UI Issues

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the feedback!

> 'Save to filesystem' - Too technical, needs to be something like 'Save to file'
Changed to "Save to File"

> Add keyboard shortcuts for items in Document menu
I've fixed the accelerator keys so alt-T will select this combo box - or do you mean to have underlines on "Text" and "Photo"? Or Ctrl shortcuts?

> Window Size - The window size is too small by default, needs to be larger
Now defaults to 600x400 (can be resized to smaller)

> The frame in which the preview is situated needs to have a border
This is a UI element I am currently struggling with. I want the simple case (a one page scan) to look clean so there is no border. However when you have multiple pages I need to indicate that not all pages are currently visible. If you have good ideas/mockups please help!

> Use icons for the + & - symbols beside the zoom slider
Yes, planning to take them out of Inkscape, low priority bug at the moment.

> The window title should be the same as the menu item name (ie. Simple Scan)
Window title set to "Simple Scan"

> Is there a need for the Save and Print button to be in the menu and in the content area?
I'm thinking I should make it so to the sidebar buttons can be hidden from a preferences dialog - once you know the options it is probably better to use all the window space for the scanned documents and the menus (and their associate shortcuts) for modifying the document. Feedback?

Thanks for being so responsive Robert!

>> Add keyboard shortcuts for items in Document menu
>I've fixed the accelerator keys so alt-T will select this combo box - or do you mean to have underlines on "Text" and >"Photo"? Or Ctrl shortcuts?

For example, open up gedit and in the File menu you have:
New Ctrl+N
Open Ctrl+O

....

What I was trying to say is that simple-scan needs those keyboard shortcuts on the right, like what you have done with the rotate items.

>> The frame in which the preview is situated needs to have a border
>This is a UI element I am currently struggling with. I want the simple case (a one page scan) to look clean so >there is no border. However when you have multiple pages I need to indicate that not all pages are currently >visible. If you have good ideas/mockups please help!

My main reason for having a border is when the page is zoomed in, it just looks strange not to have a border there (see screenshot) I don't know whether you agree. About the multiple pages thing, if there are more page than is currently being viewed, I would have two arrows either side of the side of the DrawingArea, facing outwards. If there is space on the respective arrow's side, then I think it should become sensitive and then if the user clicked this, it would then scroll towards this direction.

>> Is there a need for the Save and Print button to be in the menu and in the content area?
>I'm thinking I should make it so to the sidebar buttons can be hidden from a preferences dialog - once you know >the options it is probably better to use all the window space for the scanned documents and the menus (and their >associate shortcuts) for modifying the document. Feedback?

Maybe make them a toolbar? And then have the ability to have that hidden from the view menu?

I have attached a patch which contains some of my ideas.

First of all I have removed all the button from the left and made them into a toolbar. The checkitem (replace document) has also been removed. I think when a user selects 'scan' a dialog should appear asking if they want to overwrite or not. A view menu has also been added to control the toolbar's visibility

I have added the zoom icons to the zoom slider and added the continuous scan menuitem.

Finally I have put the image preview in a frame to make it have a border.

Some of these changes need the C code to go with it, however since I am a python programmer, I shall leave that to you Robert :-)

Hi Andrew,

Sorry for the delay,

I've attached a screenshot of what the changes make the UI look like; there are some issue there I am trying to avoid. I am about to release 0.7.0 which has all the major functionality and plan to have the UI finalized by 0.8.

Hi Robert,

1) What exactly does continuous scan do?

2) Double border - I don't think this is so much of a problem as so far as if you then zoom in, there is only one border and if you had multiple pages it would also look different. I don't think can be avoided

3) No ideas at the moment, are there any new features we could put in there?

I've been brainstorming about this, and I came up with a mockup that removes the empty space, and changes a few other things. I moved the drop down options (Source and Type) to the top of the main screen, shortened their names, and those of some toolbar items.

If you don't like it, then other ideas: what about moving Source and Type to a Preferences menu, and moving the Zoom option to the View menu, leaving the document the entire main screen (minus menus and toolbar?).

