The Revit 2010 Ribbon - Designing the User Experience

Designing and implementing this overhaul of the user interface (UI) required a considerable amount of research, data analysis, interaction design, and visual design. It describes the design process that we followed while designing this new UI. This video highlights a few themes that will persist through our blogging on the topic:
•Using data to make design decisions
•Developing prototypes and iteratively testing by customers
•Leveraging design patterns to create flexible and extensible designs.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• autodesk
• revit
• ui
• ux

[anarchytec]

1. More modeling space? Technically correct (~8%) but not measurably significant.

2. Easier to use? No - it constantly jumps around based on what you're trying to accomplish. Functional similarities are isolated from each other.

3. Visually appealing? No. This smacks of Function following Form.

4. More consistent? It's littlw relief to think of what other users need go through to get work done.

This is the result of top down corporate imposition that adds little customer or shareholder value.

[goodlordyy]

revit 2010 is ridden with inconsistencies

and is most faulty program of all revits I have used and overall shoddy piece of S**T,

they really F***ed up this one.

follow sketchup's lead with ease of use and functionality... Revit is overly complex, and could be simplified ten fold

[deezynar]

I played around w/ REVIT 2008 and didn't like it. I'm trying to learn 2012 now and it seems to make more sense. Since I don't have mastery over it at this point I can't say if the interface is flawless, just that it's better than 2008.

[KevBoy3D]

I'm not against a ribbon, I can't say I'm for a ribbon either, it's a fiercely debated user interface topic.

I think it's due to the fact that it has advantages and disadvantages -- almost to the point where they cancel each other out.

A advantage is that functions are all in one place, similar to the standard menu bar.

A disadvantage is exactly that, and you don't have any directions to guide you such as: modeling tools on the left, view commands at the top and so on, which cognitively help.

[c4scratch]

Jeebus. I thought I knew how to use Microsoft Word before they instituted the ribbon interface! WHAT HAPPENED TO QUICK COMMANDS?! You can't even customise the element properties keyboard command. The quick key text file is now so bamboozling with atleast 10 redundancies for every command.

[soto4977]

fix the things that are broken, dont invent new ones to brake

[RevitDesigner]

Autodesk has moved their products to a bastard child of icons, we should cut off a hand so that we accommodate their idea of an ideal user interface. I gave up learning the new icons every little yearly update they did in CAD since after R14, I removed all icons, combined menus, heavily modded the cmd alias editor, wrote lisps tied it to the only good improvement to the UI- palettes. Now if the arts and crafts project is over and the programmers can get back to coding, bring palettes into Revit!

[phd1138]

I am not a fan of the new user interface. I would have preferred that the user have the option to choose between old and new interface as we can do with AutoCAD and AutoCAD Architecture.