Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Frontier Interface Design

Author:Mike Mell
Posted:6/8/1999; 11:08:04 PM
Topic:Frontier Interface Design
Msg #:7136
Prev/Next:7135 / 7137

I've been using Frontier for several years now. I consider it a tool box. If Frontier was perfect, it would provide me the building blocks to make anything I can imagine on a computer. Having just delved into the Frontier 6 mainResponder for the first time this week, I have some fresh thoughts and perspective on the Frontier "User Interface".

Features and Functionality
In Frontier, a major part of the user interface are scripts and the way scripts coordinate with each other. When I first wanted to set a cookie, I couldn't find a script to do it for me. On the Frontier-User list, I was told to look at members.root. There I found the key bit of info I needed to write my own script. Surprisingly, there is no script to simply set a cookie in F6, but there *is* a complex mechanism for the controlling member access which incorporates cookies.

Therefore, it seems to me that FEATURES and FUNCTIONALITY have been mingled in the release of F6 mainResponder/server. Features, like Discussion Group, Search, News, and Members, are high level, specific implementations with a single purpose. Functionality, like setting cookies, editing pages, etc, are the tools that make the high level things happen. The Functions should be explicit from the Features. The interface (my interaction with Frontier's scripts) would be more to my liking if all of the low level tools were isolated and Feature independent. As it is, the Functionality is hidden among the Features.

Lists and Search
Interestingly, the Frontier-User list and search.userland have made their way into the Frontier application User Interface. Userland has strengthened this conjunction by encouraging reliance on the list for resolution of issues. The list is held out as a feature one acquires by keeping one's subscription up to date.

How do I feel about the list and search being part of the UI? I'm not sure. The list certainly is a pleasure and a source of quick resolution. (Search is niether a pleasure nor a source of quick info.) But the strong need for the list and search indicate that the UI is so complex as to be unwieldy.

Needless to say, I will be updating (in fact upgrading) my subscription!
Mike Mell




There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:50:40 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.