If you are making a skin, widget, gadget, shell, application or website then you are making a Graphical User Interface. When you make a GUI, do you think only of the appearance? Do you think of the usability?
I have found many very nice skins, widgets, shells, you name it, -but I haven't found all of the, good. One reoccuring example is scrollbars that can barely be seen. I have to guess where it is. Another is skins that doesn't hide the windowframes outside the screen area when maximized. Or for instance a 1 pixel border to grab hold of when I try to resize the windows.
I find it very sorry when I can't use a skin that has been put so much effort into and look so stunning because it turns out to slow me down when I work. Not my computer, but my self.
That is why I highly recommend everyone to familiarize your self with Fitt's Law. It's some very useful information on GUI design and user intaraction. I am not saying that everyone should follow this to the dot, just read it and think about it. It is very likely it'll give your creating the little extra to make it truly great.
Some of the things Fitt's Law describes is the five magic pixels that are quickest to access. Why you should ensure that your tools docked to the side of the screen is to the absolute and not one, two or whatever pixels from the edge. And much more on how to make your design quicker and less painful to use.
The best article I have found so far that explains Fitt's Law is at askTog. http://www.asktog.com/columns/022DesignedToGiveFitts.html There is also a newer article about Interaction Design which is very interesting. http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html
One of the things within Fitt's Law which I never have seen in a application is the circular menues. I see that it's something that might not be the easiest to do well, but I do feel that DesktopX has a good potential here to make something good. The QuadMenu in 3D Studio Max is on the track where it has it popup menu divided into four subsections set in a 2x2 matrix centered at the cursor, making the menu items quicker to access. But there should be no problem making truly circular menues in DesktopX.
There any many good resources on the internet that contains some really good information from people who has researched alot into GUI Design. Please post them here at WC as you come across them as it will benefit everyone in the end.
