Sometimes it amazes me that I'm using a 1980's ball on my mouse and that it needs to make fake noises to satisfy me. So the optical sensor will be greatly appreciated.
And what's up with those ugly alien fingers Apple uses for its patent drawings?
What really intrigues me, though, is the pictures drawn in the patent filing, as they show very clearly a Classic-style Mac OS desktop rather than Mac OS X. Old-style Finder menu bar with Special on it; Classic-style window gadgets and floating windows; it's very obviously not Mac OS X in the picture. I wonder why. Could this be an ancient idea resurfacing?
Maybe, but this isn't the first time that Apple has patented a recent idea using an older style look to its SW and HW.
edit: They have a date of 1998 in the patent image and the text offers no column view, only icon, large icon and list.
Quote:
Originally Posted by stephend
Surely there is loads of prior art for the translucency part? All my Growl notifications are semi-transparent. And what about the tool palettes in Office 2004 that become translucent if you don't use them for a while?
There is one main difference between other apps offering translucency. This isn't making the whole window translucent, it's only making the front window of the section that is over another part of the Finder window. The background does not appear to be coming through. Every other app or plugin that offers translucency is an all-or-nothing solution across that entire app or window. This has the added benefit and unique quality that your background or an different app does not show through but when a window of the same app crosses another it will lighten so both are seen. This could be very in Xcode.
edit: I thought the background image goes behind the lower window, but it clearly stops before it so it doesn't look like it's looking less selective in its translucency and I'm not going to read the 16 page report. Besides offering a selective translucency, having the items from both windows selectable while they are overlapping/merged would be handy at times.
Vigorously rub the mouse's scroll ball on a piece of plain white paper (with the mouse upside-down).
It's a poor solution when it is the design that needs to be fixed. The mighty mouse scroll ball requires more maintenance than any mouse that I've ever owned, even the pre-optical mice required a lot less cleaning.
This isn't a simple matter of eye candy or a useless feature. I've seen the difference, and it's a huge usability boost.
On my Mac, I have Growl notifications. They're partially transparent, so I can see through them when they pop up, and they don't steal keyboard focus, so I can continue working without interruption. They give me the information I need, and that's it.
On my Windows computer for work, I get annoyed all the time by notifications. Popups in the system tray are completely opaque and often stay around way too long. If I need to see something under them, or use a control or icon underneath them, I have to close the notification first. It seems like a minor thing, but it's a pain.
Worse, I don't know how many times I'd be in the middle of typing when all of a sudden, a Lotus Notes reminder would pop up on my screen (my company insists on using Notes, by the way, it's not my choice). Not only is the reminder intrusive, but it steals keyboard focus! So I'm in the middle of typing, then all of a sudden this reminder pops up and before I have a chance to stop typing, I've hit either Return or Space. So that means I've dismissed the reminder before getting a chance to see it, and I have to go into Notes, open my Calendar, and check what the reminder was for. If I wanted to Snooze it, oh well, too late, it's been dismissed.
If you've never had the joy of working in an environment where notifications work properly and unintrusively, you probably think this is all whining. You're accustomed to it, and even if you find it annoying, you don't think too much about it. But once you've gotten used to something that's properly implemented, annoyances like this are infuriating. Transparency and proper use of keyboard focus are HUGE usability boosts.
This isn't a simple matter of eye candy or a useless feature. I've seen the difference, and it's a huge usability boost.
...
If you've never had the joy of working in an environment where notifications work properly and unintrusively, you probably think this is all whining. You're accustomed to it, and even if you find it annoying, you don't think too much about it. But once you've gotten used to something that's properly implemented, annoyances like this are infuriating. Transparency and proper use of keyboard focus are HUGE usability boosts.
Something like this transparency would only help you if the OS forces this behavior on the applications. I think the real problem for you is that Windows UI conventions allows this more. With most of your examples, the problem is really the fault of some developers not understanding how their users use their software.
With Apple owning the patent, it's probably not going to help a Windows user except with Apple-made apps.
It's a poor solution when it is the design that needs to be fixed. The mighty mouse scroll ball requires more maintenance than any mouse that I've ever owned, even the pre-optical mice required a lot less cleaning.
I was simply helping caliminius get the scroll ball work work again.
The Mighty Mouse is not the best mouse, but it's pretty good for the basic mouse. Sure cleaning it every once a while is a little annoying, but it only takes a few seconds at most.
