can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier? - maemo.org

gene.cash | # 1 | 2008-08-25, 14:36 | Report

Man, if I had looked at an N800 with this GUI, I would have left it on the shelf.

What's up with the menus you can view from the Google mapping satellites? Is there anything you can do to fix that? I'm so ****ing tired of scrolling, after just one day, I don't know what to do...

I need 4 running program icons, can I get that back?

Can I get rid of the useless and stupid two default contact/web icons?

I could write a better GUI blind drunk with half a bottle of Tequila left. Where's the sources to Nokia's version of Matchbox?

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Picklesworth | # 2 | 2008-08-25, 14:56 | Report

The best you can do with the contact / web / applications icons is rearrange them in Settings -> Control Panel -> Panels.

With regards to your first point, one would be hard-pressed to find a sheet detailing either the N800 or the N810 without seeing the GUI. However, if you have an N800, you may want to make sure you have the latest version of the OS. Check About Product under the control panel as well. Latest version is OS2008 4.2008.30-2.

Not sure what you mean with the menus from "Google mapping satellites". Do you mean Google Maps?!

You could try zooming out on the browser (Flash content and images zoom, too), or entering fullscreen mode.

"I need 4 running program icons, can I get that back?" Eh?!
If you mean the window list on the left, then I do not believe so. However, the icon on the bottom left corner can be clicked, which will open a more useful menu with open windows and detail about notifications.

qwerty12 | # 3 | 2008-08-25, 15:00 | Report

w00t, someone who will hopefully bring back some bora niceness.

For a full reference:

Matchbox:
Bora:
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/bor...-osso15.tar.gz
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/bor...osso6.2.tar.gz

Diablo:
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/dia...-osso18.tar.gz
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/dia...9-osso6.tar.gz

That's just the matchbox.

What you really want though is the hildon-desktop:

Bora (it's called maemo-af-desktop in bora):
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/bor...99.25-1.tar.gz

Diablo:
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/dia....0.18-1.tar.gz

Here is also the source code for the plugin settings control panel:
http://repository.maemo.org/pool/dia....0.10-1.tar.gz

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Karel Jansens | # 4 | 2008-08-25, 15:06 | Report

Originally Posted by gene.cash View Post

Man, if I had looked at an N800 with this GUI, I would have left it on the shelf.

What's up with the menus you can view from the Google mapping satellites? Is there anything you can do to fix that? I'm so ****ing tired of scrolling, after just one day, I don't know what to do...

I need 4 running program icons, can I get that back?

Can I get rid of the useless and stupid two default contact/web icons?

I could write a better GUI blind drunk with half a bottle of Tequila left. Where's the sources to Nokia's version of Matchbox?

As you're a developer of some interesting programs (interesting for me, that is), could I perchance point you to the Pandora community? The main link is in my .sig.

It's probably still a bit early to start (the only Pandora we've seen sofar was a prototype on a German TV show; it should be with customers mid-november), but I've been pondering about linking your PIMs to e.g. SIAG Office, which should have hooks to external scripting languages.

PS: What happened to your site? You know, the one with the Python applications?

Last edited by Karel Jansens; 2008-08-25 at 15:09.

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wazd | # 5 | 2008-08-25, 15:11 | Report

Originally Posted by

I could write a better GUI blind drunk with half a bottle of Tequila left.

Go on. http://tabletui.wordpress.com . You're very welcome there to post some better examples of UI. Tequila's optional

You know, mostly everyone can declare that he can make better UI for whatever with one foot without two fingers and with closed eyes, but most of them are just talking.

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TA-t3 | # 6 | 2008-08-25, 15:18 | Report

Well, I don't have any hands-on experience with OS2008 yet, but all the pictures I've seen looks ugly to me, compared to OS2007. It looks ~~childish~~ toyish, and everything is huge, which is probably to make it 'finger friendly', which I don't care for at all. The stylus/finger detection mechanism in OS2007 works well for those few situations where a larger click area is welcome. The changes I want for the UI in OS2007 are all about getting _more_ information into the display, not less.

Last edited by TA-t3; 2008-08-25 at 15:43.

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bunanson | # 7 | 2008-08-25, 15:20 | Report

Originally Posted by Picklesworth View Post

...Latest version is OS2008 4.2008.30-2.
....

But I would have reservation to go to that version after more than 398+ posts and http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...ad.php?t=23132

I will stay away from it, for the time being. And I also measured the speed of chinook and diablo, and got some interesting results, http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...257#post217257 thread #5,
"To make clones, takes 9 min for an N810 to make clones and under similar conditions, takes only 2.5 min to make on N800. This is only to make clones, nothing to do with web browser/bootup/shutdown. but it is interesting."

bun

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benny1967 | # 8 | 2008-08-25, 16:01 | Report

Originally Posted by Picklesworth View Post

Not sure what you mean with the menus from "Google mapping satellites". Do you mean Google Maps?!.

I'd assume he refers to those ridiculously overweight icons in the main menus (applications, contacts, internet) that force you to keep scrolling all day long because they dont have room for more than 5 entries to be displayed at the same time. (same fore the RSS reader applet and in a way for the oversized scroll bars that take away waaay too much space...)

iamthewalrus | # 9 | 2008-08-25, 16:18 | Report

There are lots of things wrong with the usability (and themability) of Maemo IMO. Most issues basically have been there since OS2007 (or even earlier). So I doubt if the next OS wil radically improve things.

danramos | # 10 | 2008-08-25, 16:27 | Report

Originally Posted by TA-t3 View Post

Well, I don't have any hands-on experience with OS2008 yet, but all the pictures I've seen looks ugly to me, compared to OS2007. It looks ~~childish~~ toyish, and everything is huge, which is probably to make it 'finger friendly', which I don't care for at all. The stylus/finger detection mechanism in OS2007 works well for those few situations where a larger click area is welcome. The changes I want for the UI in OS2007 are all about getting _more_ information into the display, not less.

I'm glad I wasn't the only one that noticed that and thought exactly that! When I used OS2007 and it switch between stylus menu and finger menu, it was actually pretty impressive and one of the selling points to some of the people I've talked to was that the Nokia tablets know the difference between a stylus pressing a point and a finger blotting out a portion of screen. It felt like I was deprived of a very important detail and feature when OS2008 removed that.

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