> This is crazy. Let me explain that last statement by telling you > about an idea that I have been brewing up for an OS user interface > over the past few months, before I had even heard of Étoilé.
Yeah, right. Admit it, you read the Etoile archives, compiled all the ideas in there into one document, and now you're claiming it as your own work. Do you work for Microsoft? ;) > Here it is in my words, roughly-speaking: > > Windows/files: > - The UI is persistent, meaning that it is exactly the same after > restarting the computer. Persistence: vital, essential, good. > - There are "workspace" windows that are regular windows that contain > other windows. > - The windows *are* the files. As such, workspaces = folders. > - Deleting a window = deleting the file. Yep. Yep. Yep. > Overlapping: > - Windows cannot overlap. Interesting. Makes sense, I guess. > - There are no "file proxies", like the "proxy icon" in OS X; dragging > a window over another window = dragging the file into the target > window. Yep. Manipulate the file directly = less mental models for the user. > To generalize all of this a bit further: > - A window is a kind of control that can contain other controls. > - Controls cannot overlap. > - Controls can be dragged into other controls. > > Window/workspace states: > - A window in a workspace has one of the following states: iconified > or manually-sized. A window/file is never closed; only iconified. To > "open" it again -- in other words, return it to manually-sized -- > security credentials for the window/file may need to be provided. If we think of "iconified" as "miniaturized", this is exactly what I propose. > - A workspace has one of the following states: scrollable or squished. > A squished workspace shows an Exposé-like view of the workspace > whereby windows are compressed such that they are all visible. > Clicking on a window here returns the workspace to scrollable mode, > scrolled to the selected window. Explain "scrolled" more. What is scrollable? Where did the previously squished windows go? > - Any window can become full-screen. When applied to workspaces, this > becomes similar to "zooming" in the Humane Interface, as any window > within the workspace can then become full-screen. The user can then > "zoom out" of a full-screen window, to return the window to its manual > size on screen and make the containing workspace full-screen. > - Note that the screen always represents a full-screen workspace, > which can be either scrollable or squished. Similar to what I'm calling Project View (Overview) and Document View, I would assume? > Applications/services: > - Applications can simply be considered plug-ins for the system. > - Selecting a control or controls automatically causes a pie menu to > appear containing all commands that apply to the selection. These > commands are like "Services" in OS X, which are provided by > applications. > - When an application is added to the system, the only affect is (a) > services are added, and (b) some different controls may be available. > Removing the application transparently removes these services and > controls. All sounds good to me -- if a user is using some of the components or services provides by an application, attempting to remove the application should issue a warning that removing it may make parts of their documents inaccessible. > Top-level workspace: > - The "top-level" workspace window is like the "log-in" window. It is > a workspace window that contains a bunch of iconified windows, one or > more for each user. Good idea. > - To "open" one of the windows, credentials must be provided as per > permissions on the window. > - Any user can return to the top-level workspace by zooming out from > any window until no more zooming out is possible. As long as it's not possible to inadvertently zoom out one depth too far (from your home workspace to the users workspace) and then have to re-login. > - Each workspace starts off empty. Yep -- unless you create a copy of a workspace, then it creates copies of all the files contained within. > File system implementation: > - The top-level workspace is some directory in the underlying file > system (the "workspace directory"). > - Each window in a workspace is a file/folder in this workspace directory. > - Nothing outside of this workspace directory will *EVER* be exposed > to a user. The only way the user can interact with the system is > through services and controls, which allow controlled and > user-friendly interaction with the system. > - Nothing inside of this workspace directory will *EVER* be touched by > the system (unless explicitly directed by a user). The workspace > directory *only* contains stuff that the user puts there. It doesn't > contain preferences, hidden files, etc; these go in some other > directory that the system deems appropriate (i.e. "~/"). The system > does not touch anything in the workspace directory, and can *never* > rely on any particular file or a directory hierarchy existing there. > It is a holy sanctum for users. Agree. > There are many more details that I haven't covered here (i.e. > specifics on interaction, such as lack of double- or right-click; > window placement; etc.), and would be happy to discuss in more detail. I'd like to hear more: I think right click and double click have their purposes, as long as they're dedicated to doing only one thing (perhaps right click brings up context/pie menu and double click is used only for zooming, for example). I'm also interested in using mouse gestures in the interface (mouse gestures are really just marking menus: pie menus which don't show the pie). > I also look forward to debating these ideas with you fine folks to > help refine them into something better, if you're interested. The > point, though, is this: as you can see, you have independently come up > with almost the identical idea. Further evidence of an ideosphere we're all tapped into... or maybe we're just all reading the same 3 usability books. :) > Where do I sign up to help develop this thing? Talk to Quentin or Nicolas (do you have admin rights?) about getting wiki access and start posting your ideas in the appropriate spots. J.
