User:Severin/HIG Proposal

= Blender Human Interface Guidelines (WIP/Proposal) =

On a project with the dynamics and size of Blender, measurements have to be taken to ensure common ground in the way interfaces for user interactions are designed and built. Therefore, we - the Blender UI Team - have established the Blender Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). Apart from that, there are also rationales behind design decisions explained here.

To us, terms like user interface, user experience or usability refer to much more than just the cosmetics of our graphical user interface; they are about the possibilities, limitations and behavior of Blender, as well as the users workflows and even their emotional connection to it. More concretely, we talk about things like customizability, tool design, structure, interaction feedback, etc.

Subpages:

Usability
The term usability has special relevance to us. ISO 9241 (ISO 9241-11:2018, sec. 3.1.1) defines it as follows:

"[E]xtend to which a system, product or service can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency and satisfaction in a specified context of use" (emphasis added)

There's an imporant implication in it: If we want to maximize effectiveness of our usability engineering process, we need a deep understanding of who uses Blender, what for and in which context. Our aim is to build the process around this implication.

Vision
[Maybe each section could show a real life example to show its point? This may help making things less abstract, more practical.] [This section can be improved a lot, just trying to show the basic idea.]

Made for Professional Use

Blender is made to be usable by professionals in production environments. By building a free and open source environment with this goal, professional level tools become accessible to the masses. Our belief is that hobbyists, freelancers and the like will greatly benefit from this goal too.

We (the UI team) do not think that this necessarily makes software hard to use for beginners. Professionals and beginners are not opposites. There are many things that can be done to improve the experience for both groups, although sometimes trade-offs need to be accepted.

Workflow Flexibility

The fields in which Blender is used are incredibly diverse, just like the backgrounds of its users. While there are limitations to what can be reasonably done, flexibility is an important quality. Blender should be adoptable to the users needs and not enforce workflows.

Any complexity above what's needed should be avoided. Simplicity is key, but not at the cost of limiting what's possible or big efficiency loss.

Optimized for Specific Usages

When trying to cater to such a diverse audience, there's a high risk of generalizing too much towards the mysterious "users" without a clear idea of who they are, what they do and what context they are in (see definition of usability). For that reason, efforts should be put into understanding the core use-cases Blender is aimed at. These define where Blender needs to be particularly good at.

[TODO what are these usages? Who defines them?]

Facilitate Creativity

Software interfaces tend to steal away user attention from actual content they try to create. Tools should feel reliable, natural, smooth and overall a pleasure to use. Only then is it possible that a user forgets about the tools and gets to focus on the content instead. Then the interface can ignite sparks, rather than absorb them. Again, this depends on the user, goals and context of usage (see definition of usability): Something that feels natural to one user may not feel so to another one. Even just the circumstances (goals and context) may change that.