Keep in mind that the Mighty Mouse is a primarily a bundled mouse. Find me a much better bundled mouse and I'd be very surprised. Most mouses that people say are so great (Logitech for example) are mouses that you have to buy separately anyways.
Is there any truth to the rumor that Microsoft Mac apps will override this translucent behavior and keep its windows fully opaque 100% of the time, overriding any other non-Microsoft app windows?
Something like this transparency would only help you if the OS forces this behavior on the applications. I think the real problem for you is that Windows UI conventions allows this more. With most of your examples, the problem is really the fault of some developers not understanding how their users use their software.
With Apple owning the patent, it's probably not going to help a Windows user except with Apple-made apps.
I don't care if it doesn't help Windows users. I wouldn't expect an Apple patent to help Windows users, except for in Apple apps. I'm responding to people saying that this is pure eye candy and useless by saying that, if done properly, it's actually a really good thing and it's noticeable.
Besides, I'd expect that if Apple wanted to implement this, they wouldn't just use it in their own apps. They'd probably add it as a standard window type that developers can use, and have all of the translucency and keyboard focus behaviours done automatically. That way, even if developers don't think about how users actually use their software, the notifications will still work properly and consistently across the entire system, and it will be yet another small but significant usability advantage for the Mac. All those little things add up to make the experience a pleasure rather than a chore.
Sometimes I get the feeling that Apple may even backdate their patents. An organization should look into that.
I think the translucent window idea is kinda stupid. Since when do background windows update before windows in front of them? All that's going to happen is that background windows all become transparent, which is useless because they're in the background anyway.
Just give us a tabbed Finder and get rid of the horrendous drop shadows in Leopard.
Tabs aren't the only solution because you often need to compare two folders of images so the Finder could be a 3 panel design. Left is the drives and shortcuts as it is now. The right panel could have 2 sections like itunes where the top part is column view (though this doesn't change to coverflow). A second panel just below that would be the section for list view, icon view or coverflow. This panel would have the option to split in the middle to compare two folders.
The split panels would be selectable and on selection, the column view switches to that active folder location. I find myself comparing folders quite a lot but it's so hard to get two panels equally sized in icon view next to each other quickly. With this split panel view, you just maximize one Finder window - no overlap.
Also, say you had a whole collection of images and you wanted to pick the best. You could set the left panel of the split to be in icon or list view at some location called favorites and the right one to be in coverflow. Then you could browse through the image folder on the right and drag the best ones into the folder n the left of the split. The folder on the left can be changed at any point using column view all without leaving the single Finder window.
I think the translucent window idea is kinda stupid. Since when do background windows update before windows in front of them? All that's going to happen is that background windows all become transparent, which is useless because they're in the background anyway.
I think you misunderstand which windows are becoming translucent. It's not background windows that are going translucent, it's things like floating palettes and floating notification windows that stay on top of all other windows and block what's underneath them. This is very useful. If an application wants to tell me something, I want to know about it, but I don't want that notification to disrupt my workflow. I should still be able to continue with what I was doing, and I shouldn't have to manually clear that notification in order to see, click, or type in items underneath that notification. It might just be one extra click, but it's a pain.
I think it might be more helpful if translucency would come into play only if you hovered over a "corner" area in the window, as if you were about to flip a page, and could see through to the 'pages' behind the frontmost window. This would also be more helpful for multi-touch navigation in future Apple products. For example, your finger hovers over the corner, allowing you to see you have two open windows behind the main window, then you press down on it, and it "flips the pages" to the windows behind as you continue to hold on the active corner.
It seems that these days we we have to patent everything just in case. I am doing a research for the federal government and currently developing new methods and ideas for building a particular "thing". I really hope no one patent my designs before I publish them!!
I think you misunderstand which windows are becoming translucent. It's not background windows that are going translucent, it's things like floating palettes and floating notification windows that stay on top of all other windows and block what's underneath them. This is very useful. If an application wants to tell me something, I want to know about it, but I don't want that notification to disrupt my workflow. I should still be able to continue with what I was doing, and I shouldn't have to manually clear that notification in order to see, click, or type in items underneath that notification. It might just be one extra click, but it's a pain.
But doesn't a notification count as an update to that window in which case it wouldn't be transparent? Also, the point of a notification is that you notice it so if it is transparent, you might not notice it.
I don't really ever use these kind of apps that notify you of events. Some of the people I work with use Entourage and it has popups when you get an email but they appear and then go away - they aren't really disruptive. I use apps with floating palettes but if I need to say work on something behind the palette (e.g an image in Photoshop), I'm going to need to move the panel anyway so I can see the right colors.
