[Gegl-developer] Re: DAGs make users' eyes cross

[Shea McCombs]

I had played around with DAG usability and layout before, and I'm pretty
sure there is no better way to represent the data while retaining the same
flexibility.  I did come up with a somewhat good compromise though, which I
haven't implemented but I think would work for many DAG topologies.  Here's
an illustration showing a standard DAG layout, and a 'block' layout of the
same graph below it:

http://upvector.com/aux/misc/dagvis_block.png

I'm pretty sure there are a few cases where this would not work, but I am
thinking of implementing it for usability testing.  What do you guys think?
Easier or worse?  (I know, I don't like the black dots either ...)

-shea



On 10/19/06, Piotr Stanczyk <piotr.stanczyk at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have to say that the Shake UI is one of the most approachable ones I
> have seen. You can put someone in front of it and in 10 mins they can
> get something going. It may not be the prettiest in the world, but it
> reallly focuses the user.
> Contrast that to the Toxik interface which just looks wonderful but
> has a very high entry point for new users ...
>
>
> my $0.02
>
> Piotr
>
>
> On 10/18/06, Daniel Rogers <daniel at phasevelocity.org> wrote:
> >
> > On Oct 17, 2006, at 9:15 PM, neota at softhome.net wrote:
> >
> > > What about a connected widgets visualization? Like some sound
> > > studio software works with. Boxes with input/output
> > > 'plugs'/'sockets' connected by 'wires' -- boxes might be color
> > > coded (eg yellow for clone, blue for transform..)
> > > click+drag on box to move, ctrl+click to clone. (click to rename?)
> > > click on socket, click again on opposite type of socket to connect.
> > > Click on connected socket to reconnect this end of the wire to a
> > > different socket.
> > > Click (or ctrl-click?) on wire to disconnect both ends.
> > > Right-click (as in bauxite) to add nodes or do other misc ops.
> > > This model might be slower to navigate with many nodes though.
> > > The main (and only?) flaw of a tree-view visualization that is
> > > obviously a DAG is lack of detailed visual grouping, which is
> > > addressed by the above model.
> >
> > That is precisely the model used in labview, much sound studio
> > software (like ProTools), high end compositing tools (like Shake),
> > high end 3d modeling tools, etc.  It is a DAG.  Yes, it is color
> > coded, but there is no rule that says a DAG can't be color coded.  My
> > real point, which I was going to get too, is that for every example
> > of people using a spreadsheet model (1, really) I can point out why
> > it's use is eventually discouraged, and point out 5 other examples
> > where is DAG interface is used in the real world.
> >
> > --
> > Daniel
> > _______________________________________________
> > Gegl-developer mailing list
> > Gegl-developer at lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU
> > https://lists.XCF.Berkeley.EDU/mailman/listinfo/gegl-developer
> >
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>



-- 
Shea McCombs
http://www.upvector.com/
------
If you're a cowboy, and you're dragging a guy behind your horse, I bet it
would really make you mad if you looked back and the guy was reading a
magazine.
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