my little UI rant.... : )

[M_J]

just a couple thoughts. I hope you don't mind me posting these thoughts.

OK, I'll admit I do like my TomTom ONE but..... there are some things that are driving me crazy about the UI. If everyones grandmother is eventually going to use these things ( which I would imagine is the goal of the manufacturers ) then they need to make the UI much smarter. The only hardware change that I would make is to reposition the USB cable to a side, instead of the bottom, it's less likely to fall out and it would allow for the device to sit on its bottom.

This isn't about making the devices less smart, better design of the interface is really about making the devices smarter. They aren't lacking in features or performance and with the new found glut of devices the battle will be with the UI..... and that's where my little rant begins, anyone else want to chime in with their thoughts?

1. when turning on device you should be presented with a menu:
a.Continue to destination
b.New Destination
c.Main Menu

2. as mentioned in an earlier post- zoom in is normally at the top or right of the display

3. Main menu should group similar actions, for example page 1:
Navigate to
Find Alternate
Itinerary Planning ( actually this could be nested within Navigate to..)
Clear Route
Browse Map

4. Add Favorite>GPS Position should be labeled "current location". For the majority of end users GPS Position doesn't really mean anything, and actually it doesn't say "your current GPS Position" so it could be anywhere.

5. In "Driving View" the "next instruction" pane and the "trip information" pane should be different colors, or rounded corners to better imply that they are clickable and different from the "street name" pane below.

 

[digital-flex]

just a couple thoughts. I hope you don't mind me posting these thoughts.

OK, I'll admit I do like my TomTom ONE but..... there are some things that are driving me crazy about the UI. If everyones grandmother is eventually going to use these things ( which I would imagine is the goal of the manufacturers ) then they need to make the UI much smarter. The only hardware change that I would make is to reposition the USB cable to a side, instead of the bottom, it's less likely to fall out and it would allow for the device to sit on its bottom.

This isn't about making the devices less smart, better design of the interface is really about making the devices smarter. They aren't lacking in features or performance and with the new found glut of devices the battle will be with the UI..... and that's where my little rant begins, anyone else want to chime in with their thoughts?

1. when turning on device you should be presented with a menu:
a.Continue to destination
b.New Destination
c.Main Menu

2. as mentioned in an earlier post- zoom in is normally at the top or right of the display

3. Main menu should group similar actions, for example page 1:
Navigate to
Find Alternate
Itinerary Planning ( actually this could be nested within Navigate to..)
Clear Route
Browse Map

4. Add Favorite>GPS Position should be labeled "current location". For the majority of end users GPS Position doesn't really mean anything, and actually it doesn't say "your current GPS Position" so it could be anywhere.

5. In "Driving View" the "next instruction" pane and the "trip information" pane should be different colors, or rounded corners to better imply that they are clickable and different from the "street name" pane below.

There is an option in the preferences when you turn it on you can start at the main menu. Thats under 'Change preferences'>'Start up preferences'. So when you start up you will be given the option to navigate or if you already entered a destination before you turned off the unit you can just exit the main menu and the route will still be loaded.

As far as the zoom, the slider will work the same way whether you choose left or right handed. You can probably send an email to support about that.

Now for the main menue you can try this software tool: http://www.gregoryduncan.com/ttmd/index.php

You can customize how your menu looks like. I think you'll find this tool helpful. There is a MAC app but it escapes me for the momment.

Hope this helps.

 

[M_J]

There is an option in the preferences when you turn it on you can start at the main menu. Thats under 'Change preferences'>'Start up preferences'. So when you start up you will be given the option to navigate or if you already entered a destination before you turned off the unit you can just exit the main menu and the route will still be loaded.

I played with that and it's OK but definitely not the answer to a better and more intuitive interface.

As far as the zoom, the slider will work the same way whether you choose left or right handed. You can probably send an email to support about that.

I did, it seems that it's really just one of many tweaks that are needed.

