BUG: L10 UI designers - I still hate the lack of a mouse control go

MJ. Smith
MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,116
edited November 21 in English Forum

Yes, I still want the arrow/go returned to the search box. This having to take my hand off the mouse and put it on the keyboard only to immediately return it to the mouse is still a poor interface design that is an annoyance every time I have to do it.

Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

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Comments

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,869

    +1

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,488

    I don't understand. Is this only on windows? (There is an arrow on Mac). Also, if you are TYPING something into the go box, your hand isnt on the mouse... it is on the keyboard. I fully admit that you are smarter than me so what am I missing? 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS | Logs |  Install

  • Kiyah
    Kiyah Member Posts: 2,804 ✭✭✭✭

    Yes, I still want the arrow/go returned to the search box. This having to take my hand off the mouse and put it on the keyboard only to immediately return it to the mouse is still a poor interface design that is an annoyance every time I have to do it.

    Agreed. You actually can't run a saved Morph Query without opening the query and running it from there now (something I'll be reporting in a separate post). Ridiculous.

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,869

    I don't understand. Is this only on windows? (There is an arrow on Mac).

    Hm. I don't recall Mac-users stepping in when this bad design decision - which they took on purpose, even if I don't see or recall why - was flagged in the beta tests.

    To be clear about it, this is the issue

    image

    ...and I keep finding myself at the mouse and then navigating to the box, clicking in it and then hitting return, whishing I just could click a button instead.

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,116

    if you are TYPING something into the go box,

    That is a big IF ... I often am not. IF I were typing something and the last thing I did was build the search argument rather than adjust settings, then it would not be an issue. However, the design of the Context Menu encourages copy & paste for the search argument rather than typing. I am also often running a search to refresh the results.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Eli Evans (Logos)
    Eli Evans (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,402
  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,116

    I'll discuss with Mark. Thanks!

    Would it help or hinder you if formal use cases were offered when we think a poor design decision was made? It sometimes seems like it takes forever to get FL to understand why a design doesn't work - the lack of an export on search results being another example, although not one that affects me personally.

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Eli Evans (Logos)
    Eli Evans (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,402

    help or hinder you if formal use cases were offered

    Helps! I don't know how "formal" it needs to be, but a stepwise description of what you're trying to do and where it goes wrong for you is always useful. It's like investigating a car crash; sometimes we gain insights from the before and after as much as we do from the incident itself.

    It sometimes seems like it takes forever to get FL to understand why a design doesn't work

    I apologize for that.

    If it helps, it's not usually intransigence. Sometimes it's a lack of imagination, for certain. (And that's where use cases help.)

    In general, though, "design" decisions aren't ever made in a vacuum. I realize it's impossible to see from the outside, but we have to balance many factors: product strategy, competing user needs, competing schedules, external factors like technology and compliance issues, etc.

    That said, I'm definitely discussing the button with the design team now.

    And for what it's worth, I don't (can't) read every post, but I do have a Google alert for "UI" and "design" and a few other key words on these forums, which is how I saw this thread. People forward threads to me, too.

    My email is eli@faithlife.com if it comes to it.

    lack of an export on search results being another example

    Not that I'm looking for any praise on this account, but I've been personally advocating for bringing exporting back for Bible search to the point that I'm sure it's mildly annoying to my coworkers. :D

    It wasn't a design decision but one forced by a change in the technical architecture. Without getting too much in the weeds, the print/export code is built on Windows and Mac native technologies, and the L10 search panel is built on cross-platform HTML. This is the way the world is trending. This cross-platform HTML UI has the advantage of being deliverable to both desktop platforms as well as the web and mobile, but has the disadvantage that some infrastructure doesn't come "for free" but has to be rebuilt.

    Ideally, we would have been able to swap out those technologies and you'd never notice. Ideally.

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,116

    Thanks for the explanation on the print/export ... sharing that information should help make users more patient while waiting the resolution of the issue.

    I agree that "it's not usually intransigence". There are only two Faithlife employees I have ever (mentally) accused of not listening when software issues arise. You are not one of them.

    I'll be more careful to use the right buzz words to get your attention in the future. There are a few things that I've not old-dogged out on (can't teach an old dog new tricks).

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • Eli Evans (Logos)
    Eli Evans (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,402

    sharing that information should help make users more patient

    Fair. Normally Mark would have given the blow by blow, but he's traveling for ETS/SBL right now.

    Thanks for the kind words, MJ. I think what you're doing now is just fine, for what it's worth!

  • JT (alabama24)
    JT (alabama24) MVP Posts: 36,488

    Hm. I don't recall Mac-users stepping in when this bad design decision - which they took on purpose, even if I don't see or recall why - was flagged in the beta tests.

    Are you mad at me? 

    I don't understand how you are getting text into the box without typing it. 

    macOS, iOS & iPadOS | Logs |  Install

  • Eli Evans (Logos)
    Eli Evans (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,402

    I don't understand how you are getting text into the box without typing it.

    I'm interested in the exact details of that part of the interaction as well ... I assume something like right-click copy and paste, but that may not be it.

