Basic Design Bar Tab - Trivia Test

So why has there been a Basics Design Bar tab all these years?

a - Because user studies said it was needed
b - Because Leonid Raiz said so
c - Because Jim Balding said so
d - Because Basics just sounded good
e - none of the above

Well the true story was shared recently by Erik from Inside the Factory. He wrote:

"Lets take as an example the old Basics tab. Some users we tested indicated they liked Basics. But when pressed, they usually conveyed a story about not being able to find something as they grew with the product. A little known fact: Basics was originally designed to make the product easier to demonstrate; the marketing guy would not have to flip around too much during the demo. In reality, Basics becomes a crutch. After using it for a while, user find themselves asking, "Hmm, Floor is on Basics, but Floor by Face is not. Is it on the Massing tab or the Modeling Menu or somewhere else? " This results in a lot of wasted searching - even after learning where the tool is located."

The above is an excerpt discussing the motivation for the upcoming user interface changes we will see in the Revit 2010 products. I love little stuff like that and had to share it here...so what are you waiting for? Go read the blog yourself!

A Proposal - Design Bar Tabs

A fairly common request is for a way to reduce the cluttered list of component types we get presented when we use the Component tool. I suggest that on a new component design bar tab that we have a category specific component tool for each category of the following component families:

• Casework
• Entourage
• Furniture
• Furniture System
• Generic Component
• Planting
• Site
• Specialty Equipment
• Sustainable Design

If a tool exists for a category under another tab I didn’t add it to this list, such as column, site and parking. I don’t know how deserving Sustainable Design is of its own tool or folder since each component in that folder could easily belong to an existing category. Seems that this folder is catering to a specific design issue than a feature.

While I’m at it I’d like to see our own Electrical, Mechanical and Plumbing tabs to place those categories of components as well, even if it is only for placing those components along with a few drafting tools like dimensions and tags. I’m hoping we get some architectural process tools for each discipline so our overlap and redundancy will be reduced as we moved forward on the BIM path.

If we get a separate component tab one assumes that each tool will filter the list of the types offered in the type selector to only those of that tool’s category. Of all the things that we want Revit to do this seems like it might be a pretty minor task to accomplish.

It might look like this?