Re: Innovative user interface idea
Ron Jeffries <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > We all love to hate Microsoft, but they have > a good idea with the soon to arrive > Windows Mobile 6.1 completely > revised user interface. > > http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/rumors/windows_mobile_61_coming_with.html > > We need to focus on usability if OpenMoko > is to become more than just a geek/nerd plaything. > I wouldn't exactly call that innovative. (it's been done before). I'd, personally, like it if most used (or recently used) apps to be moved to the top. Either in grid form, or in carousel form. That way you'd save a lot of scrolling to get to the wanted app. --- Marcel ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: Innovative user interface idea
On Sunday 21 October 2007 15:14:41 Humberto Massa wrote: > On 10/21/07, Oliver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I agree that we need to focus on usability, but that WM6.1 interface is > > just retarded. Instead of showing all the alternatives in a grid, where > > you get a good overview and can quickly select an item, you are forced to > > remebmer where every item is (if you don't like scrolling through lots > > and lots of options) AND you force the cellphone to render all > > sub-options of the menus you pass until you get to your desired menu. You > > could see in the video that it wasn't entirely latency-free. Bleh! > > > > Yes, we definitely need to think of the user interface, but mimicing that > > one would be plain stupid. 2007.2 looks great to me, and infinitely > > better than WM6.1. > > > > /Oliver > > I have a PSP, and it's interface is carousel-like... it sucks exactly > because you must know where everything is. Yeah, why not take advantage of the fact that we have a high resolution touch screen? I don't know if anyone of you have tried using mouse gestures in Opera or Firefox, but I think they would definitely be A LOT quicker than a carousel interface. Also, you'll be able to customize them to fit your needs, and they require no rendering at all (one gesture could render a menu if you forget the other gestures, but that should be enough). -Ulrik ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: Innovative user interface idea
On 10/21/07, Oliver <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I agree that we need to focus on usability, but that WM6.1 interface is just > retarded. Instead of showing all the alternatives in a grid, where you get a > good overview and can quickly select an item, you are forced to remebmer > where every item is (if you don't like scrolling through lots and lots of > options) AND you force the cellphone to render all sub-options of the menus > you pass until you get to your desired menu. You could see in the video that > it wasn't entirely latency-free. Bleh! > > Yes, we definitely need to think of the user interface, but mimicing that > one would be plain stupid. 2007.2 looks great to me, and infinitely better > than WM6.1. > > /Oliver I have a PSP, and it's interface is carousel-like... it sucks exactly because you must know where everything is. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
RE: Innovative user interface idea
I agree that we need to focus on usability, but that WM6.1 interface is just retarded. Instead of showing all the alternatives in a grid, where you get a good overview and can quickly select an item, you are forced to remebmer where every item is (if you don't like scrolling through lots and lots of options) AND you force the cellphone to render all sub-options of the menus you pass until you get to your desired menu. You could see in the video that it wasn't entirely latency-free. Bleh! Yes, we definitely need to think of the user interface, but mimicing that one would be plain stupid. 2007.2 looks great to me, and infinitely better than WM6.1. /Oliver ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: Innovative user interface idea
On 20 Oct 2007, at 18:41, Ron Jeffries wrote: We all love to hate Microsoft, but they have a good idea with the soon to arrive Windows Mobile 6.1 completely revised user interface. http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/rumors/ windows_mobile_61_coming_with.html We need to focus on usability if OpenMoko is to become more than just a geek/nerd plaything. Quite frankly, that carousel interface looks awful. WM smartphone has a good interface, it just needed animations and some polish. The touchscreen version of WM is what needs the work and that carousel would be an awful interface for a touch screen. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Innovative user interface idea
We all love to hate Microsoft, but they have a good idea with the soon to arrive Windows Mobile 6.1 completely revised user interface. http://www.wmexperts.com/articles/rumors/windows_mobile_61_coming_with.html We need to focus on usability if OpenMoko is to become more than just a geek/nerd plaything. -- Ron K. Jeffries http://blog.eronj.com ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
On 14 Aug 2007, at 00:48, Derek Pressnall wrote: What I meant was that apps that would be "in use" would be split into a piece that runs in the background, and a forground part that talks to the display / input. And the background part would only be running when needed. It's sorta done like that already, we have GUI applications and runtime libraries. Now the phone app would always have a module running since it has to listen for incomming phone calls. gsmd handles the calls, there's a library too. The UI portion of the phone app that uses the "phone desktop" would be the default / primary app that is always available on it when nothing else is running Sounds like you use the phone a lot? while that's right for you, other people use messaging or PDA functions more. You might find additional clicks to launch a dialer annoying, if you make dialer default someone else may think multiple clicks to browse their files annoying. Lets not hardcode any form of functionality into the device, let people choose. Having a default desktop handler or a homescreen which can display plugins is the way to go about it. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
