Notices

That is correct, however it is an application coming from the creators of the OS that some may interpret as the OS creators' idea of what applications should look like. That is why I included it there.

Regarding szopin's argument about learning curves... I had though of it. Do I confuse intuitiveness with familiarity? Well, maybe. When I first got my N900, I did not run the tutorial. In fact, I never ran the N900 tutorial. Yet I quickly figured out how the UI works. Jolla forced me through the tutorial. And good job it did, I am not sure I would have figured it out myself. It is quite possible that the N900 UI is similar to familiar desktop interfaces and that's where the impression of intuitiveness comes from but I truly believe hat the best test of an intuitive UI is to let a complete newbie use it and figure out without help how to do a given task.

Now I wonder, does changing language to hebrew/arabic change the orientation of OK/Forward/right - Back/Cancel/left? There are some cool studies how language impacts thinking (whether it being counting/time/location awareness etc). For languages that are written from left to right, right is the side of progression/moving forward, for the ones where left is natural progression swiping left might be more intuitive to Accept etc, and right to go back

edit: oops, just noticed it is a bit confusing when by swiping left I mean swiping with yuor finger to the right to end up on the left... I think it's clear though even if a bit of roundabout, srry

-they will say: golden ratio-mobile size,icon size
llike 90 60 90
but I love more

You're obviously not a newbie if you found the n900 intuitive. Give it to someone who has never used a desktop or understands multitasking and watch.

If you've not read Jaako Roppola's blog at http://jaakkoroppola.blogspot.co.uk it should be mandatory reading for Sailfish UI/UX discussions. He's a designer at Jolla responsible for UI/UX.

Any comments about the modRana UI in this context ?
(either the "classic" one on Maemo/GTK or the "new" one on Sailfish/Qt 5)

Quick reply...
I have not used it for a long time... For GTK one: the tiles are cute in a way that says "let us build whole operating system where only Python-based apps can run, and the whole GUI looks like these blue-ish rectangles". For Qt/QML one: where is the Exit "X"?
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And about gestures: let me re-iterate that I prefer for icons on app-launcher to be multifunctional, and serve as widgets, instead of taking up extra space by separate widgets.

We already have Calendar icon which shows current date. Theoretically, if I was not so lazy, we could make it show month, too: for example, by changing its foreground colour (grey-silver, black, brown, red, orange, yellow, yellow-green-lemon-lime, green, blue-sky-cyan, dark-blue-navy, violet, magenta). Year? Who are you, a time traveller, to forget current year? But it is too much of hassle in current limited system which expects that each image is static and independent of its environment; for example, it would have been much easier for Calendar if, instead of pre-generating all the needed possible icons, we could have one dynamic-icon file which (like SVG; possible with usage of JS) would re-generate image when triggered (be the trigger a change of date, an unread/read message, a change of time, or something else).

Similarly, we could have Clock which shows current time (rotating hands).

We could have Mail/Messages envelope which displays number of Unread emails/messages. Inside it, without breaking uniformity of interface.

And each icon could be 'fat' launcher. Launching one of several possibilities, depending on gesture. Like,
Clock could launch Clock itself, Alarms, or World Clock.
Mail/Messages could launch Modest=email, SMS, or IM.
Calendar could launch Calendar itself, or new-event dialog.
Media Player could launch itself, or control the currently played file: Back, Forward, Play/Pause.

Similarly, about lock screen: it should protect your information from being seen by unauthorized persons (if you are using pin-or-some-kind-of-protective lockscreen), and yet, it should provide access to information with minimal number of movements/clicks/gestures.

Best wishes.
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Per aspera ad astra...

Golden ratio ... why? (given that it is pretty much just an urban myth that humans exhibit a preference or particular liking for golden ratio rectangles; experiments have shown no such preference exists)

Bleaaaargh!

I have 7 (seven!) mailboxes. The main screen in the N9 and Jolla mail client shows the list of the mailboxes and the combined list of new emails. And I absolutely HATE it for it. The whole POINT of having multiple mailboxes is separation. When the mail client combines the new emails like that, it breaks the main principle and forces me to make some additional steps to find out where the freaking duck the email was sent.

Another example: the N900 notification LED blinks blue if I have unanswered calls or unread emails, SMS or IM. So, which one is it? As far as I am concerned, those are four entirely, even conceptually different things and my phone is trying to make me completely reverse my way of seeing the world by trying to combine them.

You suggestion merely moves the same principle from an LED to an icon. It might suit you but is entirely against what I expect from an intuitive UI.

Similarly for the dynamic icons. They are a great idea, but I would be careful about inventing a new hammer and seeing everything as a nail. The whole point of a widget it providing information in a concise yet clear manner. I have three widgets on my N900 screen:

• A nameday widget. That could potentially be replaced with a dynamic icon if you figured out how to fit long names in it.
• A weather widget showing the current weather and the forecast for the next 24 hours in 6 hours increments. That's 5 different pieces of data. Actually 10, since each one is the weather icon (sunny, cloudy, raining...) and the temperature. I would like to also see the wind speed, that would make 15. How do you want to fit that in a single icon?
• A calendar widget. Showing the current day/date and the 5 upcoming events, all in a glance. A single icon? I don't think so.

A calendar or a clock dynamic icon is a simple example that will work but the same idea will not fit all cases. Even the calendar is questionable. For me, the most crucial piece of info is (obviously) not the year. It's not the month either. Not even the date. It's the day of the week. You left no room in your example for that, although that could be improved: a number with the date in the centre, an hour hand showing the month and the background colour for the day of the week. That's three pieces of info in one icon. Any more and you are stuck.

A media player widget? I don't use one but if I did, I would expect it to show AT LEAST the current playing song and preferably the artist name and the album. In a single icon? Bah!

Quick reply...
I can understand the point of separating email, SMS, and IM. Four triangles within envelope could allow that easily, potentially introducing clutter. But separate mailboxes within email... Separate IM streams within IM... That's hellish within an icon, I agree.

That's why user should be able to switch off or customize a particular dynamism of icon. Like this number of unread emails.

And you have convinced me (with mailboxes, weather forecast, and calendar events) that there is need for a screen (separate from app launcher) which houses user-selected widgets. Huge widgets. With excessive amount of information.

I am not a fan of widgets, but you have shown that there has to be a support for them. Just, not in the app-launcher itself; on the desktop is fine.

Actually, you can make Call, IM, SMS, and Email blink differently from each other https://wiki.maemo.org/LED_patterns#...for_Nokia_N900

Best wishes.

Obviously not in the app launcher. On the desktop. Assuming there IS a desktop. Neither Harmattan nor Sailfish have the concept. What a pity.