New Settings Pane

Removal of 'The Flipside"

Our only regret to losing "The Flipside" is losing the cool name.  For many years it served its purpose well, even winning an award from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.  However, as time moves on, needs change and we've grown out of it.

Given the need to change we took the opportunity to develop with the design thinking methodology, to understand our users needs, challenge the status quo and redefine the user experience of MooD Business Architect.

This involved a number of user sessions, from focus groups to iterative usability testing of designs. 

The result is a more intuitive side settings pane, with more real estate and a clearer workflow for the user to follow. 

The extra real estate has also allowed us to move all configuration settings into one place, allowing us to create that more intuitive workflow and reduce the burden on the user to look in different places to find what they need.

This has also greatly reduced the noise on the Business Architect ribbon, and created a delineation between configuring models and the configuration of a model's individual parts.

The Structure of the Settings Pane

The new settings pane can be found to the right of the canvas, when a panel (element, control, chart, shape etc.) is dropped onto the canvas.

Panel Label

At the top of the pane is the panel's label field, allowing the user to change the label straight away.  To the right of the label is the green subject pin (where applicable) and to the right of that is the settings lock function. 

Settings Lock

The settings lock, when clicked, will float the settings pane where it will remain open even when another panel on the canvas is selected; this allows a user to compare multiple panel's configurations, or when pinning, if the user holds down ctrl as they drag and drop the pin, it will allow the user to drop multiple pins, where they match, from multiple panels.

TOP TIP: you can move a floating settings pane onto another monitor so that you can see it without covering Business Architect.

Tabs

A panel could have as few as 1 tab or as many as 6, depending on the type of panel and the settings applied during configuration.  Most settings and tabs will only appear when applicable or enabled.

Configure

This is the first tab and contains all the mandatory settings, or settings which require serious consideration, to ensure the panel works as expected and required.

Variables

In "The Flipside" we had an Inputs tab where all orange pins could be found.  The user will now find orange pins inline with the setting they relate to, with the exception of variables on data sources, which will appear in the Variables tab.

So for example if you select a query as a data source for a chart, and that query has variables, a Variables tab will appear with the variables relating to the query.

Options

Any optional settings, which do not need to be configured to make the panel work, or any defaulted settings (defaults set either to common preferences or best practice) can be found in this tab.

Style

Previously, style settings were found in the ribbon, often in multiple tabs.  These have now been moved to the Style tab within the settings pane.  This is so that the user can find all configuration settings within one place, in a suitable order aligned to need.

Some Style tabs, depending on panel type, may have sub-tabs, for example charts have sub-tabs relating to different components of the chart.

Web

As with Style, web settings pertaining to panels were held under the Web tab in the ribbon.  These have also been moved to the side settings pane under the Web tab; for example allowing scrolling and navigation in the web.

Advanced

Some panels may have advanced settings which allow an architect or designer to optimise performance, content, style and behaviour of the panel, for example with custom SQL.  These settings should only be changed or configured by someone with the right skill set and knowledge.

Footer

At the bottom of the settings pane you will find a panel description, and a tickbox, ticked by default, which allows the user to choose if changes made within the settings pane should be applied to the panel instantly.  If a panel, for example a chart, has a lot of data to load, it may be advisable to uncheck this box when making a lot of changes.  Please note that this option is universal, so if unticked, it will remain unticked for all panels, until ticked again.

Key Points

• The user can close the settings pane, using the cross on the top right of the pane, and can reinstate it by clicking on the settings icon to the top right of the panel they wish to open it for
• The settings pane will change according to which panel is selected

• Collapsible/Expandable tab sections
  • To collapse or expand all sections of the settings tab at once, the user can hold down ctrl when clicking on the arrow to the left of the section label, this makes it easier to find what the user is looking for if there are a lot of settings.

• Options and tabs may appear according to other options the user selects.  This is to ensure the user journey is much more intuitive and the settings pane remains as decluttered as possible.
• There will be indicators, in the form of a red dot on a tab, or the red highlighted of a setting, to let the user know that something needs to be configured before the panel will work.

• There are tips and instructions on tabs, to help users to become familiar with the new settings pane.  These can be dismissed by clicking the cross at the top right of the message.  These messages will not show again once dismissed, on any panel.
  • You can reinstate these instructions and messages, as well as other settings by going to File ->Options and clicking on one of the options in blue, at the bottom.