On 8/13/07, Jeff Andros <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > um, do realize that we are working on a resource constrained system, and > probably will be for the forseeable future... I don't see this as TOO much > of a problem, as long as those apps unload most of themselves from memory > when they're not running, and they spend almost all of their time > sleeping... but watch out for that. What I meant was that apps that would be "in use" would be split into a piece that runs in the background, and a forground part that talks to the display / input. And the background part would only be running when needed. Now the phone app would always have a module running since it has to listen for incomming phone calls. The UI portion of the phone app that uses the "phone desktop" would be the default / primary app that is always available on it when nothing else is running (so that when you switch to the phone desktop, you can start dialing out without having to launch a "phone app"). This UI would be smaller than the pda-desktop version of the phone UI, since it doesn't have to worry about drawing input buttons, etc; it talks to the already running keypad app taking up the bottom half of the phone-desktop display. However the UI frontend that is used from the pda-desktop side would have a bit more code since it is responsible for it's own keypad, and possibly takes care of more display items. The Media player app could have a background piece that only run when it is in use. Again, it doesn't have any user interface components, only an API for a frontend to talk to it. The user can still "exit" the app for both the frontend and backend to exit memory, but it will go into pause mode if a higher priority app (such as the phone app) needs a shared resource (the speaker). This way, only the modules that are needed to be in memory are taking up ram, and launching the (small) frontends seperately / in parallel can give a snappier performance feel. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
On 14 Aug 2007, at 00:02, Jeff Andros wrote: um, do realize that we are working on a resource constrained system, and probably will be for the forseeable future... I don't see this as TOO much of a problem, as long as those apps unload most of themselves from memory when they're not running, and they spend almost all of their time sleeping... but watch out for that. We'll have to see what people can come up with for this before I run this on my system Exactly why the iPhone is very responsive and Windows Mobile phones aren't. Apple keeps things simple. You need not worry about getting lost in applications if you have a button hardwired to the home screen. Windows Mobile has this on the smartphone edition, trouble is it's very fiddly to get back into any application you've come out of. Being able to see a list of what is open and being able to switch to them is important for usability. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
On 8/12/07, Derek Pressnall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > I'm thinking that apps such as the > Dialer would be running in the background, and have an active > connection to the Phone desktop along with the PDA desktop. > > um, do realize that we are working on a resource constrained system, and probably will be for the forseeable future... I don't see this as TOO much of a problem, as long as those apps unload most of themselves from memory when they're not running, and they spend almost all of their time sleeping... but watch out for that. We'll have to see what people can come up with for this before I run this on my system -- Jeff O|||O ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
2007/8/12, Derek Pressnall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > > One of the things that I've found on most pda-phones/smartphones is > that they make the phone capabilities feel like just another > application. But when you want to use the device as a phone, it would > be nice for the rest of the features to melt into the background. The > Motorola A780 does this nicely; it is a pda-phone when the flip is > opened, but with the flip closed it becomes a regular feature-phone. > > So, that gives me an idea for UI layout. First, have the interface > support two virtual desktops, most likely via the window manager. The > primary desktop (PDA desktop) would remain how OpenMoko has it > currently laid out. The second desktop (PHONE desktop), however, > should resemble the face of a normal phone. The bottom half (or two > thirds, whatever) of the screen would have a permanent phone keypad > displayed (the keypad app), includuding directional buttons and > several special-purpose buttons (answer/disconnect, function-A, > function-B, Menu, OK, etc.). Any application running in the Phone > desktop would only be able to write to the window in the upper part of > the screen, and they would receive their input through the keypad app > runnin in the bottom. The keypad app could have an API so that apps > can request that certain keys be re-labled when that app is in the > forground, but other than that the keypad would always display a > similar layout for any running app. This would enforce a consistant > feel among the various apps. > > Now any app that wants to use the secondary Phone desktop would have > to be specifically coded for it; I'm thinking that apps such as the > Dialer would be running in the background, and have an active > connection to the Phone desktop along with the PDA desktop. The list > of apps that should have Phone desktop capabilities would include the > Dialer, SMS/Email, Media player, Calculator. I'm in agreement with all what quoted above, and for obtain this I think that must be implemented at least three things: Multitouch screen, Tactile feedback via buzzer, and a good input method like these: http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Wishlist:Text_Input#New_input_methods (for me finger splash could be very good). Substantially, IMHO the "finger use" of principal functions of the phone joined with a good text input interface is basically for the real usability of the terminal as a phone. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
