codez 13y ago
her erre, Yeah I noticed I made that mistake too lol. Thanks for the feedback! it's super appreciated as I can take all of this on board. google drive is certainly something that would be very cool to be using. with an undo though, how many done actions would you want to be able to undo?? Because I would store column json as deleted I guess and then retemplate it in at the appropriate position if I can. Thanks again for the feedback, much appreciated!
- erre 13y ago
  About the undo, try and make things simple. The ability to undo only your very last action will probably account for most people's needs.
  - codez 13y ago

quarterto 13y ago

On #4, you can avoid it by adding data-keyboard="false" data-backdrop="static".

codez 13y ago
hey quarterto! Ahh thanks for that! I obviously had overlooked it. Although it looks like I may get rid of the modals altogether and opt for menu actions within the header and loading a default config. What's your opinion on this approach? Thanks again for the feedback!

paulftw 13y ago

Regarding 2. 'add item button is too small' - I'd personally try a large-ish grey plus icon in the middle of a column, that is only visible when that column is hovered.

codez 13y ago
hey paulftw! that's a nice idea too. However, do you think it would work in a nice way? if the column is filled with items then you thanks for the feedback! are hovering over an item and the column then you may go to drag but want to add an item and vice versa. i guess this could be tackled with correct behaviour in event listeners. I'd be interested in any more input you have on this behaviour and the opinion of others on this approach. thanks again for the feedback, it's much appreciated!