Improve Efficiency

Most tool selection is performed through the right click context menu. In the current Centricity RA-1000 interface, the right click menu is a grid of options.

Centricity RA-1000 Tool Selection

Hicks Law states that selection time is influenced by the amount of choices a user has - so the more options, the longer it will take to make the correct selection. Since it was determined that most users use a small subset of the available tools, the right-click tool selection was redesigned to promote more efficient tool selection.

Right-click pie menu

The new right-click tool menu was designed in a pie shape - with only 8 selection options. The 7 most common modality-specific tools are arranged around the pie with the bottom slice reserved for 'Show All'. Users can quickly access their frequently used tools from anywhere on the image viewer monitors by simply right clicking and selecting a pie slice. The bottom slice of the pie is reserved for quick access to all tool options (clicking 'Show All' hides the pie and expands to show all tool and command options). More experienced users will build muscle memory for frequently used tools and can select these by simply right click and dragging a few pixels in the direction of the desired slice.

Expanded pie menu

Users can choose to customize their pie menu to include the tools most beneficial to their individual work practice.

Users can customize the pie menu to display their favorite / most used tools.

Tool selection is also available through an inverted ribbon lying along the bottom edge of each image viewer. The visible choices include a tool icon representing a category of tools or commands. Upon selection, the most frequently used tool of that category is enabled and users can quickly and easily access other similar tools and commands.

Users can access tools and commands through the toolbar
along the bottom edge of all image viewer monitors.

By grouping tools by category, users are able to access all tools and commands within two clicks. In the instance that multiple tools from the same category are used, the inverted ribbon is much more efficient for the user, as it saves them from continuously returning to a menu of options.