Comments on: Beyond the desktop metaphor http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/14/beyond-the-desktop-metaphor/ informal reflections Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:05:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: anything http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/14/beyond-the-desktop-metaphor/#comment-21 anything Fri, 16 Feb 2007 19:13:14 +0000 http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/14/beyond-the-desktop-metaphor/#comment-21 Thanks for the addition, Mircea! I couldn't agree more. In many cases, consoles actually seem to be leading interface design, in particular the Nintendo Wii and DS, which were designed to be usable by all age groups. As far as Search: this has been written about extensively and obviously has immense potential, especially when paired with a robust tagging infrastructure. See this <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/10/browsing-informal-hierarchies/" rel="nofollow">previous post</a> for an idea on how to browse large data collections by objects. Your first point reminds me of the work of <a rel="nofollow" href="http://fastcompany.com/video/general/perceptivepixel.html%20%3Chttp://fastcompany.com/video/general/perceptivepixel.html" rel="nofollow">Jeff Han</a>, which has been circulated quite a bit recently. In any case, I would still argue that any successful, mainstream operating system needs a strong, central metaphor to tie together all the elements and make it something people can relate to from their own experience. Thanks for the addition, Mircea! I couldn’t agree more. In many cases, consoles actually seem to be leading interface design, in particular the Nintendo Wii and DS, which were designed to be usable by all age groups. As far as Search: this has been written about extensively and obviously has immense potential, especially when paired with a robust tagging infrastructure. See this previous post for an idea on how to browse large data collections by objects. Your first point reminds me of the work of Jeff Han, which has been circulated quite a bit recently. In any case, I would still argue that any successful, mainstream operating system needs a strong, central metaphor to tie together all the elements and make it something people can relate to from their own experience.

]]> By: Mircea Turcan http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/14/beyond-the-desktop-metaphor/#comment-20 Mircea Turcan Thu, 15 Feb 2007 17:38:11 +0000 http://www.formfollowsbehavior.com/2007/02/14/beyond-the-desktop-metaphor/#comment-20 You are spot-on. Additionally, I might add 3 main trends that future interfaces will be molded towards: 1. Media centric: interfaces with extensive media capabilities, universal players (capable of playing a large lists of formats), flocking into distributed media (networked, P2P?). Think more of a post PARC, proto-Minority-Report approach to browsing media, currently still quite restricted in Apple's FrontRow or Sony's XMB (i'd assume because of controller issues?). 2. Meta centric: interfaces don't rely on formal data structures (i.e. tree), but on an organic search oriented approach, maybe even integrating mnemonics/patterns. Think Apple's Spotlight, or better yet, Blacktree's Quicksilver. 3. User centric: an empowered user is in demand of an identity vis-a-vis his desktop/other users. Aside OLPC's approach (congrats on the great work, btw!), I'd also point out that mainstream consumer electronic devices are gearing towards it too: all current next-gen consoles sport networking capabilities that are heavily user oriented. I'd also add my hopes for better voice recognition and gestural control (multi-point touch, 3D motion detection etc.) as a final topping. Sugar would be fine as well... :) You are spot-on. Additionally, I might add 3 main trends that future interfaces will be molded towards:

1. Media centric: interfaces with extensive media capabilities, universal players (capable of playing a large lists of formats), flocking into distributed media (networked, P2P?). Think more of a post PARC, proto-Minority-Report approach to browsing media, currently still quite restricted in Apple’s FrontRow or Sony’s XMB (i’d assume because of controller issues?).

2. Meta centric: interfaces don’t rely on formal data structures (i.e. tree), but on an organic search oriented approach, maybe even integrating mnemonics/patterns. Think Apple’s Spotlight, or better yet, Blacktree’s Quicksilver.

3. User centric: an empowered user is in demand of an identity vis-a-vis his desktop/other users. Aside OLPC’s approach (congrats on the great work, btw!), I’d also point out that mainstream consumer electronic devices are gearing towards it too: all current next-gen consoles sport networking capabilities that are heavily user oriented.

I’d also add my hopes for better voice recognition and gestural control (multi-point touch, 3D motion detection etc.) as a final topping. Sugar would be fine as well… :)

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