FM grey GUI [WAS: Windows 7 - Snap]

[Stuart Rogers]

On 03/02/2011 10:04 AM, mkopen wrote:

  the new grey Stalin gothic, I mean, Adobe GUI

<rant>

Bang on, Mike.  I'm also addressing this message to Kapil Verma, who was 
recently introduced as FM's product manager.  The low-contrast, 
monochrome GUI in FM 9 is not just butt-ugly, it's HARD TO USE.  It GETS 
IN THE WAY. It PREVENTS ME FROM EASILY ACHIEVING MY GOALS.

There may be a valid argument for low-contrast grey interfaces in 
programs like Illustrator and Photoshop, where the user's perception of 
colours in the working document could be adversely influenced by colours 
and contrasts in the GUI.  But FM is NOT a graphics design program.  The 
precaution of eliminating colour and contrast in the GUI, if that's what 
it is, is misplaced, unjustified, and highly counterproductive.

Or if it's a marketing decision, originating in the "imperative" that 
Adobe products must all look the same to protect "the brand," remember 
that Henry Ford's user-defying mantra, "Any customer can have a car 
painted any color that he wants so long as it is black" has been 
discredited as a marketing strategy for an awfully long time.

I strongly recommend, Kapil, that you call together the graphic 
designers (and marketing "branders") who have obviously had overwhelming 
influence on this GUI, thank them for their efforts, and politely show 
them the door.  Then get some USER INTERACTION experts and USABILITY 
experts on board and set them to undoing the damage that the 
artsy/marketsy folks have inflicted.

The world (of technical writing) would be a better place.

</rant>

Thanks,

-- 
Stuart Rogers
Technical Communicator
Phoenix Geophysics Limited
3781 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 3
Toronto, ON, Canada  M1W 3K5
+1 (416) 491-7340 x 325

http://www.phoenix-geophysics.com