New Idea: Interface Overlay Software for Operating Systems

[arkain101]

 

 

Refined Model:

 

 

I started doing a little more work on this and had some realizations.

 

a)You just can't fit entire hard drives into visual form it is literally way too big.

 

b)A program that kept even a smaller % of the data mapped would use up computer resources, memory and processor. This isn't good when thinking about computer efficiency it would suck back battery power, and energy.

 

c)A large map would require too much learning in order to use it efficiently.

 

d)too many conflicts with operating systems and their programs that already make songs and pictures easily organized

 

e)I can't see companies liking the idea of a software program taking over their operating system like a virus, so that users no longer experience that operating system as it was intended.

 

 

 

So.. thinking about it... It seems much better off for this program to be used differently than earlier considered.

 

Instead of it mapping the hard drive, I think the navigation concept would be better suited as a tool where you could add arms, and link them to folders, games, pictures, files, songs, websites, programs, tasks. Using your own creativity you could create an arm move it where you want, pick a color for it, and link it to what you want.

 

At this point I refer to the program as Nerve (because it is an entity that evolves and adapts to your needs) and when the entity as a whole referred to as a nerve cell.

 

In these images you can see that at the center their are 4 small buttons, each one loads a specific nerve cell. Example,One for websites, one for hardrive C, another for a computer on the network. Then I created a hypothetical nerve cell that someone might design for the use on their computer. Each arm leads to a button which the user could move to any location they preferred. The button when clicked would open the destination where it is linked (like 11:11 website, your favourite playlist of songs, whatever).

 

The entire program itself could be an adjustable floating window that minimizes to the tool bar, next to the clock if desired.

 

You design your own nerve so you know exactly what does what and it cuts down on the learning curve dramatically. It also manages to offer the same time saving means, and this more simplistic form would use almost no computer resources.

 

So really, this revised idea turns it into a: Customizable Favorites Mapping, Navigation and Access Tool.

 

 

 

 

 

 

older idea

I've been working on a tiny project recently.

 

The idea is a software program that installs onto an operating system, and after performing a system scan, provides the ability to interact with the computer in a way not typically possible.

 

This software concept is to provide the ability to use, direction, shape, color, size, and even texture to aid a computer user's efficiency.

 

I have included some images. What they illustrate is the basic concept in a very simple visual form. It is the theoretical image you would see on your screen when you enable the program in place of your normal desktop. But, it would not just be an image, it would be an interactive peice of visual software. You click on a "circle" (buttons) and it zooms to a comfortable view, and, the previously faded buttons (we see in the images) extending outward are able to be read. As the view is zoomed, more detail in the extending web of data on the hard drive is pulled into view.

 

For example, say you navigated into the music button, by clicking on music, then you see a series of buttons, "country" "metal" "rock". You click on rock and opens a series of buttons of artists, then you open that and another button showing a song is zoomed into view. Now lets say you want to take that song and put it in your Movie folder aswell. You take the mouse and drag it back in the direction of the "center", and the program zooms out for you at a comfortable speed untill you are back at the main view, and you simply "drop" the song into "movies" and it is moved, just like you would do in windows, only, it requires way less time.

 

It is also visually comprehendable, and direction orientated. So Not only can you read where files are but you can develope a mental road map of where things are instantly and easily recall where to go to find something/ do something.

 

When working on a program like windows and doing a lot of file work trying to deal with hundreds of files your mind can get zombied out from so much of the SAME picture, the same color, the same everything, eventually it becomes very difficult to remember where things are very quickly, especially if you are trying to work and accomplish things quickly, as a job, or project.

 

 

At the bottom right of the image are a series of "other centers". I thought of calling them Cells myself, or possibly Nerves ( A good title for the software Nerve, or Cell). The other Cells at the bottom right could be "color coded custom cells". For example, you could click on one of the Cells at the bottom right that is in waiting for attention. It replaces the current larger one on the screen, and now you can navigate an entirely different computer on the network, or one could represent a shortcut just like on our desktops that brings "my documents" as the center hub. This cell cold be color coded "YELLOW" while it sits at the bottom right, with text attatched to it so that you know what it is for sure.

 

 

The overall concept is that you can acquire a visual representational map of the data on your hard drive, and to use that so that it is interactable as one giant cell, such that you can get your "hands" on any and all parts of the data at one time as opposed to flipping through endless virtual pages.

 

I think it adds more dimensions for us to interact with on the computer. A sort of new way to accomplish certain tasks.

 

Image 1: Concept Diagram / Theoretical screenshot (not an accurate representation of concept)

 

Image 2: Theoretical screenshot, performing action (not an accurate representation of concept)

 

(links fixed)

[CraigD]

You might want to read up on the history of APIs similar to what you’re sketching, such as File System Visualizer. Like many APIs of its era, this one attempts to improve its usability by presenting information 3-dimensionally, the fashion we humans are presumably best adapted to viewing it.

