

Apple working on 3D Mac OS X user interface (images) - twampss
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/12/11/apple_working_on_3d_mac_os_x_user_interface_images.html

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frig
3d isn't how to think about the interface outlined there.

Basically, apple is investigating making multitouch part of the "normal" os x
interface. A touch interface has to overcome the fact that fingers aren't good
for precise pointing, and thus a lot of tasks that are tedious-but-doable with
a mouse (like positioning windows, or using pulldown menus, or clicking small
icons) become hugely painful with a finger.

It's pretty obvious what a good touch interface for os x would have to be
like: \- the app is designed with full-screen mode in mind \- the app's
primary content area fits in one central area \- the tools and so on are in
sidebars-and-bottom-bars

...and the app would avoid: \- overlapping windows (either within the app, or
between apps) or floating palettes \- lots of little icons or finely-detailed
controls

In other world: every app would look like iphoto or ical or itunes.

A "2.5d" interface like in this patent makes a lot of sense: each open app is
in its own "slice", and you navigate forwards and backwards through the slices
using some multi-finger gestures. The edge of the screen is used to show
contextual information about what's currently open, and provides cues as to
how to navigate to different items (eg: is that photo "behind me" or "in front
of me"?).

In a touch-heavy environment the gimmicky 3d interfaces from the past all of a
sudden become potentially a lot more helpful. You'll notice apple's been
working on possible solutions to making a touch interface usable for a long
time: \- a lot of the expose tools make more sense as ways to easily navigate
between windows with a finger (eg: hit the expose key, see all open windows in
miniature, then touch the one you want to maximize...) \- dashboard makes a
lot of sense in a touch context, as a way of easily pulling down some
lightweight apps without disturbing your current ui arrangement \- spaces
makes a lot of sense in a touch context: each collection of screen layouts in
its own little slice that's given a spatial location, and so not only do you
not destroy a layout by bringing a different app to the top, you also give
spatial cues as to where your other open programs are

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DLWormwood
I find it curious that the menu bar in these patent example images is no
longer pinned to an edge of the "screen." The major historical justification
for the Mac OS X having a single global menu bar was to exploit Fitt's Law by
giving the menu bar an effective "infinite" height. Unless there is a pointing
device that handles 3-D positioning or otherwise provides some feedback or
scroll dampening when traversing a corner of this "virtual room," Apple may as
just as well give up and pin menus with each window like all the more recent
GUIs do...

~~~
anewaccountname
That was part of the justification. The other part is you get duplicate
clutter all over the screen. 15 instances of "File, View, Preferences, Help"
spammed all over your screen instead of one. When you almost never use a menu
if the window doesn't already have focus.

~~~
DLWormwood
I agree with that. (I'm a long time Mac user all the way back to the 68k era.)
It's just that ever since Steve's return, there seems to be a subtle disregard
for the history of the platform and a willing forgetfulness of the R&D effort
expended by the company over the last few decades...

~~~
unalone
How so? I've only started following Apple in the last few years; my first Mac
ran Leopard. Were there anything big that disregard previous usability, beyond
the reflecting dock?

~~~
DLWormwood
I know this is a late response, (I only just found it on my comments page) but
major usability loss occured with the introduction of the "non-spatial" Finder
with OS X.

This guy summarizes things much better than I ever could...

<http://daringfireball.net/2002/11/that_finder_thing>

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iigs
If I was a betting person I would bet against this interface becoming
commonplace as it is shown right now. It seems driven by appearance and not
functionality.

You don't gain much from this that you don't get from having a MDI window
tiled against a bunch of toolbars. The idea of having toolbar items pinned to
the "wall" is interesting, but in general I'd think it would just perspective-
distort the icons used on the boxes/buttons.

Despite the obvious/intuitive feeling that if 2D is good, 3D is better, I
think as long as we're viewing the desktop through a single 2D viewport
there's really very little advantage to this.

On the other hand, as multiple displays are becoming more common, there might
be an advantage to building an internal 3d model of a desktop and creating
multiple viewports into this space with the LCDs. I don't think the Apple
model shown in the link really aligns with that at this point, however.

~~~
Haskell
As multitouch screens becomes more common, users will want an experience more
familiar with the real world because the interface becomes more concrete.

And 3D interfaces, even inside a 2D screen, could improve the illusion of that
concreteness.

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lacker
Recall that Apple hid a lot of their iPod interface patents, like the scroll
wheel, in a patent application for an "advanced TV remote controller". I
wouldn't be surprised to see this turn up not in a 3D OS X but in a different
device.

~~~
jwilliams
I'm surprised... Ideally you like your patent to be broad as possible, but
still very much around a particular target.

I'd have thought mixing up you applications/claims like that would have done
more harm than good.

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kingsley2
<strike>Simpsons</strike> Microsoft did it: (pdf)
[http://research.microsoft.com/users/kenh/papers/TaskGallery....](http://research.microsoft.com/users/kenh/papers/TaskGallery.pdf)

It even looks almost exactly the same.

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speek
The only way that more-than-2-dimensional UIs will work will be if there's an
extra dimension _only_ for each of the elements ("in-and-out" for the window
stack, etc)... otherwise people will get frustrated with mousing...

Don't even get me started on 3D mice...

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rbanffy
The very day Apple demos its first 3D environment, Microsoft will announce
that Windows n+1 will sport a 3D user environment. Of course, it will never,
ever, ship, but will prevent some 'softies from considering the switch.

~~~
LogicHoleFlaw
One week later, the Linux enthusiasts demo their new 4-d UI, which features
window placement on the surface of a hypercube. The system mostly works, but
has a bad habit of turning your browser inside-out.

~~~
thalur
As long as you can remember which dimension you left that important document
in...

~~~
twampss
And Apple's Time Machine software will be replaced with a real DeLorean.

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pxlpshr
<fanboy>

This is why I love APPLE!!!!!!!!

</fanboy>

But seriously, so impressive... I can't wait. This type of innovation and
Apple's ability to bring it to the consumer market justifies a closed hardware
platform, IMO. We don't need 30 million configurations, we're over that period
as hardware is now a commodity.

"If you want to build great software, control the hardware."

~~~
whacked_new
Various similar concepts have been explored.

<http://bumptop.com/>

~~~
pxlpshr
Apple is the most secretive company in the world and have no need to publish
unpractical prototypes on YouTube, lol. I assure you, they've been exploring
alternative interfaces for quite sometime... their entire history encompasses
the user experience.

~~~
surfmike
I work at BumpTop. BumpTop may have started as a research prototype of course,
but it's very much a real product by now, with Windows as the first platform.
You can see users' screenshots on Flickr
(<http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=bumptop>) and
<http://customize.org/bumptop>, and sign up to get in line for an invite at
<http://bumptop.com>.

~~~
surfmike
Also check out a video of BumpTop a few versions ago:
<http://bumptop.com/help>

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serhei
I foresee more of this
([http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Thoughts/sidedock-2007-...](http://www.rogueamoeba.com/utm/posts/Thoughts/sidedock-2007-08-29-16-00.html))
kind of awfulness mixed in with the whizzy 3D desktop.

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nebula
Is there any evidence suggesting that Apple is actually working to implement
this UI into OS X? I don't think filing for a patent necessarily means betting
on it big time.

~~~
jwilliams
Some of these metaphors are already in use for things like Time Machine.

