[p2pu-dev] UI commentary for new design

Fri Jan 28 18:12:27 UTC 2011

Hello again Maura,

Thanks for sharing your opinion with us. As Becca commented, we're
volunteers for the love of it, and full-time dedication (unfortunately)
isn't possible. I'm the one who told you that these issues "were already
solved" because we had a specific discussion about contrast in the designs a
month ago, and we defined some changes (having the background as #555
instead of #333, for instance). I demoed this alteration in a .PNG file you
can find browsing our old Google Dev Group.

I'd just ask you some patience in this question as Brian Brennan has
finished the HTML/CSS not even a week ago; so, as Stian commented, there are
a lot of improvements to come. I'm a Visual Designer myself and I'd really
love to work more with you on the new version of the site.

[]'s
João

2011/1/28 B. Maura Townsend <jauncourt at gmail.com>

> Unfortunately, this is about the third invitation to participate that
> I've received. :) I am participating, but I think it's getting lost.
>
> https://groups.google.com/d/topic/p2pu-dev/JgsFkDaZIIs/discussion is
> where I wrote about issues with the current site and was invited to
> weigh in on the UI design and accessibility/usability (two different
> but related issues). When I did that though, I got a sort of brush off
> message indicating that what I was saying was seen as "already
> implemented." See comments:
> http://wiki.p2pu.org/w/page/32426155/New+website+design+(after-Techsprint)<http://wiki.p2pu.org/w/page/32426155/New+website+design+%28after-Techsprint%29>
>
> Also, I've been trying to find where to log reviews of design issues,
> or discuss them, but everything so far seems code related, and not at
> all UI related. I can't seem to find any discussion of the UI or look
> & feel. Searching chatlogs and this list (both versions) brings me up
> empty, no matter how I phrase it.
>
> Perhaps part of the problem is that I am not a coder, really, at all.
> I'm a visual designer with human factors experience. That's the POV I
> can bring to this, but it seems there is nowhere to put it.
>
> BMT
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Rebecca Kahn <bekka.kahn at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Hi BMT
> >
> > I'm not really knowledgeable enough to comment on the UI issues you
> raise,
> > but I might be able to give some clarity on your concerns about where to
> > post these ideas and the fact that you've received very little feedback.
> >
> > P2PU is, at the very heart of things, a community built on give-and-take;
> > the vast majority of people are volunteers, and the only way the
> community
> > and the project can survive is because amazing people put in as much time
> > and effort as they can.
> >
> > We do have a small group of committed volunteers working on the UI. But
> they
> > are all volunteers, and doing this in their spare time, out of passion
> for
> > the project. From your mail, I suspect that you might be willing to help
> out
> > in this way as well, and we'd like to welcome you to the community, and
> > thank you for your effort and enthusiasm so far.
> >
> > As a group that is principally volunteer-driven, we've found that the
> > community tend to respond to issues that they feel most strongly about -
> so
> > a small group of people might cluster around a certain issue, offer to
> help
> > out with any fixes or tasks, and generally get things done that way. It's
> a
> > sort of "group filter" that ensures that issues that the community feel
> are
> > most pressing get tended to first. Operating on the principle of rough
> > consensus (ie: not everyone will always agree, but those who do have
> > opinions will pipe up, and decisions are made by those who care) we tend
> to
> > also take slightly longer to get to issues than might otherwise happen in
> a
> > bigger, more commercially oriented organisation.
> >
> > We do have some developers who are paid for their time and work, but they
> > generally operate on the basis of x amount of hours per month, and tend
> to
> > triage the really urgent issues, and when their time is up every month,
> they
> > step back, and any issues left will be dealt with in the following month.
> > Needless to say, with the launch of the courses, this month has been
> really
> > busy.  I think it's also fair to say that we're all a bit stunned by the
> > volume of response we've had this cycle, and are trying (not always
> > successfully) to keep up with it.
> >
> > Generally, people who have skills are happy to devote some of their time
> and
> > the community is often a conduit for this, so if people ask for help,
> those
> > who can contribute generally will do so. The dev list is a good place to
> ask
> > for this kind of support.
> >
> > I suppose what I'm getting at is this: if you and any other people in the
> > community are concerned about the UI, and have the skills, time or
> > inclination to help out with this, it would be wonderful. Please don't
> take
> > the lack of response as an indication that nobody cares - I think
> everyone
> > is just busy filtering the large amount of mail coming through at the
> > moment, and people who do share your concerns will come forward, if you
> ask
> > for specific help with stuff. Jump in, and get your feet wet!
> >
> > We haven't been very good at communicating the reciprocal nature of P2PU
> to
> > everyone who joins the community, but we do hope that people understand
> this
> > dynamic and appreciate that it is all part of the great experiment that
> is
> > P2PU! Most of the time, we just try stuff out and see if it works.
> Sometimes
> > we get lucky and it does.
> >
> > I hope this answers some of your questions - and please don't be
> discouraged
> > - the more people in the community who care about the project the better.
> > Also, I'd love to hear what other people on this list think about this
> >
> > All the best
> > Bekka
> >
> >
> > On 28 January 2011 16:59, B. Maura Townsend <jauncourt at gmail.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> I put a comment on the new mockup seen at http://p2pu.brianloves.it/
> >> in the wiki, under the new design's page, and it seems that it's not
> >> really the best place to discuss UI issues, as I got brushed off.
> >>
> >> My first comment was this (I was keeping it short because of the venue):
> >>
> >> "Can we try for better contrast in the menus? Also, perhaps swapping
> >> the background color and text color when highlighted would be better,
> >> usability-wise."
> >>
> >> Unfortunately, this was interpreted as being reference to the severe
> >> contrast issues that I and a number of others have noticed with the
> >> current site's styles.
> >>
> >> A more in-depth analysis of the contrast issues with the current
> >> revision of the new design mockup :
> >>
> >> "The higher contrast of the black pinstripe texture against the white
> >> background draws the eye away from the lower contrast menuing, even if
> >> it is not negatively affecting the main content. Would it be possible
> >> to make the black pinstripe lower contrast? Perhaps a gray about the
> >> current color of the un-highlighted menu text? That would increase the
> >> usability without lowering the overall visual impact.
> >>
> >> "The menus at the top are fairly low contrast, light bluish gray
> >> against white, with the eye drawn away by the high-contrast
> >> background.The highlight is good, with decent contrast, though I'm
> >> worried about accessibility for colorblind users. The text in this
> >> menu should really be at least as dark a gray as the text in the
> >> captions shown in the main content areas.
> >>
> >> "The menus at the bottom are low contrast unless highlighted, medium
> >> gray on medium-luminance colors. The highlight is so subtle as to be
> >> lost on many viewers. I'd propose making the text darker on these
> >> menus and making the highlight a swap of text and background color. I
> >> realize that this is the same shade as the dark gray in the content
> >> areas, but that is negated by the medium-luminance background color
> >> bars."
> >>
> >> I'm concerned that I may not be commenting in the correct venue. Is
> >> there a UI design team? Is there a specific venue for discussion of
> >> the new UI? I know there isn't really anyone looking at usability
> >> besides myself and one or two others, and I've seen no comments from
> >> them.
> >>
> >> Thanks,
> >>
> >> BMT
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> p2pu-dev mailing list
> >> p2pu-dev at lists.p2pu.org
> >> http://lists.p2pu.org/mailman/listinfo/p2pu-dev
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Rebecca Kahn
> > Skype: rebekahn
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > p2pu-dev mailing list
> > p2pu-dev at lists.p2pu.org
> > http://lists.p2pu.org/mailman/listinfo/p2pu-dev
> >
> >
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