 

Alternative GUIs were a very hot topic ca. 1999, but seems to me to have cooled a bit since then, a notable exception involving small handheld devices, such as iPhones and the soon-to-be-widely released and promoted Palm webOS devices. These so-called “gesture based” systems attempt to take advantage of human intuition about pushing, flicking with fingers, and shaking stuff.

 

Another recommended reading: the 12/1993 Wired Magazine article ”Down with GUIs!”, by (the regrettably late) Jef Raskin, one of the major developers of the basic modern “rectangles in rectangles” GUI paradigm. I consider this essential reading for anyone seriously thinking about GUI design. Raskin was, IMHO, way, way ahead of his time and the present mainstream, thinking of computers with interfaces beyond screens and keyboards at the same time he was working to get screens and keyboards to appeal to the masses of humanity.

 

Finally, I recommend browsing GUI-related webpages associated with the 1998 13-episode animated series Serial Experiments Lain, ideally in conjunction with watching the series. It is, essentially and in an over-the-top way, about computer interface design, and is full of references overt and subtle to real-world computer projects, especially 1990s OS projects of Apple and NeXT, and the 1940s theoretical memex computer system.

[arkain101]

Thanks Craig, clicked and loading......(I think I saw this software on Jurassic Park #1. lol when the young girl hacks the system)

 

Like many APIs of its era, this one attempts to improve its usability by presenting information 3-dimensionally, the fashion we humans are presumably best adapted to viewing it.

 

You know, I can't be so sure I agree with this.

 

(1d)If we have a ruler stick, it is very easy for us to navidate from one end to the other, we know that 30cm is somewhere near one end and 0 cm is somewhere near another end.

 

(2d)If we have a web, it gets just slightly more complicated. We can learn that things are x and y axis... up down, left right...in view of looking "on screen".. Things can be located North, South, West, East, and North west, North east, South west South east.. We can visualize direction easily.

 

(3d)If we have a sphere, or a cube, things begin to get quite complicated. If we know a location on the sphere, then we know where the opposite side is. Call this location A and B, now, if we continue to add more series of these points, and we attempt to navigate the sphere it can become very disorintated Direction has very little meaning, if the sphere gets "rolled" "yawed" "pitched" from how we thought it was... Of course this isnt the only way to get into 3D, since we can simple just use the 2D, design and add + and - vertical directoins relative to the 2d Plane / surface. Like in this image: File:FSV-OSX-screenshot.png - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

However, I'm not confident this makes it more intuitive to navigate.. as I think we are more naturally 2d plane navigators and our mind is more orientated to visualizing reality as flat.

 

For example, if we are lost in a small wooded forest.. and want to comprehend our way back where we started, we begin by visualizing our one dimensional path.. where we came from, and where we headed. Then we work on 360 degrees around us.. behind us... our sides.. our front... I don't think we care much about whether we are moving vertically, since our destination and locations is sort of naturally conceived on just a 2d surface. If we attempt to make it out of the forest simply by going on the knowledge of, Home is downwards... and started heading "down" the mountain... it wouldnt provide much reliability for achieving the goal of reaching a destination. Vertical information I think tends to be about fluctuation's as opposed to points in the more dominant 2nd world.

 

If we begin adding a 3rd dimension to our map... it creates a whole new field of information that can break us away from intuition.. Just imagine trying to remember 10 random floors, on 10 random sky scrapers in a city. The Highest floor is #1...2nd highest.. #2..... etc.....the lowest floor is #10... Now, put a different number on each building... the building with the highest floor is #3 (etc).. Can we comprehend this 3dimensional space of buildings + rooms, nearly as easy as we can comprehend the 2 dimensional space of just buildings?

[Jkirk3279]

I've been working on a tiny project recently.

 

The idea is a software program that installs onto an operating system, and after performing a system scan, provides the ability to interact with the computer in a way not typically possible.

 

This software concept is to provide the ability to use, direction, shape, color, size, and even texture to aid a computer user's efficiency.

 

I have included some images. What they illustrate is the basic concept in a very simple visual form. It is the theoretical image you would see on your screen when you enable the program in place of your normal desktop. But, it would not just be an image, it would be an interactive peice of visual software. You click on a "circle" (buttons) and it zooms to a comfortable view, and, the previously faded buttons (we see in the images) extending outward are able to be read. As the view is zoomed, more detail in the extending web of data on the hard drive is pulled into view.

 

 

 

Good idea. Identical, in fact, the Apple's "Hot Chocolate" experiment, IIRC.

 

Same idea, of a 3D interface you'd zoom into and back out.

 

Keep the good ideas coming.

 

Maybe Apple can find a way to incorporate this 3D approach into the next version of CoverFlow.

 

Safari 4.0 uses CoverFlow to track backward into browser history: perhaps with better contextual linking it will be possible to jump from any history link to similar links or bookmarks, or even to sites you've never been to.

 

Search on Carrots Love Tomatoes, for example. Activate Coverflow, and see not only the Amazon.com listing for that book, but links to other books on Companion Planting, Tomato gardening, recipes, etc, all laid out in 3D.