On a project page, the text area is like HN comments. Too wide and hard to read. Why not introduce a right-handed sidebar on the project page for just the basic navigation: Discussions, Todos, Files, Documents.
Basecamp Next: UI Preview
41–50 of 85 posts
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Curious about how you're employing pushState. Is it through pjax or something similar?
We started out with pjax (which is awesome) but ended up rolling our own framework called Stacker which lets us have complete control over the UI.
Any plans to open source Stacker?
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#43Really, really dig the new sheets UI. If anything is going to be "stolen" from BCX, it'll be sheets. It seems odd, but only because we're so used to traversing views. Another big lesson is that the UI itself is feather light (the restraint is impressive). Excited to play with this, wish I had an invite now.
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
We started out with pjax (which is awesome) but ended up rolling our own framework called Stacker which lets us have complete control over the UI.
Any plans to open source Stacker?
Not for the time being. Stacker is specifically developed for this unique UI style that we're using for Next. We don't open source our UI elements.
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#45I love the concept (and the speed, my God! ) but one thing that really bugs me is the to-do list area -- it seems as though it could use a similar treatment as the discussion area. The long line lengths plus the inconsistent comment badge locations make it look really tough to scan.
I wonder if they're using pre-fetching to get that insane level of speed, or they really can roundtrip DB-driven Ajax that quickly.
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#46[deleted]
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#47Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#48Nicely done. Very fast as well, never seen a webapp load that quick. Anyone with a bit of explanation on how this is done?
I'm guessing they preload the overview data for projects in the background while you're on the overview. You can tell the difference when he clicks one of the comments. A whole lot of nothing happens for 0.5 seconds or so, then the comment loads.
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can you expand on what sort of caching you are talking about? Client side caching in the JS layer, varnish or some other http level caching, some sort of server side in the Rails app itself, etc ?
All of the above. On the app level, each fragment of markup is free of user-specific data so all users can share the same cache. (User-specific concerns are pushed down into JavaScript and CSS.) Those cache fragments are then nested, so we can cache at all levels of display: an individual to-do item, the to-do list with all its items, all to-do lists in a project, and the entire project itself. At the HTTP level, we…
Do you mean:
1) it's a single page app
2) you're using ERB fragments (or something) as "templates"
3) MVC fat-client
Is this... more or less it?
Re: Basecamp Next: UI Preview
#50The new "sheets" UI paradigm is strange to me. Jason mentioned a few times that they wanted to provide focus by getting rid of unnecessary design elements and chrome. But with the sheets, you actually get unneeded chrome. Your main content viewport keeps getting shifted down and to the right. Why not just use breadcrumbs at the top to provide context? That way, the entire content area could be taken over whenever you…
When you use it you'll see why breadcrumbs are inferior. Breadcrumbs don't give you a sense of place. Breadcrumbs aren't natural. It sounds like a subtle thing, but once you use it you'll see the difference. Also, sheets have a much larger click target which makes them a lot easier and faster to use.
My first impression was that the "sheet" visual metaphor is brilliant. I'm all for physical-world-based visual metaphors when they can be implemented well, ie. not overly obtrusive and well balanced. In addition, if the the performance is as good as it seems in the video when multiple sheets are overlayed -- that's very impressive as well. I'm very curious how it was implemented.
Previously I haven't preferred Basecamp but this new version is looking great so far.