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Please, no Ribbon in NX

Please, no Ribbon in NX

Please, no Ribbon in NX

(OP)
If this is somehow a contentious issue, I apologise.  But it is very important nonetheless.

The NX user interface has in my opinion steadily improved, at a pace unmatched, from what I can tell, by any of the MCAD competition.  At NX5, it is clean and efficient.  There are definitely ways to improve, and if things continue as they have over the past few releases, I'm optimistic about what's to come.

There may however be a storm cloud on the horizon...

From the screenshots I've seen of NX6, it doesn't look like the * infamous * "ribbon" style UI has been implemented, and I have to say, thank goodness.  However, apparently the new version of Solid Edge DOES have the ribbon, which makes me worried that it is being considered for NX.

As a long-time MS Office user (who isn't?) and one who uses both Office 2003 and 2007 on an almost daily basis, it is clear to me that the Ribbon represents almost uniformly unnecesary bloat.  Icons are not organized in logical way (why is Solver under Data?); icons are huge which are almost never used (who needs all the ridiculous chart color/formatting templates?); and overall there is much more of a need for mouse clicks instead of keyboard shortcuts.  Why on earth would you get create an entirely new set of keyboard shortcuts, and then despite allowing "oldstyle" keyboard shortcuts, not have an option to "re-skin" the applications with the conventional interface?

The reason this is all relevant is because the threat is that NX will wholesale scrap the evolutionary results of its UI improvements over the years in order to buy in to what seems to be the (unfortunate) UI trend.

I sincerely hope other users (especially those with Ribbon exposure) would weigh in with their opinion on the topic.  If I'm not way out in left field on this, perhaps John Baker and others at Siemens might take this point of view into account as future UI changes are considered.

As an aside, Al Dean complements NX6's (non-ribbon) UI in his blog post on "The Ribbon of Doom":
http://www.develop3d.com/2008/05/ribbon-of-doom.html
 

RE: Please, no Ribbon in NX

Thank you for the link.  I've shared it with other members of our NX team, particularly those who are responsible for our User Interface direction.  If I get any comments back which I can share, I'll pass them along.  As for others wishing to comment on this or any other aspect of the User Interface, please feel free since we really do value your input and views.

As an example of that, perhaps there are some of you who may have attended one of the national meetings (both here and in Europe/Asia) 2 or 3 years ago when we were running what we called 'usability labs' where we invited users in to look at and provide feedback about our User Interface projects.  It was as a direct result of these sessions (more than a 100 of which were held around the world over a 2 year period of time) that what you see today as NX 5.  We feel that it was no 'accident' that the UI changes made in NX 5 have been so well received by both users and by industry analysts who have given us very positive feedback as to the direction that we are moving (it's still a work in progress since with each release, such as NX 6, we continue to fine tune and replace more of the old style dialogs with the new NX 5-style 'block' dialogs).

Anyway, as I stated before, when it comes to the User Interface we recognize that the operative word is 'User' and so we do want to hear your ideas and comments, good bad or otherwise winky smile

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
NX Design
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Cypress, CA
http://www.siemens.com/plm
http://www.plmworld.org/museum/

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.
 

RE: Please, no Ribbon in NX

I have used a lot of software over the years, and even written a few basic applications.  It always comes down to the compromise of performace vs ease of use.  Its HARD to drive an extremely high performance car, but you'll never get that easy going minivan to perform that way.  Horses for courses, as the brits say.  

There are some good, and some very bad trends in user interfaces.  The mouse is a monkey's tool, point and grunt when you see the banana.  Very slow, you have to see what you want, see the cursor, move the cursor, see if its in the right place, then click.  Then move back to wherever else and repeat.  Handy thing about keyboards, you take your eyes out of the loop, there is no feedback cycle, you can execute your wishes with precision and immediacy and move on, usually before the system has even responded.  

At the best of times, I keep the mouse entirely over my geometry and use the keyboard to drive the cad system.  I like a visual interface, just so long as I can navigate it without heavy mousework.  The radial menu is intriguing because it defies my paradigm, its the first and only time I feel that the mouse can be used that efficiently.  It is however limited to just a few commands.  

I learned how to drive a long time ago, and I don't care for minivans.  A wise company would position thier mid-level product to be a bottom feeder and pick up the lowest common denominator, while leaving the performance in thier flagship product for those who need it and can handle it.   

NX 5.0.3.2 MoldWizard

RE: Please, no Ribbon in NX

NXMold

You may be one or two cad systems short of having seen the right one. I've used radial menus in other systems usually with a mix of handy keyboard shortcuts. They're promising more radial menus for NX-6 or beyond I think, so you'll probably be pleased with that. I think they can and probably will work pretty well. It just basically brings frequently used icons that you customize under your mouse cursor as you work so that you needn't have a lot of extra curricular motor activity chasing back and forth from the edge of the screen to find functions that you need.

Cheers

Hudson

RE: Please, no Ribbon in NX

I just want the cerebral attachment so NX does whatever I think it should. ;o)

Tim Flater
Senior Designer
Enkei America, Inc.
www.enkei.com

Some people are like slinkies....they don't really have a purpose, but they still bring a smile to your face when you push them down the stairs.

RE: Please, no Ribbon in NX

Yeah... I'm still waiting for the helmet and gloves for total immersion.

Believe it if you need it or leave it if you dare. - Robert Hunter
 

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