User Centered

Theres a wave in the Opera community to get feedback from people on the 5 things they'd like to see in Opera. This is a pretty broad scoped question, so I'll try to use some of my five to hit on several of the possible paths.

First, I was tagged by non-troppo- and that list was *pretty darn good* as it is. I'll add a few thoughts and links that I've collected throughout the years.


My number one issue is hand in hand with non-troppo's second issue.

1. I think getting a metadata focus on the mail, bookmarks, notes, etc would be a great step. I want to treat my address bar like a command line- I already get bookmarks/nicknames, query tons of search engines, opera:config, opera:history, not to mention the occasional URL input. There are tons of "quick search" boxes around the UI- it would be nice to get those integrated.
   
   
2. "User Constructed Browsing" focus
   Tighter integration of notes to the URL- something very similar to the "post-it" projects that have come along. Ideally- when you went to a URL, the notes panel would "focus" a note connected to that URL
   
   Most things we bookmark we dont' really want to bookmark. I think most of the sites I want to bookmark are represented with my "top 10" and my speed dial. Everything else is just for reference.
   
   
3. Discoverability of advanced features- I like how Opera hides features and lets you uncover them- like mouse gestures, and how the mail accounts are hidden from the UI until you set up accounts. Opera should put some thought into how users discover features. Tie it in with the Opera Community to give it some "social" impact- Something like a "power user" score that users can earn that is reflected in the community. Maybe a "myers-briggs" type of score that shows what kind of Opera user the person is. Opera can set up tests in the community for users to learn features, or have it based on what number of features (like mouse gestures) are active/used in the browser. The user would have to opt in of course.
   
   
   
4. "I prefer ergonomics over being a populist platform." (non-troppo) Do not conform to "browser standards" (meaning browser client, not web standards- *do* conform to those please!) unless it makes sense to do so. You're an innovative company- I use your product because it's different than the others. Truth be told, I don't care about Javascript or rendering speed, I like your interface better than others. Its not for everyone, and maybe Opera won't be for me in the future, but I want you to keep innovating.
   
   sub note: Personally, I don't care how much marketshare you have (I know *you* do ) The only thing that matters is that you continue to make a good product. I'll pay for Opera (I did in the past) and I'd pay for Opera Mobile if it was available for my phone. I've paid for the Opera browser on Nintendo DS and I'll pay for it on a Wii if I ever get my hands on one.
   
   
5. Tighter my.opera.com integration with the browser- you have a great community, it would be nice to easily blog and post from within the browser. Portable browser bookmarks, sessions and settings across my many installs and Opera Mini, and Nintendo DS.
   
   

Bonus Time!- Ten Small Improvements for the Opera UI (Number 4 on that list is now available! That document is a year old now and needs to be revisited) I particularly would like someone to do number 10 on that list- Allow us to save a wand/password *after* we've logged in to a site (handle it like the pop-up blocked dialog)

I'd like to hear from Dan/dantesoft, WillYum, Ken/kmaage(who's view will not necessarily reflect those of his employer), Schneemann, FataL, and Dave (there's an extra one there in case one of you are already tagged)

For the pedants...

There is a lot of discussion going around about the revamped, version 2.0 Firefox UI. One thing I noted repeatedly on Asa’s request for feedback was FF users discussing the way active/inactive tabs are shown. The words “washed out” was used more than once in regards to the inactive tabs, here's one quote:

Originally posted by Nick Fagerlund:

Backgrounded tabs are incredibly washed out, and I can't read the text. And yet, it's STILL hard to tell which one is foregrounded, because the black text and saturated icon are the only visible differences. (Black outline? Shadow? It needs something.)

I've always wondered as Nick does, should the default skins have more contrast amongst the tabs? Obviously, the UI needs to visually indicate which tab is active, but there never seems to be much discussion on how that’s done, or to what extent it needs to be differentiated. I believe there’s room for improvement (...and so do many skin designers).


Here’s the existing default Firefox tab setup. It’s got the yellow underline with would draw your eye to it, but I don’t think it’s too much better. Although, at least you can easily read the inactive tabs (a complaint against the new default theme)


Opera on the other hand has easy to read tabs, and the contrast is a little better. Visually, we're trading the "orange stripe" for a darker tab color, a similar approach to how FF2 differentiates. But I’ve also found it confusing because it changes to font/text color on inactive tabs to blue if the tab hasn’t been viewed (since refreshed). Visually, it adds some weight to the tab and, even though it’s inactive, tends to make it stand out a bit more on equal footing with the active tab. Huh? make no sense? ...in the screenshot above, the tab on the left is active, the middle tab is inactive, and the tab on the right is inactive, but has been refreshed in the background... meaning the user hasn't seen the "fresh" version of this page. You can tell this by the different color font used (blue).

