Topic: Is there a copyright on BC user interface ?

All creative works (this includes graphic design, interface design, and copy writing) are copyright and they can not be copied or duplicated without permission of the copyright holder.

We’ve contacted a variety of companies that have copied our designs and many of them have cooperated without getting our lawyers involved, but those that don’t cooperate do require legal intervention.

If you have other examples please email us at support at 37signals dot com. Thanks.

Topic: Is there a copyright on BC user interface ?

More and more I see online apps popping up that use the same look, feel, colors, what goes where for the interface as 37signals apps.

So my question is there a copyright on an interface?
I am even thinking it would be good for 37s if there are more followers.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I had no idea. I was out of town and come back this morning to see we’re still arguing about the overview page. Some are arguing about how to argue even (statistics and ratios). Maybe he should take his time getting back here :)

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Tempest, Jason has been pretty ill for the last several days. He fully intends to write a post about the design decisions behind this, as soon as he’s able. Please be patient.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

“Are you serious? How many times does it need to be posted by Jason that he’s writing a full blog post about the reasons for this tomorrow?”

Well- where’s the post?

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

When I add a “To Do” item, my Overview screen shows “To-do” instead of “added a to-do”, is this how it’s supposed to be?

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I’ve used basecamp for about a year now. I did notice that it looks chunky now – not as professional as it used to.

I don’t have time to go into real specifics but the user interface looks more generic or something can’t put my finger on it. I am a designer and liked the clean or older look and feel. I like an update as well as anybody, but not this one.

Perhaps a new color pallet with softer colors on overview – that may not be the answer but its like “wham-plop-clink.”.

Keep up the ”” work with the app. still works just don’t get the update. Not going anywhere just some feedback.

Mikal

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

OMG, I LOVE the new updates. I’ve been at a Brian Tracy event all morning and I just got in. Using just Milestone or To Do is much better

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I find it weird that the NEW stuff is a bigger font than the Upcoming Milestones on the Project Overview page. I like the Dashboard’s current layout better. (as of 5/11/2007 4:42 p.m. Central Time)

Topic: Forum Software

I have the same problem with the edit not working in IE. It does work in Firefox. :)

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I like those suggestions Tom.

I’d like to add that it would be nice to download files directly from the Dashboard and Overview screens.

That is, a link to a file is a link to a file, rather than a link to the Files tab.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Crap I sure hope not, there’s NOTHING wrong with the dashboard.

I actually think there are a few changes to the Dashboard that would be very helpful:

• Allow me to check a setting that doesn’t show an active job on the Dashboard. I can do this by making a project ‘on hold’—but I’d rather do it more elegantly.

• Similarly, allow me to make a project sticky on the Dashboard. We are often updating more than 5 projects a day and sometimes a really important item gets pushed off the Dash (by a far less important project item).

• Would love to be able to see more items per project, but I understand the ‘expensiveness’ of this server call across all Basecamp users.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

The chicklets are now an outdated design artifact that’s been abandoned (or was never there in the first place) across the rest of the suite of 37S apps. I’d expect them to disappear from the Dashboard in the next ‘refresh’ as it certainly doesn’t make much sense to have the Dash (which I’ve see as an Overview aggregator) so different from Overview.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I agree that the project overview page is a little messy. One thing that might help is to standardize the widths of the File, Overview, Message, etc. tags so that things would line up in a column better. It would be nice if they were a little smaller (like the dashboard). They are just too “in your face” right now.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

My opinion is to have something that is useful for the overview page. The current design is not useful at all. Usability is not a term that I would use for this update. Before we had a design that had a hierarchy of information. Now it’s just chronological and flat.

The current page gives more emphasis on the person’s name than the item or task where as before it was the other way around. I need to know what was done. Not who did it.

Please apply the dashboard design to the Overview page.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

TomDolan: Was the way it was Scott, now a thing of the past. I’m assuming the Dashboard is going to move this direction soon.

Crap I sure hope not, there’s NOTHING wrong with the dashboard.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Scott N: The dashboard page presents a lot of information without being overwhelming, and it seems like a shame not to utilize that on the overview page.

I would have been happy if the Overview screen sported the exact same format as the Dashboard, except that it would list the last 30 entries for the applicable Project.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Was the way it was Scott, now a thing of the past. I’m assuming the Dashboard is going to move this direction soon.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

I agree with others that have asked for more consistency between the Dashboard and the Project Overview page. The dashboard page presents a lot of information without being overwhelming, and it seems like a shame not to utilize that on the overview page. You even have little labels (comment, file, etc…) created for the Dashboard. Why not get more use out of them?

