Ok, I'm exaggerating a big with the subject, but I thought it would get your attention as attention is duly needed here.
I am a software engineer (M.S.), and I specialize in UI design, but program heavily in everything from assembler to C++. I have 24 years of programming experience. I'm not much of a web developer as I'm focused more in manufacturing automation; HOWEVER, I have an enormous amount of experience dealing with "dumb" users who need software that doesn't require a manual or much training.
I'm sure many of these issues have been brought up, but I'd like to bring a pair of fresh eyes and a comprehensive list of the most annoying issues. Perhaps there are solutions to some of these, but in the default state, it seems they are valid points. Much of this advice was collected from various users whom I recently introduced to Imagevue.
The short of my evaluation is that 5 out of 5 users, including myself, got frustrated with the user interface. One of them went so far as to say they hated it after getting totally frustrated.
Don't get me wrong here. I think Imagevue has some REALLY cool stuff in it, and Karl (and others) have put an enormous amount of work into it. Nothing compares to Imagevue when it comes to full-size viewing with different aspect ratios and automatic framing. I also think it has the POTENTIAL to be the best viewing gallery on the net with a few simple changes. That's why I paid for the commercial license.
So, I've compiled a bunch of snapshots that hopefully demonstrate the issues quite clearly. Here's the link to the slides which demonstrate the issues. (Pardon my website which I'm just trying to get off the ground as I tray to make a profession out of my hobby.)
http://www.zoomweddings.com/imagevue/?d ... Pop-up.jpg
X3Photo Gallery Forums
X3 Photo Gallery Support Forums
I appreciate you taking such time to give constructive feedback on Imagevue. As you may or may not be aware of, we are underway in development of an entirely new Imagevue gallery. It is built from ground up, and will generally differ quite a lot from the current gallery. I will of course bring these comments into mind when working with the new version.
One of the most important usability issues with the current gallery, is that basically its a combination of the imagevue gallery and the slideshow module, which were both originally independent modules. Basically we slapped together a static size module(imagevue), with a full-screen module(slideshow) because of the additional power it provided to the gallery. The difference in the controls and layout-style generally make the controls inconsistent, and reduce the functionality.
I have taken the time to comment a few of the pictures. The ones I don't comment, are simply agreed upon =)
#1 - I'm not sure how you got so large margins for the popup window, but your points are still valid. The owner of a site has to be responsible for a few things though - The text on image either has to be turned off, or set to a color which is compatible. There is also a 'backdrop' setting which can be set under the text - Its obvious text on images in the popup window have to be 'over' the image. Regarding the controls, I guess they should simply be disabled if there is not enough space - Optionally, the owner would have to turn of additional interactivity if they know they have a lot of small images.
#3 I think this is in fact a bug. Its supposed to display stop icon when action means stop.
#9 I think its annoying too, but you can turn it off with "thumbpopinfo = false". I know that many are using this tooltip with additional info like descriptions and image attributes.
#13 same bug as #3
#14 This issue is related to the issue I described earlier regarding the slideshow originally being an independant module. The control in mention is generally the only way to get from photo 1 to photo 133 directly in the slideshow module without navigating back to the thumbnails(gallery). In the new version 2 you can expect navigation similar to what you describe.
#15 Yes it can be disabled, but I agree its annoying.
Thanks for your time!
PS! I have forwarded a PM to you ....
One of the most important usability issues with the current gallery, is that basically its a combination of the imagevue gallery and the slideshow module, which were both originally independent modules. Basically we slapped together a static size module(imagevue), with a full-screen module(slideshow) because of the additional power it provided to the gallery. The difference in the controls and layout-style generally make the controls inconsistent, and reduce the functionality.
I have taken the time to comment a few of the pictures. The ones I don't comment, are simply agreed upon =)
#1 - I'm not sure how you got so large margins for the popup window, but your points are still valid. The owner of a site has to be responsible for a few things though - The text on image either has to be turned off, or set to a color which is compatible. There is also a 'backdrop' setting which can be set under the text - Its obvious text on images in the popup window have to be 'over' the image. Regarding the controls, I guess they should simply be disabled if there is not enough space - Optionally, the owner would have to turn of additional interactivity if they know they have a lot of small images.
#3 I think this is in fact a bug. Its supposed to display stop icon when action means stop.
#9 I think its annoying too, but you can turn it off with "thumbpopinfo = false". I know that many are using this tooltip with additional info like descriptions and image attributes.
#13 same bug as #3
#14 This issue is related to the issue I described earlier regarding the slideshow originally being an independant module. The control in mention is generally the only way to get from photo 1 to photo 133 directly in the slideshow module without navigating back to the thumbnails(gallery). In the new version 2 you can expect navigation similar to what you describe.
#15 Yes it can be disabled, but I agree its annoying.
Thanks for your time!
PS! I have forwarded a PM to you ....