[KDE Usability] 10GUI user interface: some great ideas, many of which can be used today

[dotancohen]

I was just introduced to this video:
http://10gui.com/video/

The company specializes in touch-screen technology, and they have a
great approach that I would love to see KDE incorporate parts of.
Their icons are from Oxygen, by the way!

Some of the non-touch innovations look to be possible today, such as
the full-height windows organization and switching. The user would
simply use the keyboard alt-tab as he does now, but the spacial
organization would be as in the video. Thoughts? Thanks!

--
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il
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[Onur - Hayri Bakici]

Am Mittwoch 04 November 2009 17:17:04 schrieb Dotan Cohen:

> I was just introduced to this video:
> http://10gui.com/video/
>
> The company specializes in touch-screen technology, and they have a
> great approach that I would love to see KDE incorporate parts of.
> Their icons are from Oxygen, by the way!
>
> Some of the non-touch innovations look to be possible today, such as
> the full-height windows organization and switching. The user would
> simply use the keyboard alt-tab as he does now, but the spacial
> organization would be as in the video. Thoughts? Thanks!
>
>

wow. This is really a nice approach. But still, doen't need the user a lot of training to use both hands?
I liked the left/right panel for global operations and for local operations.
At the end of the film, they showed a computer with a keyboard and this touchpad mounted on the same board. in my opinion the "hand moving from mouse to keyboard" problem is not solved with that approach.
And also i guess the user has to lean his arms a little more away from the body to reach to the keyboard. i think this also can cause some physical distractions to the user.

greetz
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2009/11/4 Dotan Cohen <dotancohen@...>:
> I was just introduced to this video:
> http://10gui.com/video/

On the subject of potentially useful videos, I found one called "Don't
Make Me Click". Definitely worth watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuELwq2ThJE&hl
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[Shaun Reich]

Love the idea, I would really love a multi-touch interface, as I tend
to multitask a lot, especially in real life. This is why I dislike the
mouse. The mouse is detrimental to what can be done, at least when
compared to real life, where I use each hand to perform a separate
action.


> At the end of the film, they showed a computer with a keyboard and this touchpad mounted on the same board. in my opinion the "hand moving from mouse to keyboard" problem is     > not solved with that

Right, not "solved", only lessened. I think the real solution to that
problem, would be to have the touch interface the keyboard also. Like
a virtual keyboard..but of course that comes with it's drawbacks. The
main argument I have with that latter approach is that you can't
really "feel" the keys, so that really prevents muscle-learning. What
would be nice, is if the touch device could emulate a feel, like make
the screen raise into buttons when the virtual keyboard pops up. Yeah,
it's crazy thinking I guess? I just thought it would be cool. Last I
checked though, there were some small advances in that area, but
nothing as spectacular as what I would want.


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Shaun Reich
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[Onur - Hayri Bakici]

> What
> would be nice, is if the touch device could emulate a feel, like make
> the screen raise into buttons when the virtual keyboard pops up. Yeah,
> it's crazy thinking I guess? I just thought it would be cool. Last I
> checked though, there were some small advances in that area, but
> nothing as spectacular as what I would want.

No, its not crazy thinking. you know there is this approach where scientists use a silicon-like layer to inflate buttons, so the user gets tactile feedback when pressing the button.
The link is here:
http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/pneumaticdisplays/

what could be possible is to merge those 2 approaches: use the silicon to allow multitouch (mouse) and  - when reqested - let the silicon be inflated with air so a full keyboard pops up.
this is just an idea on how the keyboard problem may be solved.


greetz
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2009/11/5 Shaun Reich <predator106@...>:

> Love the idea, I would really love a multi-touch interface, as I tend
> to multitask a lot, especially in real life. This is why I dislike the
> mouse. The mouse is detrimental to what can be done, at least when
> compared to real life, where I use each hand to perform a separate
> action.
>
>
>> At the end of the film, they showed a computer with a keyboard and this touchpad mounted on the same board. in my opinion the "hand moving from mouse to keyboard" problem is     > not solved with that
>
> Right, not "solved", only lessened. I think the real solution to that
> problem, would be to have the touch interface the keyboard also. Like
> a virtual keyboard..but of course that comes with it's drawbacks. The
> main argument I have with that latter approach is that you can't
> really "feel" the keys, so that really prevents muscle-learning.

Haptic feedback.  Simply have a piezo that shakes the device when you
touch the screen.  As long as you react in under 50ms (30ms is better.
 Longer and it feels 'heavy'), the user will feel as if he is touching
a button.  It works pretty well.

John
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[dotancohen]

> Haptic feedback.  Simply have a piezo that shakes the device when you
> touch the screen.  As long as you react in under 50ms (30ms is better.
>  Longer and it feels 'heavy'), the user will feel as if he is touching
> a button.  It works pretty well.
>

And how does that help me to find "Q" or "W"?


--
Dotan Cohen

http://what-is-what.com
http://gibberish.co.il
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[Shaun Reich]

> And how does that help me to find "Q" or "W"?

Ditto.

The idea isn't to press the button, then see if your fingers are
aligned properly. In reality, you kind of feel it out, then when you
are where you want, you start typing. I tend to be aligned improperly
every once in a while even with the regular keyboard (usually happens
when my feet are on the desk). This would be a lot worse if there was
no ability to "feel" where your fingers were with respect to the keys.

--
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Shaun Reich
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[Diego Moya]

For touch typing in a touchscreen, it really shouldn't be necessary a
precise aiming to exact screen points. A gesture could track and
calibrate the precise "home" position of your index fingers, and all
later keypresses would be defined as relative to that home position.

This would eliminate the "my hands are improperly aligned WRT the
keyboard" problem. I would go further and use the initial gesture as
the standard way to open a virtual keyboard, right under your
fingertips anyplace in the touchscreen.


2009/11/5 Shaun Reich:

>> And how does that help me to find "Q" or "W"?
>
> Ditto.
>
> The idea isn't to press the button, then see if your fingers are
> aligned properly. In reality, you kind of feel it out, then when you
> are where you want, you start typing. I tend to be aligned improperly
> every once in a while even with the regular keyboard (usually happens
> when my feet are on the desk). This would be a lot worse if there was
> no ability to "feel" where your fingers were with respect to the keys.
>
> --
> KDE Developer,
> Shaun Reich
> _______________________________________________
> kde-usability mailing list
> kde-usability@...
> https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-usability
>

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