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Sketch

Storyboard

Learnability

Efficiency

Safety

 

 

 

 


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This design for the saving items task uses a nested folder
layout, similar to the filesystem on desktop computers.

When Bob wants to save an item for later, he drags it and
drops it into a folder. A set of stub folders is created by
default, and Bob can create new folders or navigate the
heirarchy the same way he uses file browsers on his
computer.

Therre's a debate over whether the folder or tag model is
better. Gmail is often advocated as evidence that the tag
model is better for organization. It is true that with tags,
you can categorize the same item under multiple areas.

Bob may not want the additional complexity of multiple tags
for one item though, if he only archives things for a short
period of time. It's interesting to note that Gmail later added
a "Priority Inbox" feature, which is closer to the folder model
(an email in my "Important" section doesn't appear in the
"Everything Else" section).

Bob can learn by recognition, calling on his
experience with file management on his computer.

The interface uses the direct manipulation model,
which is generally considered to produce fairly
intuitive user interfaces, by preserving the idea
of putting objects into folders like you do in the
real world.

Folders may be less efficient than tags,
as a drawback to their similarity. The same
item can't be categorized into multiple folders.

Also, finding an item may require drilling down
multiple layers of folders, which is slow. The
use of a search bar can ameliorate this, but
it does require that Bob remembers roughly
where his item is saved.

Bob can't make unrecoverable errors with this
interface. If he drops an item into the wrong folder,
he can still open that folder and retrive the item,
so that he can move it again.

It's possible to mix these task designs together into an overall design not in this list (e.g. we could use the reading items design from Design 3, but with tag-based archiving). Tests and iteration are useful to determine which designs to keep.