UX analysis of the two windows¶
Both windows were reviewed against the same questions: what is the machine doing right now, what can I do next, and what happened to my last command? The findings below led to the current design.
Command client (ippdme client-gui)¶
Finding |
Effect on the user |
Change |
|---|---|---|
The 110 commands were one alphabetical list that filled the left side. |
Nobody knows the protocol by name; the list did not help to find a task. |
Commands are grouped by task (session, move, measure a point, scan, tool, …) in a tree; the search shows only matching groups. Double-click copies a command to the line. |
Commands were echoed when the first reply arrived, and a status poll could land between them. |
Log lines of different commands were mixed, and a repeated command was not echoed twice. |
Each command has a number ( |
Machine state was in a small status bar. |
Homed, enabled and busy were not visible while working in a dialog or the log. |
A strip above the log: lamps for connection, session, homed, user enabled and busy; the tool name; the position in large digits. |
Abort was one toolbar icon among others. |
The most urgent action was the least visible. |
A red Abort button in the strip, and Esc anywhere in the window. Abort goes through while a move is still running. |
Dialogs closed over, or left open, without telling whether the run worked. |
The user looked at the log to find out. |
The dialog shows Running …, then Done with the time, or Failed with the server’s error. Run is disabled while it runs. |
Three docks on the right that were empty most of the time. |
Wasted space and no hint what fills them. |
One Results dock with tabs: points, point cloud (opens after an acquisition), last response. |
An empty window after start. |
No hint what to do first. |
The log starts with the two ways to begin; sending while not connected explains how to connect instead of failing silently. |
No keyboard use. |
Repeated tasks need the mouse. |
F5 connect, Ctrl+Shift+V virtual CMM, Ctrl+1..8 dialogs, Ctrl+L command line, Esc abort. |
Not changed on purpose: the command line stays, as the protocol is the product; the dialogs only build lines for it, and the preview shows each line before it runs.
Simulator (ippdme gui)¶
Finding |
Change |
|---|---|
Settings, library, teaching and checking were one long form. |
Tabs Machine, Tools, Teach-in, Check and Safety in a dock; the 3D view stays in the middle. |
State was text drawn into the 3D view. |
A strip above the view with lamps (server, client, homed, motion, safety), the tool and the position. |
The camera could only orbit. |
Views 1-7 (iso, top, front, side, follow the machine, the probe, the table), F fits. |
Moving the machine needed a client. |
Teach-in tab: jog buttons, go-to with a collision-free path, generate and run a probing program; the key, pick, clearance and tool-change events of the protocol (5.5.3). |
Tools could only be picked. |
A library of sensors, extensions and changers, and a tool creator with a live summary. |
Repainting on every timer tick starved the window when a heavy part was shown. |
The scene is repainted only when its state changes. |
Still open¶
CAD import of styli (parts and fixtures can be imported).
Cameras that are attached to a chosen component, beyond follow, probe and table.