Bookends is so wonderfully feature complete that I'm wondering whether some aspects of the UI could be updated to conform more fully to Mac OS X app conventions:
1) Smart folders would have gear symbols on them, Ã la Mail, NetNewsWire, and Journler
2) Smart and fixed groups would have "losenges" showing the number of references in each one
3) Bookends would have a configurable toolbar
4) When Bookends is in the foregound, the striped background would be replaced by a gray gradient like other Tiger-only apps
What do you all think?
UI
UI infelicities in Bookends 10
Others have cited a few infelicities in the revamped UI of Bookends 10. I imagine thatt these will soon be fixed/tweaked; Jon has shown in the past that he's interested/willing to make changes to the UI as a version matures. But I did find some of the changes a bit jarring.
My preference always is for minimalism and regular/consistent negative spaces, alignments of fields, etc. I think that the following elements of the new UI need reworking:
- elements of the header field at the top of the list view (my preferred view) seem irregularly-spaced: "showing xxxx of xxxx references" is too pushed up against the right edge of the Search field. I'll bet that the layout of this field depends on the number (xxxx) of refs, but with 7000 refs, well, it looks out of balance. These items need to be moved so that they do not collide so easily.
- There is too much empty space beneath the "Showing xxxx of xxxx references" and Search field -- or, rather, the popup and the fields look (to me) misaligned, creating too much empty space along the bottom of the header field, and too little at the top. This could be fixed by repositioning the text downward to optically center all the items in the header.
- The selection method of the Formatted/Attachments icons at the bottom right of the list view seems odd to me: reversing the color of the entire buttons makes for an unappealing blot in the window. Maybe a more subtle or smaller area of reverse color would be better...? Say, a reverse icon the size of the little document icon, not its surrounding area?
- When I view the List view in "Formatted" layout, then resize the Formatted field at the bottom of the view -- its default size is too big, I find -- then close the app, when it reopens, the previous custom size of the Formatted field is not retained.
- I can figure out no way to hide the fields, icons, and arrows at the top of an individual reference window. Didn't there used to be a way to hide that stuff? It's of no use to me -- I never use the icons, always use the menus, and find them distracting, even cluttering.
- I understand that some users have clamored for "Ratings" arrows. I have a prejudice against them, believing that they have no real utility in a bibliographic database program. I wish I could hide the field. And it doesn't seem to work in one way: if you click on the first star (as I did out of curiosity), you turn it on, but can't click again to turn it off. So: 1 star is the minimal rating?
- Overall, I find the new layout of fields of the reference window an improvement, though I agree with others that the loss of the Keywords field in default view is very regrettable. It is much more useful to me than the Notes field, which I think of as a more secondary function of Bookends. I would recommend putting the Keywords field in the current position of Notes, and have Notes be made available by clicking on a button to the right of "Main" (at the top of the ref window -- so, only two such buttons, "Main" and "Keyword")
TH
My preference always is for minimalism and regular/consistent negative spaces, alignments of fields, etc. I think that the following elements of the new UI need reworking:
- elements of the header field at the top of the list view (my preferred view) seem irregularly-spaced: "showing xxxx of xxxx references" is too pushed up against the right edge of the Search field. I'll bet that the layout of this field depends on the number (xxxx) of refs, but with 7000 refs, well, it looks out of balance. These items need to be moved so that they do not collide so easily.
- There is too much empty space beneath the "Showing xxxx of xxxx references" and Search field -- or, rather, the popup and the fields look (to me) misaligned, creating too much empty space along the bottom of the header field, and too little at the top. This could be fixed by repositioning the text downward to optically center all the items in the header.
- The selection method of the Formatted/Attachments icons at the bottom right of the list view seems odd to me: reversing the color of the entire buttons makes for an unappealing blot in the window. Maybe a more subtle or smaller area of reverse color would be better...? Say, a reverse icon the size of the little document icon, not its surrounding area?
- When I view the List view in "Formatted" layout, then resize the Formatted field at the bottom of the view -- its default size is too big, I find -- then close the app, when it reopens, the previous custom size of the Formatted field is not retained.
- I can figure out no way to hide the fields, icons, and arrows at the top of an individual reference window. Didn't there used to be a way to hide that stuff? It's of no use to me -- I never use the icons, always use the menus, and find them distracting, even cluttering.
- I understand that some users have clamored for "Ratings" arrows. I have a prejudice against them, believing that they have no real utility in a bibliographic database program. I wish I could hide the field. And it doesn't seem to work in one way: if you click on the first star (as I did out of curiosity), you turn it on, but can't click again to turn it off. So: 1 star is the minimal rating?
- Overall, I find the new layout of fields of the reference window an improvement, though I agree with others that the loss of the Keywords field in default view is very regrettable. It is much more useful to me than the Notes field, which I think of as a more secondary function of Bookends. I would recommend putting the Keywords field in the current position of Notes, and have Notes be made available by clicking on a button to the right of "Main" (at the top of the ref window -- so, only two such buttons, "Main" and "Keyword")
TH
Hi,
I'll just comment on a few of these now:
1. The showing xxx... isn't pushed too close to the Search field -- the Search field moves with the right border of the window. If you think it's too close, widen the window.
2. The size of the formatted pane should be retained -- I'll take care of that.
3. You can't hide the toolbar. Maybe in the future...
4. Rating work they work in every other app (a la iTunes -- click to the left of the first star to set it to unrated).
5. I think you mean two tabs: Main and Notes. What the post-release discussion has revealed is that there is no right answer and you can't please everybody. So it will stay the way it is until the dust settles and people have used it for a while. Then it will be revisited.
Jon
Sonny Software
I'll just comment on a few of these now:
1. The showing xxx... isn't pushed too close to the Search field -- the Search field moves with the right border of the window. If you think it's too close, widen the window.
2. The size of the formatted pane should be retained -- I'll take care of that.
3. You can't hide the toolbar. Maybe in the future...
4. Rating work they work in every other app (a la iTunes -- click to the left of the first star to set it to unrated).
5. I think you mean two tabs: Main and Notes. What the post-release discussion has revealed is that there is no right answer and you can't please everybody. So it will stay the way it is until the dust settles and people have used it for a while. Then it will be revisited.
Jon
Sonny Software