"Piles" desktop UI demo/prototype
Boy this sure as heck looks like something Apple would do (might be doing in the future?)
http://www.bumptop.com/
This is pretty amazing. I totally would expect to see Steve demo something like this at a keynote. This looks so utterly Apple to me.
http://www.bumptop.com/
This is pretty amazing. I totally would expect to see Steve demo something like this at a keynote. This looks so utterly Apple to me.
Comments
Boy this sure as heck looks like something Apple would do (might be doing in the future?)
http://www.bumptop.com/
This is pretty amazing. I totally would expect to see Steve demo something like this at a keynote. This looks so utterly Apple to me.
I saw this a long time ago, and I wasn't really impressed. The more real physics they bring into the UI, the less efficient it becomes. You end up trying to wrangle your files more than actually doing work. I think the developer needs to dial it down a notch.
Boy this sure as heck looks like something Apple would do (might be doing in the future?)
http://www.bumptop.com/
This is pretty amazing. I totally would expect to see Steve demo something like this at a keynote. This looks so utterly Apple to me.
Checking it out now. CC I haven't seen you in ages man. Hope all is well.
Pretty nifty. They've taken Piles and really added some nice management and physics to the technology. I'm impressed and rather than dismiss it I believe it has a use for certain file manipulations as an adjunct to todays 2D spatiatlity.
One thing I'd like to see is the ability to store files by creating links to directories on the horizontal plane. I imagine you could cordon off areas mapped to "Documents" "Music" "Pictures" "Application" or whatever directory folder you want. Thus you could manage your files and organize and when you have piles in the order than you want simply evoke a horizontal overlay and send those files to the appropriate folder. You could animate the piles sinking into the horizontal plane for neat effect.
Checking it out now. CC I haven't seen you in ages man. Hope all is well.
Pretty nifty. They've taken Piles and really added some nice management and physics to the technology. I'm impressed and rather than dismiss it I believe it has a use for certain file manipulations as an adjunct to todays 2D spatiatlity.
One thing I'd like to see is the ability to store files by creating links to directories on the horizontal plane. I imagine you could cordon off areas mapped to "Documents" "Music" "Pictures" "Application" or whatever directory folder you want. Thus you could manage your files and organize and when you have piles in the order than you want simply evoke a horizontal overlay and send those files to the appropriate folder. You could animate the piles sinking into the horizontal plane for neat effect.
Fake 3D can be much more difficult to navigate than real 3D (stereovision)... just imagine the amount of 'hunting and pecking' that the average user would go through trying to make this UI useful for everyday navigation. I think it's waaaaaaay too early for this kind of chaotic UI to be mainstream.
Why would you want to purposely hide a bunch of files in a pile of unrelated documents? On top of that, the 3D perspective means you can't tell what a file is unless you straighten it out so you can view the icon properly.
The whole thing just looks clumsy and stupid in my opinion.
The whole point of hierarchical file systems is that you can organise large numbers files in a clean and efficient manner. How the hell is this going to work with the 154,357 files (thanks DIsk Utility) I have on my hard disk? Pile them into large mounds of unidentifiable polygons?
I would hate to have a desktop environment like that. That desk is a mess - you'd never be able to find anything. People shouldn't work like that in real life, so why should we work like that on a computer?
Why would you want to purposely hide a bunch of files in a pile of unrelated documents? On top of that, the 3D perspective means you can't tell what a file is unless you straighten it out so you can view the icon properly.
The whole thing just looks clumsy and stupid in my opinion.
The whole point of hierarchical file systems is that you can organise large numbers files in a clean and efficient manner. How the hell is this going to work with the 154,357 files (thanks DIsk Utility) I have on my hard disk? Pile them into large mounds of unidentifiable polygons?
You said it better (and more harshly) than I did...
Also known as the best Application I've ever used.
The Demo is cool, but I already saw it...
Sebastian
You said it better (and more harshly) than I did...
Sorry, I've been in a bad mood lately
That said, some of the gesture stuff looks interesting - but Apple already has this built into OS X since Jaguar. Just plug in a graphics tablet and poke around in the Ink System Preference. There are options here to switch on gestures for actions like "undo" and whatnot. The problem is that these gestures are not particularly intuitive, and much slower to execute than a keyboard shortcut.
The bit at the end of the video looked a bit more practical when it was dealing with larger documents displaying actual content. But I think that's been done better in those touch screen demos that have floating around the web (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc).
When I look at people with 1,000 icons on their desktop, all I can think is: "Does saving ONE extra mouse-click really warrant the illogical, unsorted mess you've created?". I find the look of a messy desktop almost offensive to the beauty of the Mac UI.
I think the world is ready to move beyond the desktop metaphor. Come up with a UI that bases itself upon how we actually USE our computers, not how we use physical documents. The best way to do that is to combine the MULTI-TOUCH intuitiveness of physical manupulation with a file system that auto-sorts/categorizes and 'hides' files based on content.
Spotlight is the start of this. I can instantly search for all documents containing a specific word/topic etc. I can see them arranged by type and by date. Now imagine SpotLight automatically filed all of my data in accord with that information and I could pull it up instantly. Most recently used documents at my fingertips; older stuff firther away. Content pulled up by keyword instantaneously.
