[Design] Accomplice

[Philippe Bossut]

Hi,

Phillip J. Eby wrote:
> Did you watch the tutorial video?
>
> http://www.accomplice.com/tutorials/quickstart.html

I didn't before but I did now... Geee, they need a visual designer, 
don't they?

> I downloaded it and played with it for a few minutes, and my net 
> assessment is that it is a poor execution of a very good idea/workflow 
> design.  If it were not for the poor execution, I would probably 
> switch to it from Ecco.  Its concepts of collections, filtering, 
> one-click tickler, and simple collaboration are very good, but the 
> usability is hampered by awkward rendering, poor font choices, lack of 
> clear visual hierarchy between controls (and inconsistent visual cues 
> as to what controls look like: some are links, some are buttons, and 
> some are just icons).  The choice of status selection as a dropdown 
> arrow next to a checkbox is just weird and awkward.  Their attempts to 
> build lots of help into the product using large grey text in the 
> background of various work areas just makes the visuals even more 
> confusing.

I agree with you and that's certainly all music to Mimi and PPD's ears: 
as your reaction shows, visual design *is* very important, especially in 
the first few hours of using a product. So all the more incentive for us 
to pay attention to those polish bugs before Preview. Better have fewer 
features that are enjoyable to use than lots that hurt your senses 
constantly.

Thanks for the feedback Phillip.

Cheers,
- Philippe