Channel 9 - Entries tagged with UI

ARCast.TV - UI of the new era, designing for multiple devices

Bob Familiar — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:46:00 GMT

Computer screens in laptops, desktops and phones are now the targets for application developers yet they represent challenges as the resolution, size, among other factors.

In this episode, Director of User Experience at Infragistics Dr. Komischke describes how using Fluid UI allows organizations and developers design in the new era of user experience.

Stardock Fences Corral Your Desktop Clutter

Larry Larsen — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:01:00 GMT

Stardock, a company known for its UI enhancements, has just released their latest app; Fences. Fences allows you to group together desktop icons, sometimes known as 'all that garbage on your desktop', into clean-looking folder containers known as fences. Simply drag select the icons on your desktop and a prompt asks you to name the fence.

So how is this system fundamentally different from arranging your icons into little piles and folders yourself? First, Fences will let you hide/show those icons with a simple double click on the background. That alone is worth the price (free, btw) of installation. Second, it will allow you to size your container and provide scrollbars if it isn't big enough to display all the icons. This is much cleaner than the average pile of web icons that I have good intentions of opening in the future, and gives you a little more control over display than using folders.

Fences will work on Windows XP, Vista, and even Windows 7. More information including a video here.

Windows 7 “Color Hot-Track” Feature

Sarah Perez — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 05:57:00 GMT

Sometimes it’s the little things, you know? In the PDC session “Welcome to the Windows 7 desktop“ which was hosted by Chaitanya Sareen several new Windows 7 features were revealed. One that we didn’t see in the keynote presentation is this new “color hot-track” feature. When your mouse hovers over one of the icons in the Windows 7 taskbar, the surrounding “glass” of the button lights up to show it has been selected. The color that is selected to show off that button is dynamically extracted based on whichever color is the most dominant RGB value in the icon. This makes the icon glow when your cursor passes it over. It’s not a big thing, but I really love this…it’s shows that there has been thought and detail put into even smallest features, which is a promising sign for what’s ahead.

Images courtesy of Long Zheng, who has more on Flickr.

And here's a video of that feature in action:

Circle Dock Is No Ordinary App Launcher

Sarah Perez — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 04:45:00 GMT

I’m sure you’ve seen docks before – the launch bars that let you start up applications with one click. For Windows users, one of the most popular docks is Rocket Dock (I use this one myself). Another favorite is Object Dock. However, I had never seen anything quite like Circle Dock before. Instead of a simple bar that attaches to a side of your computer screen, Circle Dock will launch (via a hotkey) wherever your mouse sits on the screen. The apps it contains can display either as concentric circles or as a spiral. There’s a lot you can do with Circle Dock too – you can rotate it, skin it, and add apps, files, folders, and shortcuts to the dock by drag and drop. Circle Dock may not be for you, but it’s definitely a unique take on the UI experience. Circle Dock is free download and works on 64-bit. It’s available here.

If you want to get really crazy, you can download the newly-released alpha version of Circle Dock. In this version, Circle Dock 0.9.2, the middle button can now open up the Windows start menu. You can also group your icons into dock folders and open them up in groups and click on the middle button to navigate back out of the folder. (The picture is of the alpha version).

Microsoft Scalable Fabric

Sarah Perez — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:13:00 GMT

From Microsoft Research, there comes a new UI for your Windows desktop. Instead of simply minimizing applications or switching through them either via Alt+Tab or Windows+Tab as you do now, there’s a new task management called Microsoft Scalable Fabric that lets you interact with your windows in a whole new way. With this app, you define a central focus area for your desktop where the main window that you’re working within will be located. Other windows are visible off in the periphery of the screen. So, instead of minimizing an app, you drag it outside of the central focus area. The closer you drag the app to the edge of your computer screen, the smaller it becomes. (via/img thanks to DownloadSquad)

Smart Touch UI for Windows Mobile

Sarah Perez — Mon, 05 May 2008 14:19:00 GMT

The mobile interface called Smart Touch UI, designed to run on Gigabyte's GSmart Windows Mobile phones, is an innovative UI that lets you interact with your phone by pressing buttons on your phone's LCD screen as well as sliding your finger across the screen to interact with various features, like the analog/digital clock. The interface proved to be popular enough for an unofficial version to appear on the net, in the form of the "Gmart Today Plugin," a download from the site Freeware for Pocket PC. According to the download page, the plugin runs on both Windows Mobile 5 & 6. Once installed, you can flip between the GSmart interface and the default Windows Mobile interface by pressing the "Today" icon. (via Download Squad)

SlideIt - A Different Way to Enter Text

Sarah Perez — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:55:00 GMT

This is interesting - a company called SlideIt is offering you a different way to enter text on your Windows Mobile phone. Instead of picking up your stylus when entering text, you just drag it from one letter to the next without picking it up. In this way, you save...what? Microseconds? It's definitely different, but I'm not sure it's better.

However, you can also use SlideIt do do tapping with prediction - something that might be more useful. As you tap the words out, a list of words appears on the left for you to choose from. A graffiti box is available for any characters that are not on the keyboard.

You can see more of SlideIt's features here or watch a video demonstration of SlideIt in action here. And if you want to give it a try yourself, the download is available here.

Cairo, a New Windows Shell

Sarah Perez — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 18:13:00 GMT

Cairo is an alternative Windows shell that will let you completely change your desktop from using the current Windows UI to a brand new system. The design team behind the project wants their shell to offer an elegant but functional alternative to the Windows desktop. The Cairo shell offers many different features, some of which can be found in standalone programs, but never all combined into one seamless shell replacement program. Some of the features include a Start-Bar to replace the Start menu, a dynamic desktop where you can browse files and folders right from the desktop, multiple desktops, a launcher, file/application grouping, and much more. The Cairo shell is currently in a private alpha, so stay tuned to their site to find out when it will be available to the public.

Future Tech: See-Through Gadgets

Sarah Perez — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:11:00 GMT

Five years ago, Patrick Baudisch, a scientist at Microsoft Research who was studying human-computer interaction, started having trouble seeing what he was typing on his cell phone keypad. Some of us would have just bought a phone with bigger buttons, but Baudisch decided to reinvent handheld devices instead. The technology he created called LucidTouch is a digital way to make handheld devices appear transparent. Unlike today's handhelds, LucidTouch devices allow you to use all ten fingers while using two touchscreens - one on the front and one on the back. On the front, you would use your thumbs, and on the back, your fingers. On the screen of the device, you would see your fingers (well, digital facsimiles of your fingers) touching, tapping, and typing on the back of the device. The devices, when ready to go to market, would also have multipoint selection which would let you pinch, zoom, and drag icons on the screen with many fingers all at once. (You may think that sounds familiar, but the iPhone is actually limited to two-finger touching.) How long before you can hold your own LucidTouch device? Industry observers say five years, that is, if people can get used to it. The technology would be used in mobile phones, portable games, and even wristwatches. (Via Portfolio.com)