maemo.org - Talk - View Single Post - Future of Internet Tablets

	allnameswereout	2008-11-03 , 13:07
	Posts: 3,397 \| Thanked: 1,212 times \| Joined on Jul 2008 @ Netherlands	#239

What Ragnar `announced' is basically what we heard on the summit already.

Originally Posted by SD69

Well, it's not limited to stylus v. finger, as you may want to switch views for other reasons. This happens all the time and may also be desirable for reasons as yet unthought of. Instead of binding a hardware key to the functionality, the hardware key and its binding should be a part of the UI and then app should provide the functionality. In some apps (media player) you may want different view switch than in others (such as PIM).

Originally Posted by lcuk

i keep wanting to use the [menu] key for exactly that.
a great number of input dialogs would go well with a simple/intermediate/complex UI option, just cycle round them.

also there is the Code/Design/Run cycle that the on device IDE should have..

So, it appears you both agree, and want a hardware button which takes you to the configuration screen of an application. Am I correct?

But this is one of the things where Linux is weak. Application developers do put 'Cut' and 'Paste' in the 'Edit' menu (often with key bindings to them) but something like Settings or Preferences changes throughout the UI. Worse, it should be easily accessible from the computer using a keybind. I don't know if GNOME HIG concerns this... but IMO it is important.

Its the same with /etc. Its a mess. Heck, some UNIX systems even put binaries in there. Now there are some projects to abstract /etc (with backwards compatibility), even so far, that the configuration format is all the same. Like on MacOS X which heavily uses XML for this purpose.

(As for multi touch. Apple didn't invent this. It was already in use in research projects long ago. There were demos about software synths using a touchscreen with multitouch long ago. There were demos about RTS game using a touchscreen with multitouch a long time ago.). Anyone who has been at Siggraph knows this

Apple didn't invent this! They bought one of the innovating corporations in this field, and implemented the functionality on one of their popular devices. Multi-touch history. (Here are some nice touch screen videos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10.) Still just another input device? I remember a time where I had only a joystick as input device because I had no mouse. Well, the mouse did open my eyes. And later, a trackball did, too. Now I use mainly a trackpoint.

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