I've been contemplating the new UI in Sibelius 7 (as I know all of you are) and I'd like to offer a proposal for some tweaks and adjustments that, IMHO, would make the user experience even better.
I should preface with some disclosure: I am a Mac zealot, a new Sibelius user (switched from the F-Word 6 months ago). an obviously avocational graphic artist, and someone who loves imaging what could be.
My proposal (see attached PNG file, a screenshot tinkered with in Illustrator) is inspired by the minimalist approach taken by Apple in Lion, and by the immensely popular user interface of iOS. The first item of note is that I suggest all text in the UI be set in Helvetica, which is universally regarded as one of the most timeless and legible fonts out there, and is available to Mac and Windows users.
This proposal replaces the busy and color-saturated Ribbon graphics with a series of unobtrusive rounded rectangles (i.e., iOS buttons) which allow the symbols to represent themselves. It also eliminates many of the wide palette elements with drop-downs, saving space and eye strain.
I've also drawn in a button series at the bottom of the window, which allows easy access to the mixer, transport, keyboard, fretboard, and other oft-used palettes. These can be anchored to the bottom (centered over their button) or torn away and placed wherever needed. (It occurs to me as I write this that the Inspector ought to be down there too!)
Anyway, I offer this as a love tap, not a harsh criticism. Sibelius has changed the way I work for the better, and I'd like to return the favor if I can. Thank you.
Off-topic to the main thrust of your remarks, but I have to disagree with your assessment of Helvetica.
Helvetica has a certain reputation in the world of printed art-work, but it was designed long before the needs of computer display rasterisation arose. There are now many fonts which have better legibility than Helvetica on computer displays.
For instance, Verdana was designed some time ago for better legibility than Helvetica on web-sites when rendered at the typical 72dpi/96dpi raster on Macs and PCs. More recently, Calibri is designed to take full advantage of sub-pixel rendering on colour displays.
There are horses for courses. Helvetica belongs in the typographical printed world. Other typefaces do better on computer displays.
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Sibelius 7.0.2/6.2, PhotoScore Ult 7.0.2, Dolet 6 for Sibelius, Windows 7 32-bit SP1, 4GB RAM
Well, if your iPhone has the retina display, that would reduce the rasterisation problems, for any font.
It's difficult to be fair with your posted image, as this site does not render graphical attachments exactly pixel-for-pixel as they were posted, but my guess is that "Segoe UI" would be more legible on your mock-up of the ribbon tab names. There's no problem with your comment balloons, as they are at a larger size.
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Sibelius 7.0.2/6.2, PhotoScore Ult 7.0.2, Dolet 6 for Sibelius, Windows 7 32-bit SP1, 4GB RAM
Thanks for taking the time to create a mock-up and post your suggestions, Tony. I'm not opposed to a more monochromatic colour scheme to match the grey, low-contrast UI in Lion as an option in a future version of Sibelius, but the kinds of changes you've suggested to the ribbon would put us at odds with other ribbon-based applications, and I believe there is value to sticking with an approach that is consistent with other ribbon-based applications, though I accept this has less value on Mac, where ribbon-based UIs are less common.
Thank you, Daniel. Perhaps this serves as an indictment of the Ribbon interface (in general, not in Sibelius)... granted, I'm not a fan of Microsoft Anything, but even so, I find the aethetics of every Ribbon UI I've seen to be lacking at best and counterproductive at worst. I'm sorry if this is yet another Ribbon Rant... not my intent.
The Mac OS X system font is still Lucida Grande, and we have no plans to change the main font used by Sibelius's UI until such time as the Mac OS X system font changes.
That's a lot of work, thank you! I like your highlighting of the currently selected Tab, and I like a lot the simplicity and clarity of your mockup overall. It is however for the reduced format of the Ribbon, which contains a great deal more when on a larger monitor. No doubt your concept could still be extended to cover this.
The thing that strikes me about it particularly is the way you have enlarged the images through simplification (e.g by removing a flat out of the key signature icon), and clearly delineated them with rounded rectangles and a slightly different grey highlighting. That does make it a great deal easier to see the structure, where one item starts and the other leaves off.
This is beautiful. Thanks for making it! I was almost startled by how much I liked the muted color palette in your ribbon. I'm finding the yellow highlights in the current ribbon pretty distracting (for example, Live Tempo and Live Playback, which are almost always highlighted for me in the Play tab).
Sibelius-UI-Sketch.png