I still don't see the problem this particular solution is supposed to solve. I can't really think of a real-world instance where I'd actually use it. Same deal with Spaces for me though. I just use command-h and click another app.
How about the old NeXTSTEP Dock where the command-double-click autohides all other apps hidden but the application you're double clicking. The pasteboard is always there.
I never had Window Garbage with NeXTSTEP/Openstep.
Comments
And what's up with those ugly alien fingers Apple uses for its patent drawings?
What really intrigues me, though, is the pictures drawn in the patent filing, as they show very clearly a Classic-style Mac OS desktop rather than Mac OS X. Old-style Finder menu bar with Special on it; Classic-style window gadgets and floating windows; it's very obviously not Mac OS X in the picture. I wonder why. Could this be an ancient idea resurfacing?
Maybe, but this isn't the first time that Apple has patented a recent idea using an older style look to its SW and HW.
edit: They have a date of 1998 in the patent image and the text offers no column view, only icon, large icon and list.
Surely there is loads of prior art for the translucency part? All my Growl notifications are semi-transparent. And what about the tool palettes in Office 2004 that become translucent if you don't use them for a while?
There is one main difference between other apps offering translucency. This isn't making the whole window translucent, it's only making the front window of the section that is over another part of the Finder window. The background does not appear to be coming through. Every other app or plugin that offers translucency is an all-or-nothing solution across that entire app or window. This has the added benefit and unique quality that your background or an different app does not show through but when a window of the same app crosses another it will lighten so both are seen. This could be very in Xcode.
edit: I thought the background image goes behind the lower window, but it clearly stops before it so it doesn't look like it's looking less selective in its translucency and I'm not going to read the 16 page report. Besides offering a selective translucency, having the items from both windows selectable while they are overlapping/merged would be handy at times.
Try cleaning the scroll ball:
Vigorously rub the mouse's scroll ball on a piece of plain white paper (with the mouse upside-down).
It's a poor solution when it is the design that needs to be fixed. The mighty mouse scroll ball requires more maintenance than any mouse that I've ever owned, even the pre-optical mice required a lot less cleaning.
On my Mac, I have Growl notifications. They're partially transparent, so I can see through them when they pop up, and they don't steal keyboard focus, so I can continue working without interruption. They give me the information I need, and that's it.
On my Windows computer for work, I get annoyed all the time by notifications. Popups in the system tray are completely opaque and often stay around way too long. If I need to see something under them, or use a control or icon underneath them, I have to close the notification first. It seems like a minor thing, but it's a pain.
Worse, I don't know how many times I'd be in the middle of typing when all of a sudden, a Lotus Notes reminder would pop up on my screen (my company insists on using Notes, by the way, it's not my choice). Not only is the reminder intrusive, but it steals keyboard focus! So I'm in the middle of typing, then all of a sudden this reminder pops up and before I have a chance to stop typing, I've hit either Return or Space. So that means I've dismissed the reminder before getting a chance to see it, and I have to go into Notes, open my Calendar, and check what the reminder was for. If I wanted to Snooze it, oh well, too late, it's been dismissed.
If you've never had the joy of working in an environment where notifications work properly and unintrusively, you probably think this is all whining. You're accustomed to it, and even if you find it annoying, you don't think too much about it. But once you've gotten used to something that's properly implemented, annoyances like this are infuriating. Transparency and proper use of keyboard focus are HUGE usability boosts.
This isn't a simple matter of eye candy or a useless feature. I've seen the difference, and it's a huge usability boost.
...
If you've never had the joy of working in an environment where notifications work properly and unintrusively, you probably think this is all whining. You're accustomed to it, and even if you find it annoying, you don't think too much about it. But once you've gotten used to something that's properly implemented, annoyances like this are infuriating. Transparency and proper use of keyboard focus are HUGE usability boosts.
Something like this transparency would only help you if the OS forces this behavior on the applications. I think the real problem for you is that Windows UI conventions allows this more. With most of your examples, the problem is really the fault of some developers not understanding how their users use their software.
With Apple owning the patent, it's probably not going to help a Windows user except with Apple-made apps.
also... those are some funny looking hands
It's a poor solution when it is the design that needs to be fixed. The mighty mouse scroll ball requires more maintenance than any mouse that I've ever owned, even the pre-optical mice required a lot less cleaning.
I was simply helping caliminius get the scroll ball work work again.