On 13 Aug 2007, at 12:26, Jay Vaughan wrote: Sugar interface: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar Sugar on Moko would be sweet! Maybe, would be best forking it and using it as a base. It's not designed for touch screens or portrait orientation. I'm pretty fired up about doing something different from all the menu and start menu style phone interfaces. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
Peter A Trotter <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote : > Sounds like an interesting idea. Perhaps a gesture could be used to swap, not > sure how you would make that clear to a user though.I need to carve out some > coding time :S -Pete But then there's often a much simpler way of making a system more usable. If there's one thing is don't like it's taking desktop WIMP designs and having them implemented on a mobile. They simply aren't always suitable. Have a look at OLPC project to see how to create a simple OS interface. Sugar interface: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sugar ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
Re: User Interface idea
Sounds like an interesting idea. Perhaps a gesture could be used to swap, not sure how you would make that clear to a user though. I need to carve out some coding time :S -Pete On 12/08/07, Derek Pressnall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > One of the things that I've found on most pda-phones/smartphones is > that they make the phone capabilities feel like just another > application. But when you want to use the device as a phone, it would > be nice for the rest of the features to melt into the background. The > Motorola A780 does this nicely; it is a pda-phone when the flip is > opened, but with the flip closed it becomes a regular feature-phone. > > So, that gives me an idea for UI layout. First, have the interface > support two virtual desktops, most likely via the window manager. The > primary desktop (PDA desktop) would remain how OpenMoko has it > currently laid out. The second desktop (PHONE desktop), however, > should resemble the face of a normal phone. The bottom half (or two > thirds, whatever) of the screen would have a permanent phone keypad > displayed (the keypad app), includuding directional buttons and > several special-purpose buttons (answer/disconnect, function-A, > function-B, Menu, OK, etc.). Any application running in the Phone > desktop would only be able to write to the window in the upper part of > the screen, and they would receive their input through the keypad app > runnin in the bottom. The keypad app could have an API so that apps > can request that certain keys be re-labled when that app is in the > forground, but other than that the keypad would always display a > similar layout for any running app. This would enforce a consistant > feel among the various apps. > > Now any app that wants to use the secondary Phone desktop would have > to be specifically coded for it; I'm thinking that apps such as the > Dialer would be running in the background, and have an active > connection to the Phone desktop along with the PDA desktop. The list > of apps that should have Phone desktop capabilities would include the > Dialer, SMS/Email, Media player, Calculator. > > Also, I haven't decided what the best method of switching between > desktops should be -- should a common button that appears in both > desktops toggle between the two, or should there be two buttons that > appear on each desktop, at opposite sides of the screen, so that you > know that hitting the lower left corner of the display will always > bring up the Phone desktop (even if it is already displayed). Or > maybe have one of the hardware buttons assigned to this task. > > ___ > OpenMoko community mailing list > community@lists.openmoko.org > http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community > ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
User Interface idea
One of the things that I've found on most pda-phones/smartphones is that they make the phone capabilities feel like just another application. But when you want to use the device as a phone, it would be nice for the rest of the features to melt into the background. The Motorola A780 does this nicely; it is a pda-phone when the flip is opened, but with the flip closed it becomes a regular feature-phone. So, that gives me an idea for UI layout. First, have the interface support two virtual desktops, most likely via the window manager. The primary desktop (PDA desktop) would remain how OpenMoko has it currently laid out. The second desktop (PHONE desktop), however, should resemble the face of a normal phone. The bottom half (or two thirds, whatever) of the screen would have a permanent phone keypad displayed (the keypad app), includuding directional buttons and several special-purpose buttons (answer/disconnect, function-A, function-B, Menu, OK, etc.). Any application running in the Phone desktop would only be able to write to the window in the upper part of the screen, and they would receive their input through the keypad app runnin in the bottom. The keypad app could have an API so that apps can request that certain keys be re-labled when that app is in the forground, but other than that the keypad would always display a similar layout for any running app. This would enforce a consistant feel among the various apps. Now any app that wants to use the secondary Phone desktop would have to be specifically coded for it; I'm thinking that apps such as the Dialer would be running in the background, and have an active connection to the Phone desktop along with the PDA desktop. The list of apps that should have Phone desktop capabilities would include the Dialer, SMS/Email, Media player, Calculator. Also, I haven't decided what the best method of switching between desktops should be -- should a common button that appears in both desktops toggle between the two, or should there be two buttons that appear on each desktop, at opposite sides of the screen, so that you know that hitting the lower left corner of the display will always bring up the Phone desktop (even if it is already displayed). Or maybe have one of the hardware buttons assigned to this task. ___ OpenMoko community mailing list community@lists.openmoko.org http://lists.openmoko.org/mailman/listinfo/community