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,869

    Hm. I don't recall Mac-users stepping in when this bad design decision - which they took on purpose, even if I don't see or recall why - was flagged in the beta tests.

    Are you mad at me? 

    Not at all.

    It just didn't occur to me that Faithlife would have purposely changed the design of such a relevant feature as search only for Windows, so I kinda expected it to look the same for you guys. 

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • MJ. Smith
    MJ. Smith MVP Posts: 53,116

    Ways in which I have NOT just typed something into the search argument:

    1. I have a viseral dislike for many of the FL defaults to broader searches than I am interested in although I understand the rationale behind them and do not wish to request a change. Therefore, I always have my parameters set to the narrowest possible searches. When I see the results, I choose to broaden the settings based on my results. I am changing only settings not the search argument so I want to simply click "go" after I modify the parameters.

    2. I often use a search to create work lists. As I work through the work list, the search results should change. I simply want to refresh my results i.e. click "go".

    3. I frequently use the copy function of the Context Menu to generate the search argument because the corpus of resources I wish to search is not covered by the Context Menu searches.

    4. When I am looking through the search results, I often find something a want to add to my search argument, building something like this: [quote]

    ”Acts of Andrew” OR “Acts Andr” OR ActAndr OR “Acta Andreae” OR “Passio of Andrew” OR “Miracles of Andrew” OR “Liber de Miraculis Beati Andreae” OR “Acts and Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Andrew” OR  “Andreas-Akten” OR “Martyrium prius” OR “Martyrium alterum B” OR “Martyrium alterum A” OR “Gospel of Andrew” OR “Liber de virtutibus sancti Andreae apostoli” OR “Apocryphal Acts of Andrew” OR “Actes d’André grecs” OR “The Acts of Andrew the Apostle”

    My usual way to add an addition term is to type OR "", then go to my current results to do a copy and return to the search argument for the paste ... leaving my hand on the mouse when "go" is the next action. 

    5. Least common reason, I have restored an argument from the search history and need to click go.

    Those are my five most common use cases where I miss the click arrow go function.

    Note: for tagging resources with their preferred Bibles, I use the search argument "scripture quotations from" OR "All scripture quotations" OR "unless otherwise indicated" OR "authors own translation" OR "Scripture text used in" OR "Scripture quotations are from" OR "Scripture quotations unless otherwise noted" OR "Scripture quotations are taken" OR "Scripture verses are from" OR "biblical citations are taken from" OR "scripture quotations marked" OR "all Scripture quotations in this publication" OR "Scripture references are taken from" OR "Scripture quoted from" OR "Scripture taken from" OR "all Scripture unless otherwise" OR "all scripture citations" OR "All Scripture is taken from" OR "scripture references marked" OR "Scripture quotations in this publication" OR "scripture quotations labeled" OR "All Bible quotations are taken" OR "Scripture quotations contained herein" OR "Biblical quotations unless otherwise specified" OR "Bible quotations in this publication" OR "scripture marked"

    Orthodox Bishop Alfeyev: "To be a theologian means to have experience of a personal encounter with God through prayer and worship."; Orthodox proverb: "We know where the Church is, we do not know where it is not."

  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,869

    I don't understand how you are getting text into the box without typing it. 

    For example just now. I had this "cookbook" search from the page, Jesus AND Christ (for the screenshot I had typed it by hand, now I just clicked on the cookbook phrase), it had executed an All search - silly me, of course I had expected to get a bible search. I clicked on "Bible" and it ran against my trusted NIV - with the small hick-up that I had to activate the field and hit return.

    This happens to me. Or switching from a Morph search to Bible. Or that I change something at the beginning if the string and immediately pick up the mouse (learned from years of Logos usage) and then see I have to position and then get back to the keyboard. Sometimes the wireless keyboard sits elsewhere - I just think I'm a mouse-person, others are keyboard persons. 

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Eli Evans (Logos)
    Eli Evans (Logos) Member, Logos Employee Posts: 1,402
  • NB.Mick
    NB.Mick MVP Posts: 15,869

    I don't understand how you are getting text into the box without typing it. 

    For example just now. I had this "cookbook" search from the page, Jesus AND Christ (for the screenshot I had typed it by hand, now I just clicked on the cookbook phrase), it had executed an All search - silly me, of course I had expected to get a bible search. I clicked on "Bible" and it ran against my trusted NIV - with the small hick-up that I had to activate the field and hit return.

    This happens to me. Or switching from a Morph search to Bible. Or that I change something at the beginning if the string and immediately pick up the mouse (learned from years of Logos usage) and then see I have to position and then get back to the keyboard. Sometimes the wireless keyboard sits elsewhere - I just think I'm a mouse-person, others are keyboard persons. 

    Have joy in the Lord! Smile

  • Graham Criddle
    Graham Criddle MVP Posts: 32,469

    It just didn't occur to me that Faithlife would have purposely changed the design of such a relevant feature as search only for Windows, so I kinda expected it to look the same for you guys. 

    I believe JT's comment above - about there being an arrow present - related to the Command box not to a Search panel.

    As far as I can see, the UI, in this area, is the same on Windows and Mac