The Mighty Mouse is not the best mouse, but it's pretty good for the basic mouse. Sure cleaning it every once a while is a little annoying, but it only takes a few seconds at most.
Keep in mind that the Mighty Mouse is a primarily a bundled mouse. Find me a much better bundled mouse and I'd be very surprised. Most mouses that people say are so great (Logitech for example) are mouses that you have to buy separately anyways.
Apple trying to take credit for more things that were done and documented 10-20 years ago?
No, just taking credit for making something that was bad and making it good.
Something like this transparency would only help you if the OS forces this behavior on the applications. I think the real problem for you is that Windows UI conventions allows this more. With most of your examples, the problem is really the fault of some developers not understanding how their users use their software.
With Apple owning the patent, it's probably not going to help a Windows user except with Apple-made apps.
I don't care if it doesn't help Windows users. I wouldn't expect an Apple patent to help Windows users, except for in Apple apps. I'm responding to people saying that this is pure eye candy and useless by saying that, if done properly, it's actually a really good thing and it's noticeable.
Besides, I'd expect that if Apple wanted to implement this, they wouldn't just use it in their own apps. They'd probably add it as a standard window type that developers can use, and have all of the translucency and keyboard focus behaviours done automatically. That way, even if developers don't think about how users actually use their software, the notifications will still work properly and consistently across the entire system, and it will be yet another small but significant usability advantage for the Mac. All those little things add up to make the experience a pleasure rather than a chore.
http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=64535
Guess they were listening after all.
Sometimes I get the feeling that Apple may even backdate their patents. An organization should look into that.
I think the translucent window idea is kinda stupid. Since when do background windows update before windows in front of them? All that's going to happen is that background windows all become transparent, which is useless because they're in the background anyway.
Just give us a tabbed Finder and get rid of the horrendous drop shadows in Leopard.
Tabs aren't the only solution because you often need to compare two folders of images so the Finder could be a 3 panel design. Left is the drives and shortcuts as it is now. The right panel could have 2 sections like itunes where the top part is column view (though this doesn't change to coverflow). A second panel just below that would be the section for list view, icon view or coverflow. This panel would have the option to split in the middle to compare two folders.
The split panels would be selectable and on selection, the column view switches to that active folder location. I find myself comparing folders quite a lot but it's so hard to get two panels equally sized in icon view next to each other quickly. With this split panel view, you just maximize one Finder window - no overlap.
Also, say you had a whole collection of images and you wanted to pick the best. You could set the left panel of the split to be in icon or list view at some location called favorites and the right one to be in coverflow. Then you could browse through the image folder on the right and drag the best ones into the folder n the left of the split. The folder on the left can be changed at any point using column view all without leaving the single Finder window.
I think the translucent window idea is kinda stupid. Since when do background windows update before windows in front of them? All that's going to happen is that background windows all become transparent, which is useless because they're in the background anyway.
I think you misunderstand which windows are becoming translucent. It's not background windows that are going translucent, it's things like floating palettes and floating notification windows that stay on top of all other windows and block what's underneath them. This is very useful. If an application wants to tell me something, I want to know about it, but I don't want that notification to disrupt my workflow. I should still be able to continue with what I was doing, and I shouldn't have to manually clear that notification in order to see, click, or type in items underneath that notification. It might just be one extra click, but it's a pain.
I think you misunderstand which windows are becoming translucent. It's not background windows that are going translucent, it's things like floating palettes and floating notification windows that stay on top of all other windows and block what's underneath them. This is very useful. If an application wants to tell me something, I want to know about it, but I don't want that notification to disrupt my workflow. I should still be able to continue with what I was doing, and I shouldn't have to manually clear that notification in order to see, click, or type in items underneath that notification. It might just be one extra click, but it's a pain.
But doesn't a notification count as an update to that window in which case it wouldn't be transparent? Also, the point of a notification is that you notice it so if it is transparent, you might not notice it.
I don't really ever use these kind of apps that notify you of events. Some of the people I work with use Entourage and it has popups when you get an email but they appear and then go away - they aren't really disruptive. I use apps with floating palettes but if I need to say work on something behind the palette (e.g an image in Photoshop), I'm going to need to move the panel anyway so I can see the right colors.
I still don't see the problem this particular solution is supposed to solve. I can't really think of a real-world instance where I'd actually use it. Same deal with Spaces for me though. I just use command-h and click another app.
I never had Window Garbage with NeXTSTEP/Openstep.