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IPS today gave an update on Nexus including showing the new interface to the public for the first time...
Phew, it went OK (so far)! I always get nervous before releasing details about something I'm working on. I'm never quite sure how it'll go down.
I've been working on the new interface bit by bit with Josh over the past 4 or 5 weeks. It's been a whole lot more than just making a pretty skin. When I was asked to design an interface, I went through a made a list of things that I thought could be improved. We've overhauled the entire navigation system, introduced context-sensitive functions and of course restyled everything. It's quite different to how it looked and worked a month ago.
I felt that the old menu system that showed all available functions on the left hand side wasn't really suited to Nexus where there's often a lot of contextual information to absorb. We decided to put the main navigation in tabs at the top, and the functions for each page are now available in the appropriate tab. It's now possible to get anywhere in the system with a couple of clicks without having to wait for page reloads. There was a lot of debate amongst the staff about whether this was better or not, but with a tweak or two and a new feature addition (that I'm sure Josh will tell you about in due course), we settled with something we're all happy with.
As mentioned, many pages have a lot of information and options specific to that page. A ticket, for example, has department info, a status, dates and misc. options. Before, these were tucked away in the page content and couldn't really be checked quickly. We decided that now the left hand menu had gone, we'd introduce context menus. Every page (where appropriate) now has it's own menus that give you really easy access to necessary information and options. The context menu also holds some other blocks such as online staff.
Next, the styling. I'm notoriously hard on myself when I design something (I think this is a trait common to all designers). I'm never happy with it until often the 3rd or 4th attempt. It allows me to develop the idea as I go, give it some time to sink in, then change things that I don't like. It's not a method that would go down well in most design firms, where planning then a single attempt is expected, but it's the way I work best. Originally I went with colours similar to IPB to keep some consistency, but I wasn't happy with it, it just didn't seem to work well. Eventually I settled on a dark blue gradient, but other shades are still based on IPB. You'll notice I've also started to add hints of green; I preferred to go with a dual colour scheme instead of simply reusing shades of blue.
It's quite a bit different to IPB in the end, but I think it's well suited to the type of application that Nexus is. We have a couple of variations on this interface that will be going into products bit by bit.
Josh has lots more to show off, so keep a look out in the announcements forum
Phew, it went OK (so far)! I always get nervous before releasing details about something I'm working on. I'm never quite sure how it'll go down.
I've been working on the new interface bit by bit with Josh over the past 4 or 5 weeks. It's been a whole lot more than just making a pretty skin. When I was asked to design an interface, I went through a made a list of things that I thought could be improved. We've overhauled the entire navigation system, introduced context-sensitive functions and of course restyled everything. It's quite different to how it looked and worked a month ago.
I felt that the old menu system that showed all available functions on the left hand side wasn't really suited to Nexus where there's often a lot of contextual information to absorb. We decided to put the main navigation in tabs at the top, and the functions for each page are now available in the appropriate tab. It's now possible to get anywhere in the system with a couple of clicks without having to wait for page reloads. There was a lot of debate amongst the staff about whether this was better or not, but with a tweak or two and a new feature addition (that I'm sure Josh will tell you about in due course), we settled with something we're all happy with.
As mentioned, many pages have a lot of information and options specific to that page. A ticket, for example, has department info, a status, dates and misc. options. Before, these were tucked away in the page content and couldn't really be checked quickly. We decided that now the left hand menu had gone, we'd introduce context menus. Every page (where appropriate) now has it's own menus that give you really easy access to necessary information and options. The context menu also holds some other blocks such as online staff.
Next, the styling. I'm notoriously hard on myself when I design something (I think this is a trait common to all designers). I'm never happy with it until often the 3rd or 4th attempt. It allows me to develop the idea as I go, give it some time to sink in, then change things that I don't like. It's not a method that would go down well in most design firms, where planning then a single attempt is expected, but it's the way I work best. Originally I went with colours similar to IPB to keep some consistency, but I wasn't happy with it, it just didn't seem to work well. Eventually I settled on a dark blue gradient, but other shades are still based on IPB. You'll notice I've also started to add hints of green; I preferred to go with a dual colour scheme instead of simply reusing shades of blue.
It's quite a bit different to IPB in the end, but I think it's well suited to the type of application that Nexus is. We have a couple of variations on this interface that will be going into products bit by bit.
Josh has lots more to show off, so keep a look out in the announcements forum
The interface looks really stunning and although I have only seen a few screenshots, seems to help a lot with the usability too 
Really great work 