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Here’s an updated hack, with comparative screengrabs. Tested in in Safari, Firefox, Camino, IE7, and IE6. This style:

• modifies the colored highlight boxes, picking up other existing colors from the app (light red = private)
• removes the check on completed items, replaces with line-thru on categories
• removes the line-thru on titles

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

JF, Just wanted to tell you guys thanks for listening and revising the overview page. The newest revision (with smaller colored boxes and strike-throughs) is a vast improvement. Thanks again. -Steve O

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Michael—thanks for the adjusted hack. I think it looks good (although I still prefer the FFCCCC for the light red, matching the Private header bar colors). We’re going to tweak on ours a bit later this morning and I’ll post. We discovered the 37S hacks for IE7 a bit late yesterday (needed to handle the check.png), and I want to ensure the next one we post is fully tested across Safari, FF, and IE6/7). I sincerely hope Jason and team try them and see what they look like. The hacks point out some interesting issues in the new design:

• With the chicklets gone, there’s no need to strike-thru the entire item (you had to do it before because you couldn’t strike-thru the chicklet image). Striking-thru just the new HTML text catagory gives you the visual signal you need, and leaving the item non-struck-thru leaves it readable (which is often very useful).

• A line-thru on the catagories seems to work much better than the check, which just contributes to things jarringly not-aligning. If you want to get rid of images, get rid of ‘em!

• With HTML catagories instead of chicklets perhaps the whole need for color code on items types is gone. It’s pretty easy to read “message” vs “comment” when it’s 12px text instead of a tiny icon. It’s a lot calmer page without all the solid blocks and the reversed out type. Update: interesting to note that Highrise categories are not color-coded.

• Of course this creates a whole bunch of inconsistencies between Overview and Dashboard, but the new 37S design seems to be throwing that design relationship under the bus anyway. As I’ve posted earlier (without reply), I’d fully expect the Overview solution to get pushed to the Dashboard eventually. Too bad there’s not an announcement field to place the hack there (yet).

• Certainly seems like it would be easy to give customers this type of control in the ‘color scheme’ control panel. I can imagine some people with visual impairment might want a page of fire-engine red boxes in their face—and they should be able to have them. ; )

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

Seems to me, that rather than the vendor arrogantly telling the client what is good and what is not, give the client the choice to use the system in the configuration of their choosing.

In your opinion, showing the calendar in a non-standard format is “better” because it doesn’t waste days, but in my opinion, it is harder to figure out where to put an event, wasting time. Personally, I’d rather lose a little space on the screen and be able to easily add events to the right day the first time.

The dashboard screen looks clean and is easy to read, could use a bit more info (like the actual date). But the project overview page has not been improved.

We were impressed and inspired by the overall look and the usefulness of basecamp to the point that we used the same layout for an admin area we developed.

I would not under any circumstances be inspired by the current Overview page look and feel. Maybe it looks better on a Mac, but it certainly does not on a PC. The guy that talked about columns is right. It would add some order to an otherwise unorderly page.

Please give us the option to select the format we’d like to use.

Joe

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

This works nice for me now (until they do the next round of mods) ...

<style>table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.file, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.comment, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.list, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.todo, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.todo completed, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.milestone, table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.post {background-color:#FFFFB8;color:black;}table.events tr.event td.what span.event_type span.private {background-color:#FFCCFF;color:black;}body.overview span.event_type span.completed{background-image:none;padding-left:3px;text-decoration:line-through;}</style>

The Overview Page is starting to shape up (I like the single word event_type descriptors). Thank you 37s folks for your continued efforts to improve the appearance of said page and thanks to those who aren’t completely inebriated from the BC koolaid for voicing their opinions.

Cheers and be well.

Michael.

Topic: Some adjustments to the Overview screen

We’ve modified the Basecamp UI three times in three years. Every time we change we get an earful. And that’s fine, but it’s interesting when the interface that was at one time panned becomes the interface that people defend when a new change comes along. It’s the cycle of change.

Sure, Jason. I have even got used to nationalist government in my country. Really.

We will eventually get used to the huge blocks on the Overview page. And we will probably defend it when the next change comes. Just as I may defend some moves of country’s nationalist government in future.

But does it make the world better?