lardman | # 11 | 2009-02-15, 09:57 | Report

Stick application names under the icons, other than that, looks nice

Lord Raiden | # 12 | 2009-02-15, 14:23 | Report

Actually, no. That's just there as a filler icon, since this is just a mockup at this point. lol.

Lord Raiden | # 13 | 2009-02-16, 15:12 | Report

More mockups. Here's the descriptions that go with the names of the files below:

Shows the desktop with widgets in use

Shows home menu extended

Shows web menu extended to demonstrate menu float

Shows what an open (but not maximized) program would look like. As you may notice, there are no silly edges or titlebar in this picture as those are completely unnecessary on the maemo platform. Also, I added a "close" button at the top in the programs bar in case anyone thought one was needed. Minimize however is not included, since any "minimizing" would just take you back to the desktop or another window. It's not a true "minimize", so why have it?

The previously shown program menu (see first post), but with text this time.

Comments welcome as always. These extra mockups are here to better demonstrate some more of the look and functionality of this theme/interface. I've also incorporated some of your ideas and suggestions into the design. Also, some screenshots were borrowed from here (courtesy of meizirkki and lcuk in the "post your screenshot" thread) and used to help demonstrate how some things would look.

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Last edited by Lord Raiden; 2009-02-16 at 15:14.

Un27Pee | # 14 | 2009-02-16, 19:59 | Report

nice p-shop the latest image with text wil be fine on the tablet.

Lord Raiden | # 15 | 2009-02-16, 23:17 | Report

Anyone else have any feedback on the design? If this is good enough, then I can hand over my designs to any developer interested in converting this to a working interface. Also, for a reference point, here's some demos I did using the mockups to show how it'd appear on a real tablet. Sorry for the darkness and poor quality. I tend to keep the lights down in my room.

http://www.raiden.net/share/100_0694.jpg
http://www.raiden.net/share/100_0695.jpg
http://www.raiden.net/share/100_0696.jpg
http://www.raiden.net/share/100_0697.jpg

lcuk | # 16 | 2009-02-16, 23:32 | Report

lord raiden,

that first new desktop looks familiar

I made this last night:





the size of elements is unimportant for now, it was just to see if I could mirror things properly.

its fully dynamic (as the rest of my stuff is) and I can even zoom into the live mini desktop on the bottom right!

incase you haven't seen the actual video of the core interface in action, its here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMXp0Dg_UaY

the extra things in place now work in exactly the same way


a while ago (over xmas) I did some playing with an app launcher

http://www.internettablettalk.com/fo...d.php?p=257905

it loads in the icons and details from the current menu, I never made it "live" as in flexible, but I put the launch code in there.

I did say back then I would make it as an example widget, I'll show you how it looks properly with your 5*3 layout.

It can then simply be a zoomable widget available on the playground.

what I suspect is that it wont work nicely because you have not designed in anything relating to categorization or grouping.

I'll put them together and try to remember to keep it around.

longcipher | # 17 | 2009-02-17, 00:22 | Report

Raiden - we share similar design sensibilities. I love your idea and hope to see it on my tablet in the near future.

GeraldKo | # 18 | 2009-02-17, 00:30 | Report

It all looks very nice! I like your incorporating the Home, Close, and typically left-side icons into the top bars.

I don't see that you've implemented a way to hide and unhide the top bars, which I'd still like for maximizing screen space for the on-top program. If you make a little button for that, I was thinking it would be nice if it could be slid back and forth (or anywhere on the screen, but even in one dimension I think would be adequate) to keep it from obscuring something you need to see or click, and so it should also have a "handle," so that, unlike the standard desktop clock applet, I'm not always activating it when I'm simply trying to move it.

I also would like the user to be able to determine the relative size of the left and right bars. I sometimes get too many icons in the status bar, which results in a drop-down menu for accessing some of them. I'd rather have more room for status-bar icons and have the drop-down menu imposed on the left-bar (your Home/Tasks-Navigator/Apps bar), but I think it would be best if that could be made a user's choice.

It also appears to me that your top bars and icons are larger (taller) than the standard ones (maybe it's an optical illusion?), and even though it looks nice, I know over time I'd mind the loss of program screen-space.

... just my two cents (more than my mother sometimes said I had)

Thesandlord | # 19 | 2009-02-17, 01:54 | Report

Ok, this is my 2C

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_zKDUF6Zic

Basically, it takes lcuk's widgets, Raiden's menu bars, and some nice gesture support.

Obviusly, it is just a quick mock up, and could be a LOT better.


Also, for the menu icons, when you click them, they should be finger friendly. Your render shows them being really tiny. I think they should be like the current menu thingy.

Lord Raiden | # 20 | 2009-02-17, 02:27 | Report

Yeah, I liked what you had, so I borrowed it to use in one of my examples since I didn't have a good screenshot with widgits on it. Hope you didn't mind. ^_^;;
Well, if I can find a developer who's willing to take it to the next level, then it'll definitely happen. I normally only do the initial concepting and design, and then hand it off to developers to finish. And you'd be surprised how many developers actually appreciate the work I do, since it gives them a visual image by which to work.
Thanks. It's bugged me to see all that lost realestate on the screen, especially when there's no much of it to begin with. ^_^;;
Ok, I could look into that. The reason I hadn't done it in my layout is that, the current normal/full screen layout already does that for the most part. So it just seems like overkill by making the interface do the same thing in two different ways. But a retractable icon bar would be doable, similar to how the kde taskbar retracts. The only question that remains would be, is it practical?

EDIT: Thesandlord's gestures idea might be the answer you're looking for. I can't think of any way to include that in a mockup image (it's an action, not a static feature), but a developer who followed this thread could easily put that on their "to do" list.
heh. Took me a second to digest this suggestion. But yes, since status bar icons can't be paged, but program icons can, that would be a good idea. I was actually going to mention that. The design I had for the two bars was that the status bar would grow to the left as far as it needed to, up to 75% of the screen. The left programs bar would then spill over into a drop down menu of all available icons and/or programs as the bar ran out of room for icons. So if I were to include that in my design, you'd see one of those blue arrows pointing down appear when the list exceeded the available space. Anything extra would then be farmed out into the drop down menu. Let me cook up a demo of it so you can see if you like it.
It's likely either artist error, or an optical illusion. I actually did however use a screenshot from another UI to help me set the proper dimensions. So they should be correct.

EDIT: Yeah, ran the image past my current nokia theme and it is off by about 2-3 pixels, which really isn't all *that* bad. heh. So I'll go with artist error on this one. ^_^
Wow, that's a pretty cool concept.
Yep, I can easily resize those to make them finger friendly. I had thought about that a bit myself after doing a live interface test with the images. The other thing that might have to get enlarged is the text, as that itself is not finger friendly. Although, to satisfy both camps (stylus vs finger), a simple function allowing text and icon zoom using one of the side keys could be added. That way you just hit the button, and everything is finger friendly. Hit it again, and it's stylus friendly again.

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Last edited by Lord Raiden; 2009-02-17 at 02:31.