With the last couple of ARCHICAD Releases, GDL has been updated to provide a number of UI improvements, including a improved navigation system. Taking account of these new features and also the major UI Refresh in ARCHICAD 20 we decided it was time to update and improve the Object Interfaces of the Cadimage Tools.
To kick off the process, late last year, we undertook a number of surveys with our customers to review and understand what they did and didn’t like. Once we understood many of these basic responses we then started a high level design, again seeking customer input each step of the way.
The results see a number of changes across the Cadimage UI with a number of benefits to help both new and experienced customers alike.
First up, by implementing the new GDL Navigation approach we were instantly able to increase the size of our UI by almost 50%. This provided two benefits, one we could use bigger graphics to help explain the functions better, but also we were able to reduce the number of UI Pages within each of our objects.
Feedback also provided insight into how customers like to use an object at a high level initially with a few primary settings, then have the ability to drill into the detail as their design is refined. Again the new GDL Hierarchical menu helped with this two-level approach.
Another key requirement from our customers was the ability to view and edit attributes in a single place – that said, however, many customers also liked the ability to set the primary attributes of an item on the main configuration page. To provide for both these approaches we implemented our All Attributes button and page across all objects;
Overall we believe we have created a highly consistent and efficient UI which will allow you to use our Tools more productively as we have standardised our approach across our entire Tool range.