maemo.org - Talk - Future of Internet Tablets

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Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcuk (Post 238426)

benny,
tell me seriously, whats missing?
Is it the general feeling of the OS< or specific applications contained within?

I'd hoped it was clear from the examples I gave above:
The large UI elements (especially fat scroll bars and list items such as the ones used to display contacts, bookmarks, the main menu, RSS items etc.) take away the most valuable thing we have on this small device: screen estate. Nokia could as well have reduced the screen to 200x120. Not having to scroll through menus (because the whole menu comfortably fits the screen) is a matter of usability. I lost this with OS2008. Seeing 12 news items at a glance instead of 4... seeing all new mails in the inbox instead of only the top 5... reading the full subject of mails in the inbox instead of having the last bit cut off by a larger-than-life scrollbar... seeing the online status of all the people i want instead of only 5 at most from the home applet... you get the idea. All these things I lost because of OS2008 and its ruthless use of "finger-friendly" UI-elements. (I don't gain anything from it, I always use a stylus.)

Remember they managed to have both large and small menus in OS2007? It could have been as simple as that. They missed it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcuk (Post 238426)

Why are you not able to carry on using os2007 on your n800?

Would you? I hate how clumsy it is and that I constantly have to scroll, but I like SSU, faster CPU, SIP, better video support... Technically, everything is much better. Only usability got worse (and maybe some functionality, depending on how you look at it).

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Quote:

Originally Posted by benny1967 (Post 238438)

yeah i hear you, thats the problem of taking a desktop ui and forcing it to be finger usable.

Its certainly not designed for the finger and feels more like trying to convert a conventional bathroom to be wheelchair/disabled friendly.

Its clunky and wrong.

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcuk (Post 238445)

thats the problem of taking a desktop ui and forcing it to be finger usable.

forcing anything to be "finger usable" is the problem. I don't get the small list items in my RSS reader back if you want to tap on them with your fingers.

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Quote:

Originally Posted by benny1967 (Post 238457)

forcing anything to be "finger usable" is the problem. I don't get the small list items in my RSS reader back if you want to tap on them with your fingers.

There is a RSS applet version for stylus floating around.

As of now the problem is that Nokia isn't chosing between either stylus, finger, or both (where one can choose the modus operandi) however I believe in Maemo 5.0 they're going for the latter option. Besides that, small checkboxes aren't finger friendly either, nor are hyperlinks. So, while you can have small UI parts, a zoom function is a great aid in such matter.

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

i have found some web elements practically impossible to hit even with a stylus unless one go for 200% zoom...

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Sure. Usually I'm able to hit, but not conveniently. I don't want to hit precisely on the spot, I want the device to know that when I hit near there I might want to do something special near that spot. Its up to the device to decide what that might be. If it can't decide what because there are several options it should zoom in and allow me to specify what I want. I imagine it can figure out what I'd want to do on a virtual keyboard, or in the browser.

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

the computer is friend, trust the computer ;)

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

that point about "near" the target is important, its similar in principle to the iphone keyboard zoom thing.
im not sure how it could be implemented on device, even with 3d it would be a difficult problem to simply bubble the area under your finger and expand it, would take a serious amount of power.
i was thinking about something similar for the tree folder lsiting in liqbase, if i manage it we will have something to work from.

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

Hmm, I don't know if that costs a lot of resources. There are on the screen a number of touch definitions (caught by the touch screen / pointer input driver communicated to X and then to the application). So if you click a pixel in a X,Y range <something happens>. In this case, instead of that the link is clicked (or clicked near), it now zooms in, and allows you to 1) click the link 2) click besides it to go back. The zooming should not cost much resources on OMAP3 with hardware 2D/3D rendering.

If you install BlueMaemo you can see the QEdje version of a virtual keyboard. If you press a key on the virtual keyboard it pops up. You might want to prefer another one, but it won't select the key you picked until you detach your finger/stylus off the touch screen. For me it works without lag.

PS, @ tso, Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse.." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse.." :p

Re: Future of Internet Tablets

i know, its a bad habit, but even so i cant get rid of it...

and the latter example would not be something one would discuss on a public forum, now would it?

and the english language picking up a new euphemism for sexual organs and the use there of, every two hours do not help. call a spade a spade, people.

and for the click-zoom to work, the engine would have to learn where each hotspot is, and guesstimate of a user wants to zoom in on one of those, or just poked the page to move it around a bit.

and with some pages, the number of hotspots can become insane...