I would like to solicit your opinions of great GUI (graphical User
Interface) of programs that you've had exposure to, or even use on a
regular basis. It doesn't have to be CAD but anything that you think
does an exceptional job in presenting an extremely easy-to-use and
well thought-out workflow. For instance, the iPhone, in my opinion, is
a great example of this. Other programs that come to mind, again in my
humble opinion, MOI (Moment of Inspiration), Alias Image Studio,
Bryce3D, iMovie, etc just to name a few.

Thanks

Mark

On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 10:47:41 -0700, mbiasotti@solidworks.com wrote:

Just about anything done by Kai Kruse (Bryce 3D, Photo Soap, the
various Photoshop Plugins and so on). Microsoft should have hired him
to do their Vista interface. Don't even get me started on their
Office 2007 interface (and sadly the new Solidworks one).

SolidWorks 2007 isn't that bad either.

John Layne
www.solidengineering.co.nz

I happen to like the "Pallet Well" that Adobe Photoshop uses.

Is there some reason SolidWorks Corp. can't do something like Ironcad
does with their Tri-Ball UI? I really like it and think others would
as well.

The right mouse button being able to be customized in SolidWorks 2008
is something I will enjoy.

I see very little in SolidWorks 2008 that really excites me. Cretainly
nothing to make it easier to figure out someone else's design intent
by giving the user an easy to use tool that shows a full overview of
how the model was constructed.

I guess the best thing about the new SolidWorks 2008 UI is that
SolidWorks VAR's will probably use it to sell more seats with less
resistance.

The direct benefit of more SolidWorks users is the possibility of
advanced hands on video tutorials being done by users since SolidWorks
Corp. has no real interest in it's users just it's VAR's.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/spend-a-littleo.html#comment-76366100

"Speaking as someone with 14+ years in DCC (Max, Maya, Truespace) the
way Solidworks currently handles colors/textures/materials is truly
horrid (2007)."

Agree.

How about the eyedropper icon in the Properties Manager. It seems to
me to be just a little bit lacking in functionality.

Jon Banquer
San Diego, CA
http://worldcadaccess.typepad.com/blog/2007/07/spend-a-littleo.html#comment-76366100

I am pleasantly surprised to see you ask for peoples opinions about
this Mark - good stuff ;o)
I would like to think that means there is some possibility for a
revisit in the near future and that you are not just asking for your
own interest.
I am perhaps a little more surprised not to see more replies already
given the controversy over the 08 UI changes..
This would seem like a nice opportunity to express preferences rather
than straight rejection of the 'regrettable'.
I am not sure I can really nominate something outstanding but I might
talk a little about things I find frustrating and the reasons I think
that some approaches work better than others..
Its actually quite hard to write a thoughtful reply to this in a short
time..I might break it up into parts..keep tuned in..

There is something I think to be said for not having programmers
prepare the UI unless they are one man bands or very small teams with
a unique vision of what they want to achieve as in the case of MOI...

the iPhone...dont have one myself ,not available here yet and too
pricey for me ...also I admit I am a person who hates cellular
phones ;o)
but ok why is this good? putting aside the Apple golden halo and the
battery issue...
answer: because it works the way you do.
to my mind this is not the same as being intuitive - something I have
already made comments about as being an unuseful pursuit in itself..
Someone definitely spent some time asking fundamental questions of the
nature 'what do I want to do' and then they made the device conform as
best as possible to that using the technology or said 'hey wouldnt it
be cool if' and developed and refined to achieve that it as they went.
Also they didnt rush. They took time to get it right. The big word
QUALITY.
In SW ID terms this would be like a jump forward to subdivision
surfaces so that people have a dynamic entity to work with rather than
construct a surface here loft there cut there...borrow a sketch there
reopen it redo it....
In some ways although it is progressive SW fails to make the big jumps
ahead and gives us noble clunk like 'Deform' ...

ok MOI as an example...
Why do this sit well with people?
answer: because it sets out to work the way you do..its like Rhino
stripped of the Autocad command baggage
If you look at the UI it seems natural and uncluttered..
The tools are immediately to hand and it is apparent what they are for
and they are a reasonable size so as not to be cryptic or need to
pause over tooltips.
The icons dont set out to win art competitions or conform to a
fashionable OS style they are functional and directly representative
of what it does. It has a sketchbook simplicity to it.
It stays with same symbols you see in the working window so your mind
doesnt do a jump just interpreting the icon.
This is what I have said before about SW icons you guys try to do too
much with them in the belief the appearance is important to make a
sale. This product is for technical people.
I dont know about you but I tend to go into another mental zone when I
am creating stuff.
I can imagine whole projects in my minds eye and then sorta translate/
project that into symbols or I am thinking in terms of maths or ...

I've struggled to think of a program that was both powerful and easy to use.
The only one that sprang to mind was when ICQ (the instant messaging
program) first appeared back in the 90's. It offered what was for the time,
amazing functionality that was blindingly obvious to use. It's since been
copied by MSN and Yahoo Messenger.

As for CAD programs, I think SWX is easy to learn but obstructive to use -
particularly for assemblies.
I-DEAS was very easy to learn the basics, but kept many of its more advanced
secrets hidden well away from the casual observer. However, once learned, I
feel it was easy to use.

I don't knwo whether SolidWorks Corp does this sort of thing (I hope so),
but SDRC (who used to be the authors of I-DEAS) carried out a major exercise
a few years ago where they intensively studied how many mouse clicks and
hand movements were required to complete a range of typical CAD design
tasks. They then tweaked the way numerous commands worked to great effect -
no drastic interface changes, just a subtle reworking.

John H

On Aug 28, 10:47 am, mbiaso...@solidworks.com wrote:

User Interfaces are the one thing which is the bane of bad products.
It is easy to cite the bad ones. In hardware they come with 50+keys
like remote controls and typical cell phones, with all the issues.

Once I get used to a particular product, I forget about some of the UI
features, as my mind goes into auto-pilot, but I offer the following.