We now have so many other tools to organise things without having to dump them on the desktop (the Dock, Spotlight, Finder sidebar, etc). Hell, we have dedicated apps like iPhoto and iTunes that drops all our photos/music into folders that we can then forget about because the application provides a smoother way to interact with those files.
My desktop is positively bleak, and has been so since I started using OSX. The first thing I do is hide the Hard Disk icon. There is no reason for me to ever go to the root level of the HD. Sure, I did this all the time in System 6,7,8, etc. But now I can just have the home folder in the dock along with Applications, Pictures, Movies, and so on, leaving the desktop blank. All I have these days is a "temp" and a "downloads" folder.
I see the problem of a thousand icons more on Windows machines where every installer you get insists on placing a shortcut on the desktop (and often in the task bar and the system tray for good measure..). Even when you first buy a PC, the desktop is littered with redundant junk - I spent a good hour cleaning up my ThinkPad when I first got it. Why the hell do they put this crap on the desktop when it's already available from the Start menu?
When I look at people with 1,000 icons on their desktop, all I can think is: "Does saving ONE extra mouse-click really warrant the illogical, unsorted mess you've created?". I find the look of a messy desktop almost offensive to the beauty of the Mac UI.
I think the world is ready to move beyond the desktop metaphor. Come up with a UI that bases itself upon how we actually USE our computers, not how we use physical documents. The best way to do that is to combine the MULTI-TOUCH intuitiveness of physical manupulation with a file system that auto-sorts/categorizes and 'hides' files based on content.
Spotlight is the start of this. I can instantly search for all documents containing a specific word/topic etc. I can see them arranged by type and by date. Now imagine SpotLight automatically filed all of my data in accord with that information and I could pull it up instantly. Most recently used documents at my fingertips; older stuff firther away. Content pulled up by keyword instantaneously.
Punakea, a tags based Finder replacement.
Yep. Unfortunately this only deals with pdf, but it does so very elegantly.
LiquiFile which is about 'Liquid Browsing'. To fully understand what these guys are trying to build, have a look at this movie: Liquid Browsing
My problem with the "Piles" concept is that it perpetuates the DESKTOP metaphor, which has really run its course. I'm one of the few people I know that keeps a completely tidy computer desktop, typically with links to only 2-3 items; the Mac HD, a "Desktop Clutter" folder (where I put everything that I haven't yet filed or which is temporary in nature - including all web downloads), and any external drives or files/folders that require IMMEDIATE attention.
When I look at people with 1,000 icons on their desktop, all I can think is: "Does saving ONE extra mouse-click really warrant the illogical, unsorted mess you've created?". I find the look of a messy desktop almost offensive to the beauty of the Mac UI.
I think the world is ready to move beyond the desktop metaphor. Come up with a UI that bases itself upon how we actually USE our computers, not how we use physical documents. The best way to do that is to combine the MULTI-TOUCH intuitiveness of physical manupulation with a file system that auto-sorts/categorizes and 'hides' files based on content.
Spotlight is the start of this. I can instantly search for all documents containing a specific word/topic etc. I can see them arranged by type and by date. Now imagine SpotLight automatically filed all of my data in accord with that information and I could pull it up instantly. Most recently used documents at my fingertips; older stuff firther away. Content pulled up by keyword instantaneously.
So I'm not alone in the Clean Desktop frenzy. Personally I just let mine get messy over a week and then just clean it up on Sunday or something though. However, I'd be hard pressed to call Spotlight the start of ANYTHING! Sometimes I occassionally quit Quicksilver by accident, and Spotlight is completely useless in finding it and opening it for me again. Further, I can be looking right at a file in the Finder and Spotlight still won't be able to find it. It's just a mess of an application and one I wish I could permanently disable until Leopard (where I hope it will be improved)
I absolutely agree with everything you have written
We now have so many other tools to organise things without having to dump them on the desktop (the Dock, Spotlight, Finder sidebar, etc). Hell, we have dedicated apps like iPhoto and iTunes that drops all our photos/music into folders that we can then forget about because the application provides a smoother way to interact with those files.
My desktop is positively bleak, and has been so since I started using OSX. The first thing I do is hide the Hard Disk icon. There is no reason for me to ever go to the root level of the HD. Sure, I did this all the time in System 6,7,8, etc. But now I can just have the home folder in the dock along with Applications, Pictures, Movies, and so on, leaving the desktop blank. All I have these days is a "temp" and a "downloads" folder.
I see the problem of a thousand icons more on Windows machines where every installer you get insists on placing a shortcut on the desktop (and often in the task bar and the system tray for good measure..). Even when you first buy a PC, the desktop is littered with redundant junk - I spent a good hour cleaning up my ThinkPad when I first got it. Why the hell do they put this crap on the desktop when it's already available from the Start menu?
I'm curious, how do you hide that thing, and maybe iDisk? I haven't been able to find any way to do it so far.
Sebastian
I'm curious, how do you hide that thing, and maybe iDisk? I haven't been able to find any way to do it so far.
You can hide the Hard Disk via the Finder preferences:
edit: too slow