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And that's why we can't just delete the save button. We need to rethink the way users "commit" as you say. Apple's versioning is an interesting take, but its UI

by DeepDuh 14y ago

And that's why we can't just delete the save button. We need to rethink the way users "commit" as you say. Apple's versioning is an interesting take, but its UI is too hidden IMO and they didn't get the "Save-as" feature right, which still applies in a world without save. My favorite UI would be a mixture of Apple's Lion logic and Google wave: Give me a prominent time slider, give me snapshots each time I hit the save button (which are basically just special markings on the slider) and let me use the slider to easily revert to any state. It gets more complicated with multiple users who commit asynchronously, which is something I will try to solve in an upcoming project of mine.

dllthomas 14y ago
Read up on undo in vim - your edit history need not be linear.
- DeepDuh 14y ago
  Of course a tree would be best. I just wonder whether can be presented in a way that is still intuitive for common users. I'm thinking one could emulate a linear history on top of the tree and just present the tree when desired by the user. Also, it would become very important to figure out what exactly is the most usable level of committing (words? phrases? text blocks?). I'm thinking about a system where a linear edit to one element of the underlying data structure (such as an xml element) is one commit, even if it's a whole story.
  - dllthomas 14y ago
    Interesting - and I suppose obviously your history can be mapped onto a line with some loss of expressiveness, if you view it strictly as time. As long as the more detailed history is available, I do not object to exposing it that way as well or (necessarily) even primarily; I just wanted to be sure it wasn't being restricted unnecessarily.
    - DeepDuh 14y ago
      Thanks for your input. Yes, this is always one of the hardest things in UI design: Do I optimize for the "power user" (yes that dreaded word again) or the common user? Can I do both without any compromises? Besides possible monetary benefits it would immensely calm my ego as a developer having made something both easy and powerful. A good example of this principle IMO is Apple Pages and Numbers. They are both succeeding at being powerful/expressive when you need it (Cmd-alt-i) and easy for the other times. It's just a shame that they haven't been updated and still lack some important features like plugins and bibliography.

by DeepDuh 14y ago

dllthomas 14y ago

Read up on undo in vim - your edit history need not be linear.

DeepDuh 14y ago
Of course a tree would be best. I just wonder whether can be presented in a way that is still intuitive for common users. I'm thinking one could emulate a linear history on top of the tree and just present the tree when desired by the user. Also, it would become very important to figure out what exactly is the most usable level of committing (words? phrases? text blocks?). I'm thinking about a system where a linear edit to one element of the underlying data structure (such as an xml element) is one commit, even if it's a whole story.
- dllthomas 14y ago
  Interesting - and I suppose obviously your history can be mapped onto a line with some loss of expressiveness, if you view it strictly as time. As long as the more detailed history is available, I do not object to exposing it that way as well or (necessarily) even primarily; I just wanted to be sure it wasn't being restricted unnecessarily.
  - DeepDuh 14y ago
    Thanks for your input. Yes, this is always one of the hardest things in UI design: Do I optimize for the "power user" (yes that dreaded word again) or the common user? Can I do both without any compromises? Besides possible monetary benefits it would immensely calm my ego as a developer having made something both easy and powerful. A good example of this principle IMO is Apple Pages and Numbers. They are both succeeding at being powerful/expressive when you need it (Cmd-alt-i) and easy for the other times. It's just a shame that they haven't been updated and still lack some important features like plugins and bibliography.