FM-9: some really hard things to digest

[Klaus Daube]

Dear all,

Since I have noticed that Adobe _is_ watching this list and responding 
to user complaints much more than some years before, i take the courage 
to complain about some items in the new interface. I'm a Frame user 
since version 3 and have provided some useful things to the community.

The CS4 user interface has its merits (more flexibility, definable 
workspace etc), but it also has its drawbacks, because IMHO it is 
'overdesigned'. You may see my personal notes about some details in FM-
9 at http://daube.ch/z_temp/fm9-details.pdf
You may also compare my rants with Jakob Niesen's Ten Usability 
Heuristics at http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html 
in particular Visibility of system status; Recognition rather than 
recall.

1) Elements of the UI can not easily be recognised because everything 
is gray as November.
   I need to mouse around to find the active areas. In some instances 
the difference between
   an active area and an information/label ist nil. Since buttons are 
coloured only in
   hovered state, it is difficult to find functions on the large screen 
- especially if
   the arrangement in different workspaces is not the same.

<rant>
Graphic artist seem to have a preference for black. Just look at 
Adobe's brochures. All seven graphic artist I know personally here in 
Switzerland wear black - the same as bankers...
</rant>

2) I'm working with more than just FM open at a time. Switching back to 
FM does not indicate
   in any form whether the window is activated or not! There is no 
difference between an
   active or inactive FM window. Oh, yes, the cursor blinks - but find 
an I-beam on a 30"
   screen immediately! And sometimes there is no I-beam at all.

3) Font size in dialogs is meager. It is still 8pt (as defined in the 
various resource
   files. This size is far to small for the now large screens with high 
resolution. One
   takes a little more distance to the screens if it gets larger... The 
standard UI font
   on Windows (MS Sans Serif) makes it often difficult to distinguish 
characters 1Iil, 5S,
   2Z, rnm etc. The interface does not honour the Windows setting for 
"Large Fonts"
   
4) The application window has no title at all. Hence the full path of 
an open document
   can not be displayed anywhere. It can not be determined whether I'm 
working on a local
   file or one a copy from the network. Frequenctly I must work on 
files which have the 
   same file name on different paths. How to distinguish? I can find 
the full path only
   in the bottom pod, Insets. And what, if the file has no insets and 
no pictures?

BTW my dictionary says for pod: seed pouch, seed case produce by some 
plants; fuel container in an airplane; herd of whales; group of birds.

I strongly hope that these flaws are not the result of concrete-set 
properties of the CS4-UI.
Klaus Daube 

 
http://mymemo.ch und nie mehr einen Gedanken oder Termin verpassen.
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