[seek-kr-sms] GrOWL -metadata panel design.

[Rich Williams]

The ontology metadata is something that tends to be set up once and then
rarely changed.  Here are my first impressions of the options you listed:

#1: Putting the metadata in a side-panel doesn't seem like the right thing -
I don't think you ever need to see it alongside the graph, and as you point
out the short fields would be a problem.

#2: Protege uses the tabbed panel approach and it works quite well. There,
the metadata panel is one panel in a potentially large set of views of the
ontology (class hierarchy, properties, instances, various visualization
plugins etc.).  One issue is that GrOWL has a very different design, where
different views of the ontology are all displayed in the same pane, and
there are buttons that toggle between the different views.

#3:  I don't find the use of a dialog for this kind of infrequently used
user interface element particularly aesthetically unappealing.  One issue is
to make sure that the button or menu item that invokes the dialog is clearly
named etc. so that the dialog is easy to find.

Overall, I'd be ok with either #2 or #3, leaning slightly to #3.  On the
positive side, the window design will be basically the same whether in a
dialog or a tabbed panel.  It is quite easy to set up a tabbed panel, so I
don't think you'd be getting into much extra work if you choose that option.

Rich





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