Mugsy's UI Help

12:24 AM - Mugsy: can i give you suggestions for your pizza UI
12:24 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): 'sure
12:24 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): lol
12:25 AM - Mugsy: you don't need forgot
12:25 AM - Mugsy: and help
12:25 AM - Mugsy: combine those
12:25 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:25 AM - Mugsy: make login nearer to the input fields
12:25 AM - Mugsy: and larger / look different from "i forgot", which should be small
12:25 AM - Mugsy: even just a text link
12:26 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ahhh i see what youre saying
12:26 AM - Mugsy: label inside teh field is good
12:26 AM - Mugsy: for username / pass
12:26 AM - Mugsy: i can't tell what the second image is for
12:26 AM - Mugsy: do i look at the menu and order in separate pages?
12:28 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): yeah
12:29 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): i think it was a requirement for the project
12:29 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): lol
12:29 AM - Mugsy: unless this is not a usability kind of project
12:29 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): it is i think
12:29 AM - Mugsy: i think you need to clarify the flow a bit more
12:29 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): what do you mean
12:29 AM - Mugsy: like use cases, first i log in, then i
12:29 AM - Mugsy: order a pizza, then choose toppings, then pay
12:30 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ohh
12:30 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): this is for the cashiers at the store btw
12:30 AM - Mugsy: in yours you can kinda jump between all those states
12:31 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): what do you mean
12:31 AM - Mugsy: i guess if I was someone who worked at a pizza place, this would be confusing to me
12:32 AM - Mugsy: you have to look at it from the end user's point of view
12:32 AM - Mugsy: and get random people to "playtest" it
12:32 AM - Mugsy: like ask them, ok, with this mockup, enter so and so order
12:32 AM - Mugsy: and see what they do
12:32 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:32 AM - Mugsy: am i just telling you stuff that you learned in class already
12:33 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): uh
12:33 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): no
12:33 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): not yet at least
12:33 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): thanks lol
12:33 AM - Mugsy: i've found that most people who write UI, they get too close to the task and tehy think things are obvious when a user doesn't understand them
12:33 AM - Mugsy: applies to all the dota UI of course
12:34 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:34 AM - Mugsy: it's probably still super confusing to someone who is new to dota
12:34 AM - Mugsy: like if you don't know that items are built from other items
12:34 AM - Mugsy: the combine tree looks odd to you
12:34 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:34 AM - Mugsy: but if you are looking for how items combine, then you see that and say "oh ok, that's combines"
12:35 AM - Mugsy: you can mock it all up with images like you have here
12:35 AM - Mugsy: just ask the user what they would click
12:35 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:35 AM - Mugsy: and tell them the new state etc
12:35 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): so i guess
12:35 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): flow through a user's actions
12:35 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): and make the most popular or obvious ones clearer?
12:35 AM - Mugsy: yes definitely make the common actions the most prominent
12:36 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ok
12:36 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): gotcha
12:36 AM - Mugsy: the simple tests should be the most common case
12:36 AM - Mugsy: a customer wants a pepperoni pizza
12:36 AM - Mugsy: order it
12:36 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): when you click pizza a new window for toppings was suipposed to pop up
12:36 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): yeah i think we did use cases for this
12:36 AM - Mugsy: yeah i can see that now
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): would you change that
12:37 AM - Mugsy: need a confirm on that
12:37 AM - Mugsy: or "done"
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah okay
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): dep
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): derp
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): forgot about that
12:37 AM - Mugsy: and maybe "no toppings"
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): it was gonna highlight buttons
12:37 AM - Mugsy: anyway
12:37 AM - Mugsy: details
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): when you select
12:37 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): and if you have zero youd just submit
12:37 AM - Mugsy: best thing for you is to test it with a few random people who aren't involved
12:38 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): okay
12:38 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): thanks for the advice :D
12:39 AM - Mugsy: i wish my s.eng had done more UI design
12:39 AM - Mugsy: it's not a very developed field
12:39 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ah i see
12:39 AM - Mugsy: but tons of easy stuff to do
12:39 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): yeah valve is awesome
12:39 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): about ui stuff
12:39 AM - Mugsy: and good examples to copy
12:40 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): gotcha
12:40 AM - Panzer - Valley of Titans (PvP): ill edit that
12:40 AM - Mugsy: hah