Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

I think Karel's point is still valid, though, at least by default. A bottom menu approach for the out-of-the-box experience makes more sense than a top menu approach for tablets.

That said, there may be an approach that trumps anything we suggest here...

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

Texrat, one of the greatest strengths of the ITs is that "traditional PC UI" apps can be ported (after a fashion) with very little effort. A radically different UI could seriously reduce the number of apps ported by the community. So unless Nokia can bring some serious development effort to bear on this, they'd be crippling the ITs to do this with no compatibility.

Of course, one thing suggested on the forums was the use of xvnc and vncviewer to run completely unmodified (i.e. just cross-compiled) apps displaying to a separate X server. Something like that could work here, but it's still risky changing things that dramatically.

Still, I agree strongly in principle, and many steps could be made in that direction without causing such problems. But any practical UI redesign has to keep existing unix apps in mind (IMHO).

Edited just to add quote. Thread is getting slightly tangled.

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

I don't see why we couldn't have both: A 'small screen, finger optimized' UI (and no that is not Maemo in its current form) , and a regular KDE/Gnome/etc. 'desktop' UI.

The first could be for applications that you would typically use with your fingers, with a limited number of highly polished apps, such as mail, chat, browser, mediaplayer. The latter for easy portability with apps that you would typically use with a stylus and/or external keyboard.

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

Because KDE and Gnome are bloated hogs.

And because, even with a stylus, enough is different that a good UI that's an easy port will be substantially different on the device. There's things you can do without making people rewrite their apps, and those should be done.
But yes, we could have both (a sane UI for desktop apps on a handheld device, and a dedicated UI for apps specifically targeting this device), and I'd like that.
Just don't ditch the ease of porting entirely, especially not in favor of revision 0 of a brand-new UI.

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

- the one thing i wish for is consistency between applications... it is kinda annoying that some apps use Ctrl+Q, while others only offer a 'Close' menu item...

- in this regard, it appears that os2008 has taken a step backward - seems like there was more consistency in os2007 - perhaps this is a 'feature' of the hardware keyboard? (BT keyboard shortcuts are also horked under os2008 - try reassigning an FKey - you CAN'T!!!)

:-(

- but i look forward to more improvements, such as a system-wide copy and paste? i'm sure things will get better... developers have been doing a good job so far...

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

I think the PalmOS UI is a good place to start :D

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

I think Maemo OS is the best place to start.

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

The point that article makes is that good design for the small screen/handheld requires lots of usability testing - making sure that the user interacts easily with the system, doesn't struggle/hunt to find things. Don't just design on a big screen and squeeze it in but use a real device too.

My feeling is that the UI for the tablet probably had several authors so wasn't designed as a coherent whole, didn't go through many design interations, and some features were thrown in for good measure. Love it or hate it, OSX is a reasonable example of consistency!

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

+1

(consistency is a feature that Apple has spent many millions on, but which has reaped 100X in rewards)

Re: Custom GUI / Shell Replacement for ITTs?
 

PalmOS mixes top and bottom menus too, but has the saving grace that for most applications the menus only do the lesser-user tasks, 95% of tasks allow everything to be done through the main screen. The older versions of PalmOS were probably better as they were leaner and simpler.

Maemo tries too hard to make everything work all at the same time - menus, buttons, side options etc.

Maemo is the best place to start, because it's actually working and has all the building blocks we need. Firstly, remove elements from the UI that duplicate stuff, add to applications only things which make them all consistent.

Most people get so used to their preferred UI they forget its quirks and flaws. Was it Steve Jobs who once said "don't ask what we can add to make it better, but what can we take away to make it easier"... I would add "without losing useful features".