Now for the main menue you can try this software tool: http://www.gregoryduncan.com/ttmd/index.php

You can customize how your menu looks like. I think you'll find this tool helpful. There is a MAC app but it escapes me for the momment.

Hope this helps.
_______________

thanks I'll take a look, usually mods like these pop up when there is a need to change things, so I guess that it qualifies some of the need for a review.

regards, m

 

[digital-flex]

I think TomTom did a good job albeit this is my first GPS unit, I have to say imho the menu is very intuitive.

I think if the HOME application had more features like customizing Menu's or changing the behaviour of how things worked like the zoom slider built in the app we would praise it.

Hopefully thing like this would be available to us officially from TomTom in the future.

 

[givingmybest]

I definitely think that you will benefit from customizing your menu.
I was saying similar things about the menu being out of order, certain things
that I would never use were in front.
TT's best feature is that you can modify it
Oh yeah, I don't mess around with the day/night time lighting anymore
thanks to suntime~! Look for programs that you can add to get what you want!
GL mate

 

[Biggles_downunder]

I would definitely agree with the comments regarding the order of items in the menu - that's why I used the tool mentioned to customize mine.

There is also a 'tweak' to make the 'Clear Route' action a 'one-tap' process'.

You might find this thread on the MTekk forum useful.

Wayne

 

[M_J]

is there any problem with potential conflicts of Official upgrades and making changes to the menus with these utilities?

 

[Biggles_downunder]

Hm, don't really know the answer to that one as I've not had a firmware upgrade since building my custom menu.

External apps are a bit messy, as you will note from the posts in the MTekk forum, but it simply means rebuilding your menu (and carefully checking SDK numbers) each time you install a newer version of a particular application.

Wayne

 

[digital-flex]

is there any problem with potential conflicts of Official upgrades and making changes to the menus with these utilities?

Well what the software does is when you create a custom menu it creates a file called TomTom.mnu. If you ever wanted to go back to default just delete or move it out of the TomTom drive (SD card).

I don't know if there is any potential conflicts because I haven't made an upgrade with the custom menu. To be on the safe side you should always do a backup before updating (its good practice anyways).

 

[digital-flex]

I would definitely agree with the comments regarding the order of items in the menu - that's why I used the tool mentioned to customize mine.

There is also a 'tweak' to make the 'Clear Route' action a 'one-tap' process'.

You might find this thread on the MTekk forum useful.

Wayne

That thread is awesome. I changed my menu so when I clear it doesn't confirm. I just like how its so simple.

 

[M_J]

it would be interesting if everyone is changing the menu same way. for example is everyone putting clear route on page 1?

 

[digital-flex]

it would be interesting if everyone is changing the menu same way. for example is everyone putting clear route on page 1?

Yes, I did. I think it's much more convenient that way.

 

[Biggles_downunder]

Yes, I did. I think it's much more convenient that way.

I did too, I also changed it to a 'one' tap action (it doesn't ask the user to confirm that they really do want to delete the route) by following this instruction:

Change the MENUITEM | TASK_CONFIRM_DELETE_ROUTE|
To | TASK_DELETE_ROUTE|

Wayne

 

[digital-flex]

I did too, I also changed it to a 'one' tap action (it doesn't ask the user to confirm that they really do want to delete the route) by following this instruction:

Change the MENUITEM | TASK_CONFIRM_DELETE_ROUTE|
To | TASK_DELETE_ROUTE|

Wayne

Yeah exactly. Thats what I did and it so much more convenient and not bothersome.

 

[Pedro2NR]

Here are images of my custom menu for my 910 and ONE

910:

ONE:

 

[M_J]

it would be much better if 3D display toggle was available from the driving window in the same way that you can alternate views within ViewRoute>BrowseAsImages. Reduce a menu option and puts it where it's needed. m

 

[fanchee]

Thanks for sharing your custom menus, I'm always curious to see how other people use that.

 

[Pedro2NR]

Thanks Fanchee!
Im willing to share my menu if anyone wants it.