Well, the good thing about all this, Firefox or Opera, is that you can change things you don’t like if you have the time, skill and energy. With that in mind, I edited my own skin a while back to increase the contrast (download it -it's the standard skin except the tabs) I use a lot of tabs- always have at least 7-10 tabs open regularly- this skin lets my eye easily select the active tab even in the peripheral of my field of vision. I even throw in some of that "Firefox orange stripe" in the active tab as it makes a nice contrasting color for the blue.

There are of course, many skins that do this already. But well.. I'm a simple man, with simple needs. I like the default skin just fine

[moderator note] I'm not sure if this screenshot of my tabs shows problems with Eddie's skin, or Opera's handling of font sizes, but it is an example of the difficulty we encounter when we design customizable software, but then fail to think through all the possible ways a user will be able to customize. (Two settings that apply: Toolbar font-Tahoma 16pt, Toolbar style-"Images and text below")

via Slashdot -a casual glance at the comments (didn't look too hard), I didn't find one single "on-topic" post, so just read this instead:C|Net

Interesting approach- force a User Interface change on everyone. Even if Microsoft gives a brief tour of new features and UI tutorial, most users are going jump right in expecting a security update at best, and will be surprised when the UI has significantly changed. "Where's the favorites menu?" Most users that aren't on the cutting edge and hip to browser development will be in the dark when they get this new UI in front of them. Sure the address bar and most of the icons are the same, but it's the subtle differences that we (on the cutting edge) notice that are going to frustrate most other users.

They have to switch over *some* time, but this "cold-turkey" approach seems to be overly tramatic.

It would be a good chance for alternative browsers Opera and Firefox to shine though. If a user feels IE7 is just too "different" and they are forced to learn a UI regardless, it might as well be with that new-fangled "Opera" they've been hearin' so much about.

As web applications mature and continue to exploit capabilities allowing more effecient updating of screen information, what is the future of the back button?

Since applets, AJAX, plug-ins, and anything else have been around for awhile- why can't we break this notion that the back button rules all? Haven't we gotten used to applications on the web? Maybe it's the online "undo" that we are looking for. The safety net we need.

Admittedly, I hate web pages that break my back button. If you've ever used Opera, the caching of the history combined with mouse gestures is a killer feature for me*.

That said- I understand that technology marches on. I understand that it often doesn't make sense to update a whole page just for one piece of updated information. I understand that the back button may be antiquated. But can't we grow into the back button instead of take functionality away from it? As web apps continue to pioneer new ways of making themselves more complex and/or effecient, maybe the lines should blur between the browser UI and the application UI? The back button could be an undo. That's basically what we're trying to accomplish. Even in browsing. It's a navigational tool, but we are undoing the page we were looking at trying to get back to the original state (or page).

Anyway- whatever happens in the future- don't break my Opera caching of the history. I will be VERY angry at you internet.

*I hear the new version of Firefox do this- so maybe I'll try it out since that's what kept me away from it. Opera will still be primary though.

UPDATE: it appears this site works fine with Opera now, and lets you right in the front door!

A great service mixing google maps with craigslist: http://www.housingmaps.com/

But what I wanted to point out is the homepage. At least- the homepage that saw. There is a browser warming page that I got because I use Opera. The creator handles it pretty well I thought. In a nutshell (meaning- these are my own words), I got a

Hey- we've tested with all these browsers here: <lists them>.

Your's is different. Here's how to get one we've tested with...<link>

But if you still want to try it out- here's a link in. We can't promise anything though.

It's that last part that I really thought stood out... the &quot;you've been warned, but if you want to try anyway...&quot; type of link that is all too absent from websites. Mostly when I use Opera- I get &quot;this browser is insecure- use IE instead&quot; and I'm not permitted to go any further (without changing agent ID or spoofing of some sort). I understand that site creators don't want or need to test with every single version of every single browser on every single version of every single OS- but I'd be fine with telling me what you do test with and giving me a clear warning that you don't promise success with the tools I'm using- but still give me the choice. Often (no mostly.... no...almost always) I can get the job done just fine with Opera. Kudos to this site for letting me try.

Here's what I sent the creator:

...thank you for at least putting the option to let me try your service in Opera. I get REALLY mad when sites don't let me take the chance... Sometimes, there is a limitation with Opera (not full AJAX support)- but most often its simply because sites don't want to think about anything other than IE, and one or both Netscape/FireFox.

I understand that nobody wants to test in 100 browsers that less than 1% of people use. But at least let me have the option to try your site with my browser. You do a fine job of that- your main page is exactly what sites should do.