Thought of a third option, this time moving the document options in line with the zoom option, which is now a drop down menu (same as the zoom in evince and gimp). This gives us a little more vertical space.

Continuous scan is for scanners equipped with automatic document feeders, i.e. you load a pile of paper then press continuous scan to scan them all.

Clarke, thanks for the ideas, I've attached a screenshot of 0.7 as it includes page navigation buttons and the "replace existing pages" checkbutton (the zoom slider is temporarily removed but will be reinstated in 0.8). I'm not sure how to fit this sort of functionality into a standard toolbar (I guess this is where a ribbon would work better).

I'm thinking continuous scan should probably be called "Scan all" or something

I think Clarke's first mockup (http://launchpadlibrarian.net/36515492/UI_proposal.png) is the best. It keeps the visual and easy-to-use slider and uses space very efficiently. I think we could just add the left and right buttons on the left at the same height at the slider. The replace existing pages button should be replaced with a dialog when a person tries to scan when there is already a document scanned that and alert like the one attached (it is just a screenshot from gedit, maybe change some of the words to be more suited to simple-scan?

I like both Clarke's mockups, too; the only thing I'd change from the last one is the zoom, I personally prefer a slider. And one cool thing about the 0.7 version is that the preview has no more the double border!
Great work!

I think http://launchpadlibrarian.net/36515492/UI_proposal.png is the most intuitive one. I agree that 'continuous' should be called 'Scan All' (which kind of implies that 'Scan' should be renamed 'Scan Single' or something like that).

Alternatively how about a single 'Scan' button and a dropdown somewhere (bottom left?) that has "Scan current page | Scan all pages"

@Robert Ancell ,
Since the continuous scan isnt a option available to all users , we could move it to the menubar[Document menu] and keep it as a checkbox option rather than displaying it in the toolbar.
- That option is a bit confusing if the user doesnt know what it means.
- Also keeping it as a checkbox would be helpful to users who always use the continuous option.

The source option doesnt seem to be something which will constantly change nor require constant user interaction .
It could also be moved to the Document menu and the "Source" as a menu with submenu listing all the sources , each of which has a radio button , if user has multiple sources , he could just toggle the buttons.

Spinner could be helpful during the scanning process , indicating the scan is in progress .

Regarding the page arrows for the continuous scan, Is it possible to not display the arrows when the continuous scan option is not enabled?

Attaching a mockup.

I think scrollbars are a more conventional way of showing and moving between multiple pages.

I agree with holloway fully and partially with mac_v.

Use the scrollbar when there are multiple scanned documents. The arrows are a bad call since if you use continuous scan there could be 10s or even 100s of scans and it's a chore to sift through them with arrows.

I like your layout more and most people are going to be familiar with it since all the software that I used for scanning has a similar one.

You should put the continuous option in the menu and as a checkbox as mac_v suggested.

The "Save to file" should probably default to PDF since it's the de facto standard. To simplify it perhaps you could use the same button as Banshee does for it's Next/Shuffle command. That way you could have "Save to X" where X would change depending on what the user choose. I'll post a rough mockup of the button.

Under the preview window (or above it, whatever looks best) it should have a text that show at what page the user is looking and how many there. Something like "Page 3 of 26" etc.
Another good thing that somebody here suggested is the rotate buttons. It would be a boon since the scanner usually doesn't inform you what is the correct orientation before scanning.

Also change the "Scan Source:" to "Scanner to use:" since it's more informative.

Here is a quick mockup of what I was thinking for the "Save to File/X" button.
You could allow people to create their own presets for more flexibility if there is time.

heh , well obviously I wasnt aware that the continuous scan can do 10s and 1000s of pages too .
In that case using a scrollbar would be better.

>I like your layout more and most people are going to be familiar with it since all the software that I used for scanning has a similar >one.

Just to clarify this. I was referring to the original UI proposal (left buttons, right preview).

As regards to the save to file item, I think there should only by a simple save to file button, and any filetypes should be handled in the save dialog itself, just like any other application.

OK, I think the current simple-scan (0.7.5) has captured most of these issues. Please open bugs with specific UI components if there are any more problems.

Thanks for all the feedback!