Sunday, April 13, 2008
NiXPS Edit v2.5 - Sneak peek (2)
Here's a screenshot of the first beta of NiXPS v2.5:
You'll notice a few new things:
First, a reworked UI.
It is our ongoing concern to keep the interface as clear, user friendly and efficient as possible.
The UI should allow the user to interact with the appication in a natural way. This means the UI needs to 'communicate' clearly to the user, and one way to achieve this is to reduce the complexitiy (less UI elements), but at the same time provide the user with the UI elements that allow him to do the tasks the software is especially developed for: editing XPS.
This led us to this design: the toolbar on top contains all the 'interactive' editing and manupulation tools.
If a user clicks one of these, he 'takes' the specific tool, and allows him to use it on the doc. This is reinforced with the mouse cursor that changes to the same icon as the active tool.
Page navigation, and zoom percentage modifications are moved to the bottom of the window, where they are easy to access, yet not taking too much attention away from the user.
The quick search box stays where it was: it is the most natural way to have it in the toolbar, as it allows quick access.
Second, you'll notice some new tools. The first two, select & move where already present in NiXPS Edit v2.0.
The third one is a zoom tool, which allows you to zoom to any spot in the file - combined with the unlimited zoom factor makes this feature very powerful.
The fourth one, the hand, is a pan tool - facilitating navigation when zoomed in.
The fifth one, the blue arrow, is a special one ... I'll take to you about this next time.
PS. This NiXPS Edit v2.5 is a free upgrade for all current and new NiXPS Edit v2.0 customers. ¶ 08:23
You'll notice a few new things:
First, a reworked UI.
It is our ongoing concern to keep the interface as clear, user friendly and efficient as possible.
The UI should allow the user to interact with the appication in a natural way. This means the UI needs to 'communicate' clearly to the user, and one way to achieve this is to reduce the complexitiy (less UI elements), but at the same time provide the user with the UI elements that allow him to do the tasks the software is especially developed for: editing XPS.
This led us to this design: the toolbar on top contains all the 'interactive' editing and manupulation tools.
If a user clicks one of these, he 'takes' the specific tool, and allows him to use it on the doc. This is reinforced with the mouse cursor that changes to the same icon as the active tool.
Page navigation, and zoom percentage modifications are moved to the bottom of the window, where they are easy to access, yet not taking too much attention away from the user.
The quick search box stays where it was: it is the most natural way to have it in the toolbar, as it allows quick access.
Second, you'll notice some new tools. The first two, select & move where already present in NiXPS Edit v2.0.
The third one is a zoom tool, which allows you to zoom to any spot in the file - combined with the unlimited zoom factor makes this feature very powerful.
The fourth one, the hand, is a pan tool - facilitating navigation when zoomed in.
The fifth one, the blue arrow, is a special one ... I'll take to you about this next time.
PS. This NiXPS Edit v2.5 is a free upgrade for all current and new NiXPS Edit v2.0 customers. ¶ 08:23
