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Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

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Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#141

Post by rsync »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #96
orky56 wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy has the chops to come up with a well designed concept and should have the opportunity to defend & iterate on it based on constructive feedback. Some of these comments provide that feedback while others flatly have an issue with the idea of a concept altogether. It's unfortunate that desktop UI has remained stuck for quite awhile and only MS & Apple can really provide a new paradigm for people to adopt. Both…

>t's unfortunate that desktop UI has remained stuck for quite awhile A lot of things get "stuck" and for good reason. Steering wheel, gas, and brake. Sight, trigger, stock. Underwear, pants, socks, etc. Personally, I think the NT team really nailed the concept of the desktop back in 1993 with 3.1. The start button which hid programs and allowed access to other functions was incredibly handy, a bit like how a desk has…

"Personally, I think the NT team really nailed the concept of the desktop back in 1993 with 3.1. The start button which hid programs and allowed access to other functions was incredibly handy, a bit like how a desk has a desk drawer within reach at all times."

One of us is remembering things incorrectly ... I am quite certain that the start menu interface debuted with Windows 95 and was then later adopted by Windows NT 4.0.

NT 3.1, 3.5 and 3.51 all used the old Windows 3.1 user interface.

Right ?

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#142

Post by mortenjorck »

GuiA wrote: post #73
dangrossman wrote: post #47

It seems like a lot of people skimmed without reading the top or bottom of this site: It's not a company. It's not a product. You're not being asked to buy it or buy into it, just to discuss the concept if you'd like. This website is a portfolio piece for a 21-year-old university student hoping to find an internship. In my opinion, it's an impressive demonstration of his design and technical skills. It certainly says…

I work at a company where we hire people for exactly that kind of gig, with a heavy focus on building prototypes of your designs that are actually usable because that's the only viable way to design interfaces. Here's feedback as to why I'm not sending this website to my studio lead to schedule a phone screen with the designer: 1) reused assets from other companies (big no no, even for just a mockup) that are inconsi…

You have some fair points. Personally, I would not discount the conceptual sprawl of the piece – I think it's in some ways an unavoidable part of a solo project to re-think something as broad as a general-purpose computing UI. When I was working on 10/GUI, I don't think it quite occurred to me just how disconnected the hardware / pointing part and the window management part were. At the time, they seemed largely inseparable because I had this big idea of how the whole system should work, and it wasn't until I started reading feedback that I realized just how readily the window manager part could be adapted to stand on its own.

DesktopNeo has some more promising ideas (there's some really good thought iterating on full-height window workflows) and some less promising (some of the more awkward gestures), but it's a strong showing overall.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#143

Post by nailer »

dangrossman wrote: post #47

It seems like a lot of people skimmed without reading the top or bottom of this site: It's not a company. It's not a product. You're not being asked to buy it or buy into it, just to discuss the concept if you'd like. This website is a portfolio piece for a 21-year-old university student hoping to find an internship. In my opinion, it's an impressive demonstration of his design and technical skills. It certainly says…

> It seems like a lot of people skimmed without reading the top or bottom of this site:

This is the nature of Hacker News recently: people post as soon as possible to demonstrate their knowledge on a related subject. I've twice recently had articles posted on HN where a commenter loudly ranted about the article missing something that's covered explicitly in the first 3 paragraphs.

dang how about adding 'RTFA' to https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html ?

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#144

Post by smartbit »

_lce0 wrote: post #42
rocky1138 wrote: post #29

First paragraph in and I'm already not their customer: "We now use smartphones and tablets most of the time, since they are much easier to use." No. Just no. I don't want to use a touchscreen and closed ecosystem to develop software. That would be a nightmare. The rest of the design seems to be taken straight from 10/GUI.

I wasn't aware of 10/GUI Thanks for share! http://10gui.com/

It seems that the tiling windows [0] of desktopneo or 10gui would not work on very large monitors like a UDH 40". Eg. the Philips [1] has such a large viewing angle for the lower two corners that they are less usable. Personally I use the middle for active windows and move others to the left & right. [0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiling_window_manager [1] https://pcmonitors.info/reviews/philips-bdm4065uc/

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#145

Post by david-given »

_lce0 wrote: post #42
rocky1138 wrote: post #29

First paragraph in and I'm already not their customer: "We now use smartphones and tablets most of the time, since they are much easier to use." No. Just no. I don't want to use a touchscreen and closed ecosystem to develop software. That would be a nightmare. The rest of the design seems to be taken straight from 10/GUI.

