We’ve just released a completely revamped user interface for Sharendipity! This project has been underway for the last month or so, driven by internal and external customer feedback. Our overriding goal was to make the software approachable and intuitive for both consumers and creators.

The slide-out galleries at the top and bottom of the screen? Gone. The radial menus? Gone. The complicated tree-based behavior editor? Gone.

Instead, we now have a paradigm based on characters that guide the user through the development process. These characters appear at the bottom of the screen and can easily be toggled on and off with the escape key. (Note that the graphics are temporary and may change.)

The director (currently a professor) guides the user through management of high-level applications and scenes.

The construction worker provides access to the basic building tools for creating circles, lines, joints, and other content.

The librarian provides access to the user’s collection of assets (the gallery) for the current application.

And on the right side of the screen, separated from the other characters, the Explorer acts as a gateway to the components and applications created by the community.

Clicking on these characters produces a menu or window corresponding to the character. For example, clicking on the explorer produces the search window:

(If you’ve used Sharendipity, you’ll see that the Search window is completely revised as well, providing access to more search results in a better organized list.)

Similarly, clicking on the construction worker produces the tool menu:

In the near future, these characters will also guide the user using word or thought bubbles - providing an interactive tutorial for new users.

A future post will explore the new Behavior window.

We would love to hear what you think about our new UI. Post a comment, or better yet give the tools a try and let us know what you think.

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