Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

in other words, give all programs a xml/css frontend that one can edit to hell and back?

or maybe even create some kind of program mashup?

hell, as i think about it its just a new way to do the old standby of creating a commandline program and then giving it a tcl/tk based frontend.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Wha? Nah, i probably misread :D
I just want to ask - where exactly do you see that in Web?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Check out Opera's Speed Dial or some of these Mozilla Add-ons.

It could basically be a "webtop" of sorts that allows for finger-organization of bookmarks, etc.

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Well.. we actually have speed dial (shameless plug) for the tablets even though all it does currently is show your last bookmarks.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

i guess one could also configure personal launcher to act as a kind of speed dial.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I'm kinda tempted to flip the internet thing around a bit and allow my major bookmarks to be shown quite large on my overview screen of the tablet.

when pressed it should open the browser on my desktop.

optimus maximus style :)
http://www.slipperybrick.com/wp-cont...s-keyboard.jpg


but thats for another day.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

<channeling object="Karel">Pandora</channeling>

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Bingo! That's a start...

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

and lets not forget buglabs ;)

www.buglabs.net

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Still a gtkrc file is already css in a sense. The benefit of css would mainly be that a designer can use a syntax that he already knows. There would still be the same GTK classes and style properties. I'm more curious about separating logic and presentation on a deeper level, like with XUL or indeed Glade.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

so, slap a webserver at the bottom, stack some php and databases in there, then let the users mashup the interface as much as they like?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I wasn't really thinking of mashups, more from the viewpoint of a graphic/useraction designer.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

well i have to say that i have held a interest in allowing the user to restructure a gui and even bring multiple apps into the same gui for some time.

even more so if one could do it across a network or maybe usb, as then each device could run its own app and get a central gui to manage them all. bye bye driver issues...

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

technically whats being discussed here already exists

haven't all the main players (mac/vista/igoogle even hildon etc) now got widgets and things that you can use to mashup your desktop interface in custom ways using data from random sparse sources?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

not to my knowledge and not without having to break out a compiler...

or are you referring to stuff like the vista sidebar?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

yes,
goto http://www.google.com/ig and customise your own window.
You or I might not have the mojo to design the themes for the apps, but others have.
theres a wide assortment of apps with totally different interfaces which talk to the same data.

all configurable by yourself

for instance: http://www.google.com/ig/directory?q=clock

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

~and~

Ummm... Hmmm... Maybe. No, not really. They all want to make money too. :p

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Yeah -- and that's really cool (seriously) -- but I was referring to making that idea more like what's been discussed about 3D desktop spaces.

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

heh, i dont fault them for wanting to make money as long as they allow the user to do strange things with the product after a sale (unlike some fruit we all know about).

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

And I was talking about that, but from a different angle - You can refer to the success (or the lack of it) of all the web based desktops. Opera speed dial (and clones) is just an entrance to the web, but how many want a desktop IN the pages they visit (especially if it is a 3D one). I can see the point of information sites and mashups like netvibes.com (i even designed a similar site), but a whole desktop? (brrr, I can stand only one :))

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Maybe I'm not quite understanding, but... I LOVE my multi/virtual desktops (in OSX, Windows, and Ubuntu).

-T.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Buglabs looks interesting, but yikes, their stuff ain't cheap. You really gotta want what they're selling.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

they held a start up sale a while back, and i think they where planning to do something similar soon.

also the base and its modules can in theory be turned into anything.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

It's a car and it's a robot!

http://home.comcast.net/%7Emathewign...sbumblebee.jpg

Oh, not that kind of bug...

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

really, for a post like that, the thanks button do not do it service :D

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

http://pleco.org/vw/RedBug.jpg
BTW: Yes, I own this vehicle. :)

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

You know, I was thinking that, but given the (rumoured) size of the pre-order mailing list, not so much anymore.

It's now quite likely that the original production run of 3,000 units won't even hit the streets, but be gobbled up on launch. For an alleged geek toy with nothing but some viral (and unintended viral at that) marketing, that's not too bad.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I was expecting far more lulz from that joke.

I know, I know: don't quit the day job.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

my biggest biggest annoyance with all the OS versions is ... why are the dialog boxes soooo small and ******ed ? You can't move columns, you can't change columns, the window is soo small it usually only displays a few characters. Why was this method chosen? Please nokia move the hell away from the cell phone mindset when making a new ITT OS GUI.

File mgr is a bit better because you can go full screen, which helps, but you still can't move columns, or change their width. And why can't apps remember where you were last instead of having to drill down directories over and over again to go to the same place?!?!? Sure sure, some do, like kmplayer (thank you), but most don't.

And of course there is no way to "ctrl-click" to select individual files.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

Multi/Virtual Desktops?

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

B.t.w. there is already Xulrunner for the tablets. With that you make a mash-up with some javascript and xml knowledge. Hopefully it can be sped up to acceptable levels.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

There was chuckling. But I have a Jack Russell; she doesn't go: "Lulz. Want cheezburgah.", she goes: "I say, that was rather amuzing, wasn't it. When's dinner?"

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

You know, I bought my 770 in Dec. 2005, without ever seeing one in the wild, because I had been reading about it for months, and it had been exactly what I had been looking for for years. I had been planning about getting an N900, assuming it has GPS and WiMAX, right away as well. But with all I read about the UI having bigger icons, bigger scrollbars, etc., totally nullifying the advantage of the high-resolution screen, I am going to hold off until I can play with it at Best Buy or somewhere to see if it still meets my needs. I've stuck with the 770 for three years now, and there is no reason I can't continue to stick with it until some other manufacture comes up with a device that meets my needs. There is nothing wrong with adding a finger-friendly mode, but it is nonsense to eliminate the stylus-friendly, highres-utilizing mode.

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I think part of the problem is thinking that something *new* needs to be developed (e.g. hildon-desktop). The thing is fvwm can duplicate the entire home page easily, except for the desktop applets. fvwm has a task bar, menus, clock, system tray. If the apps people were writing just used the already standard tray rather than hildon, they would be just fine. In one bar across the top or side, I can have a system menu, a task bar (icons and/or text), a tray and clock. I have a fully functional keyboard, although I do not have word completion.

Changing the theme is simple in fvwm as well. It is trivial to make almost identical themes, in varying degrees of sizes to accommodate stylus, small and large fingers.

Just saying :)

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

yep, that fvwm is almost scarily flexible. i seems to just never get around to really get ro using it for whatever reason...

Re: can the '08 GUI be ANY crappier?
 

I'm back to fvwm again (on my desktop), just because I can make it do exactly what I want. I've used it for years. I had a single little UI feature problem with it, which the then-author fixed on the hour when I emailed about it. Hm, I now see that in the version I'm using now that doesn't seem to work anymore.. will have to look at that. It's probably in the configuration now.