I wasn't aware of 10/GUI Thanks for share! http://10gui.com/

I haven't seen that. That's really cool, and current applications should drop right into it, too. Disconnecting the touch surface from the mouse solves a lot of the current problems with touch screens.

Does the kind of large multitouch surface with flyover support needed by 10/GUI actually exist? Because I think I want one.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#146

Post by Retric »

jdietrich wrote: post #136
RussianCow wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By which I mean to say, using a Mac or an iPhone is at least 50% about using a Mac or an iPhone, and maybe 50% about doing whatever it is you are trying to do. Could you elaborate on this? I don't feel that way at all when using any modern OS/device, but maybe I just haven't thought about it in the same way.

Apple's focus on minimalist aesthetics have come at the cost of discoverability. Interactions are concealed by gestural input and incomprehensible icons without text labels. This issue is getting worse rather than better, e.g. force touch on the new Macbooks. Using Apple devices requires a great deal of memorisation. For power users this is a relatively minor burden, but it is a serious issue for inexperienced users,…

Apple is just using another approach to having power users and novices using the same UI. How many people started by using a mouse for Edit (copy) before using, [Alt] [E]dit (copy), then Ctrl-C all in one step. Yes, you need to memorize Ctrl-C, but that's not a long term issue. The same is true of touch interfaces, you can use them knowing few shortcuts and slowly add more over time.

People spend hours a day interacting with a computer in one form or another, they will memorize things.

PS: Remember getting annoyed when Microsoft when gaga over the 'ribbon' concept? I bet you don't think about that one much anymore.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#147

Post by jon-wood »

jdietrich wrote: post #136
RussianCow wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> By which I mean to say, using a Mac or an iPhone is at least 50% about using a Mac or an iPhone, and maybe 50% about doing whatever it is you are trying to do. Could you elaborate on this? I don't feel that way at all when using any modern OS/device, but maybe I just haven't thought about it in the same way.

Apple's focus on minimalist aesthetics have come at the cost of discoverability. Interactions are concealed by gestural input and incomprehensible icons without text labels. This issue is getting worse rather than better, e.g. force touch on the new Macbooks. Using Apple devices requires a great deal of memorisation. For power users this is a relatively minor burden, but it is a serious issue for inexperienced users,…

I think this design handles those criticisms well. The application menu looks great for discoverability, and the context radial includes clear labels.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#148

Post by _rob »

everyone wrote: post #139

"We now use smartphones and tablets most of the time, since they are much easier to use." I completely disagree with that. If you gave two people (one on a pc, the other on a tablet or phone) some task, ie. move a file from here to here, assuming they were both equally conversant in their chosen system, the pc user would be able to do it in a fraction of the time of the tablet or phone user.

I assume he means more physically, and in that sense he is correct. You can use your smartphone or tablet basically anywhere and start using it on short notice. Something that you cannot really do with a tablet or laptop.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#149

Post by shapov »

GuiA wrote: post #73
dangrossman wrote: post #47

It seems like a lot of people skimmed without reading the top or bottom of this site: It's not a company. It's not a product. You're not being asked to buy it or buy into it, just to discuss the concept if you'd like. This website is a portfolio piece for a 21-year-old university student hoping to find an internship. In my opinion, it's an impressive demonstration of his design and technical skills. It certainly says…

I work at a company where we hire people for exactly that kind of gig, with a heavy focus on building prototypes of your designs that are actually usable because that's the only viable way to design interfaces. Here's feedback as to why I'm not sending this website to my studio lead to schedule a phone screen with the designer: 1) reused assets from other companies (big no no, even for just a mockup) that are inconsi…

Seems like you have the bar set pretty high for what you consider to be a good designer. Would you mind sharing some of the work your studio does?

I am by no means a designer, but from an outsider's perspective(after all designs are consumed by regular folk like myself, not necessarily other designers) Lennart's work seems pretty well done. Especially considering that he is at the very start of his career.

Re: Desktop Neo – rethinking the desktop interface for productivity

#150

Post by mhsenkow »

atm0sphere wrote: post #50
dangrossman wrote: post #47

It seems like a lot of people skimmed without reading the top or bottom of this site: It's not a company. It's not a product. You're not being asked to buy it or buy into it, just to discuss the concept if you'd like. This website is a portfolio piece for a 21-year-old university student hoping to find an internship. In my opinion, it's an impressive demonstration of his design and technical skills. It certainly says…

I agree with everything you said. This is a brilliant resume and he ought to be looking for gainful employment, rather than just an internship.

Agreed, he's much more skilled than many designers I know.
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