Hey, folks. I'm experimenting with a universal str...
# thinking-together
j
Hey, folks. I'm experimenting with a universal structured input interface for my research project. The idea is that commands/functions will provide a schema and invoking them prompts the user with a form. I'm pushing for super tight constraints on information density (I want interfaces to spread over time to save screen space, non-negotiable). Now since inputs are going to be generated I cannot have exceptional designs/behavior – it's all going to be rigorously data driven and I can only affect the design/experience by changing the data model. Below are two videos showing how a user would invoke a function for data input. Each video represents a distinct data model. The one with a tabular data model yields a short "time-to-first-field" (less overhead) interaction. The one with a composable tree model (much much more powerful) yields more overhead (2 more steps to reach the first field). Can you share your opinions? Not seeking any specific kind of feedback, just wanna hear your thoughts.
just to clarify the deal with spreading interfaces over time, since most tech minds find them so weird and wasteful: it's super easy to create arbitrarily complex interfaces where you cram lots of affordances in the screen, it can be done in an infinite number of ways; the opposite is not true; if you have minimal space to work, then there's a very small set of usable interfaces for any given interaction pattern. I want to find those minimal interfaces first, as the other kind I can do at any time