Home Screenshots User Interface Download Contribute
 
It's all about the User Interface:
That's why this application exists. The aim was to develop an application that didn't have all of those things that irritate me about other CAD packages, and software in general.

I think it will be interesting to see how people respond to the interface, and if it really improves people's workflow. I also wonder how the interface will cope as the number of features increases.

So I am very keen to hear feedback about its usability.
 
Problem: My finger hurts after CADding all day!
Solution: reduce the number of clicks required to do the most common operations, and try to do the same for all operations. For example:

Examine the properties of an object: Some CAD packages require you to click on an icon, then click on an object, read a pop-up dialog box, then click 'OK'. That's too much. If I needed to check every pad on a surface mount chip, I could end up doing 50-100 clicks.
In Liquid PCB, just move the mouse cursor over an object, and all relevent details are shown in the top left of the screen. Move the mouse away, and the details vanish. Zero clicks.
To compare the properties of two objects, select the first one with a click, then move the mouse over the other object. Both sets of properties are visible in the top left. One click.

Load and Save files: One particular problem I have at work is that I need to load and save files from several deep directories on several machines on the network. When the file dialog opens, you can bet it's opened in a different directory to the one I want. I'm forever double-clicking my way through trees, and scrolling to find the next directory. I've counted upto 15 clicks just to save a file.
Liquid PCB has a nice, large, powerful file dialog. Recently visited directories are automatically remembered, and can be accessed with one click. The memory is saved to disk for next time you use it. The dialog is also powerful with keyboard-only control. Type in a directory in the look-in bar at the top, taking advantage of auto-complete. See the directory tree automatically open up as you type.

Creating tracks: My main gripe with many of the free PCB packages is the amount of track fiddling that goes on. I'll spend an hour carefully drawing tracks nested together for optimum space usage. Then I'll realise that I have to get another track or a via inbetween them. So I have to delete them all, add the new track, then re-draw them all. That's hundreds of clicks.
In Liquid PCB, just drag the new track inbetween the others, or insert a via where you want it, and watch everything smoothly melt out of the way.

Start with some tracks and vias Add a via Add some tracks

 
Problem: Millions of tiny icons and menus, and context menus, and toolbars.
A typical CAD package will be covered in tens of tiny icons. There will also be a set of menus, plus right-click menus, plus some more icons at the bottom of the screen, and a toolbar of icons which comes out of the left of the screen when you move the mouse near it.

Tiny icons are hard to click on: Fitts' Law says that the time taken to click on an icon increases with smallness and distance from the mouse.

It's hard to remember where a function is: Was it in Tools->Options, or was it right-click->properties, or was it that bluish icon over there?

All those controls are a waste of space when you're CADding: Liquid PCB gets rid of all of those different controls (even the File, Edit ... Help menu that most applications have). Instead there is just one menu system. Hold down the right mouse button, and the menu appears. It's similar to a pie menu, in that icons appear around the mouse cursor, but it's deeper than that. Move the mouse over an option, and that option expands into another pie menu. Release the mouse over an option to activate it. The pie menu is organised so that more commonly used options are closer to the middle of the menu system. For example, the Select Tool is right in the middle, so simply clicking the right mouse button chooses that. To choose the Track Tool, press the mouse button, drag down a little, then let go.


To Save, click and drag up. Each option can eventually be learned as a mouse gesture, and selected easily, without moving the mouse very far. Because the menu system is the one route to access all of the functions, you can't forget which menu a function is in. And because the menu items are grouped in the tree, it encourages exploring.