Widget

Something very interesting happened following the last post about potentially introducing a command line to AutoCAD WS.

I presented four options about the placement of a command line in AutoCAD and then posted a poll where you could choose which one you liked best.

We got a few comments both on the blog post and on our Facebook page. The comments were unanimously in favor of us reproducing the existing and comfortingly familiar command line. But then when we looked at the poll results we fund something entirely different.

A clear majority (55%) of people who voted in the poll, chose the widget as their preferred representation of the command line. The existing version was back in third place with only 19% of the votes.

So we thought we would try to compare a couple of different versions of the widget, each with a different look and feel, and get your opinion on them.

Three pictures with a poll underneath.

Command Line Widget A

Command Line Widget B

Command Line Widget C

Poll

One of the most conspicuous differences between the full version of AutoCAD and our web application AutoCAD WS is the command line.

When we designed the interface for AutoCAD WS, we left out the physical representation of the command line. But even without seeing the command line, we held on to all the familiar shortcuts. Every function that exists in the AutoCAD WS web application can be activated by the same shortcut that you use in AutoCAD.

Nevertheless, once we launched we saw that there was still considerable demand for a command line in the web app with plenty of you saying that you just can’t work without one.

(We even had a few people complaining that there is no command line in the AutoCAD WS mobile app for iPhone, but that’s a discussion for another time!)

In thinking about what the command line might look like in the AutoCAD WS web app, we have come up with a few proposals and a poll where you get to let us know what you think.

If we were to add a command line to AutoCAD WS where should it go and what should it look like. Have a look at these four suggestions and vote in the poll below.