These are not fantasy UIs, they are science fiction UIs. There is a massive lack of good swords and wizards fantasy movies and shows. The networks, just to fill out a list, are clumping fantasy in with science fiction and super hero movies. If we are going to say anything involving an unrealistic personal fantasy is fantasy, then why stop there? That’s almost all movies and film. For that matter super hero stuff ends up in science fiction too - Heinlein is not going to be rolling in his grave but it’s still not the same thing either
Fantasy UI
91–100 of 154 posts
Re: Fantasy UI
#92The single biggest common denominator between so many fantasy UIs, is transparent (HUD-style) interfaces. I was just watching the latest episode of The Expanse , last night, and saw them all using these transparent PDA/phones. Ever try using a transparent UI? It's absolutely maddening. Looks cool on the screen, but is pretty much unusable IRL.
I remember in early(ish) Linux, the terminal programs had a setting to be at least partly transparent, so your desktop background (and other windows? I forget) could show through. Wound up constraining what desktops you could choose, and how you had to set up your terminal colors. And since I prefer dark text on a light background, it didn't work for me from the beginning. I imagine those programs still have those se…
iTerm on Mac still has this option, if you want it. I tried it for about ten minutes and then turned it back off.
Re: Fantasy UI
#93Strange that nobody on this thread shared the amazing eDEX-UI project: https://github.com/GitSquared/edex-ui . A full open-source sci-fi terminal emulator inspired by Tron Legacy.
Hah yeah I remember downloading that and reading the disclaimer that you shouldn't do any real work on this seeing as how it has a virtual keyboard showing your password keypresses, scifi UIs are cool but not practical at all.
Re: Fantasy UI
#94These are not fantasy UIs, they are science fiction UIs. There is a massive lack of good swords and wizards fantasy movies and shows. The networks, just to fill out a list, are clumping fantasy in with science fiction and super hero movies. If we are going to say anything involving an unrealistic personal fantasy is fantasy, then why stop there? That’s almost all movies and film. For that matter super hero stuff ends…
They are fantasy UIs, you’ve just forgotten that fantasy is a real word with a specific meaning and not just a genre of fiction.
Re: Fantasy UI
#95Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, most todays UI is not really great. On websites you often can't navigate just with the keyboard and shortcuts does not work at all. An a really terrible new UI thing are these on / off sliders. So often is not clear where the slider is, because it's not clear if the slider or the background is colored. Also a lot of new software comes with shortcuts, but you would need 3 hands to push all buttons for it. Also for…
Saying "I can't navigate a website just using my keyboard" is sort of like saying "I can't drive my car just using the steering." Well, of course you can't. You're not supposed to be able to, unless you have some sort of assistance hardware/software loaded that articulates/emulates the missing control(s).
What proof do you have that you're "not supposed to be able to" navigate a website with only your keyboard? What authoritative statement dictates that the web should require usage of a mouse? If you take a second to look at that statement, you should be able to see how it is quite ableist (possibly unintentionally).
Re: Fantasy UI
#96As a UI/UX agency that focusses on B2B SaaS, I’ve always found Fantasy UIs fascinating. It’s the complete opposite of the simple & clean interfaces clients ask us to design. I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly. My conclusion was that fantasy Interfaces are very much like the early web. Lots of moving parts (dancing banana gifs)…
>>I’ve spent some time thinking about why these Fantasy UIs are so fascinating despite the fact they seem not very user friendly.
Fantasy UIs are often flashed up as eye candy to communicate high complexity for power users that an outside observer (i.e. movie viewer) can only dream of properly mastering yet still able to grasp the "key message".
Re: Fantasy UI
#97Her is my all-time favorite movie UI. It's more familiar and less futuristic than the others but felt like where we're headed. There's also just enough emphasis on skeuomorphism to make it feel warmer and more inviting than the flat designs prevalent in 2013.
https://www.pushing-pixels.org/2018/04/05/screen-graphics-of...
Re: Fantasy UI
#98Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why is keyboard use the pinnacle of UI? Pretty much every device has some kind of mouse-like device attached to it, and trackpads with good scrolling (e.g. Apple ones) are a wonderfully intuitive way to control movement. I get that HN likes using the keyboard for stuff like terminals, I do too. But web pages aren’t terminal applications.
Every so often my mouse or track pad bonks out. Less and less as time goes on, but happens. In those cases, I might want or need to use the web for some reason before I get a new one (to locate or purchase a new one if nothing else). I definitely have appreciated sites that take keyboard navigation into consideration at those times. The keyboard is a common UI mechanism. Why not try to design the site to increase acc…
I suffered from similar unexplained bluetooth mouse outages until I discovered the problem:
USB-3 can interfere with bluetooth. My usb hub causes such vexing interference.
Re: Fantasy UI
#99The fantasy UI of Neon Genesis Evangelion[1,2] left a deep impression on me when I watched the original series for the first time. And, in my opinion, it has aged very well. [1]: https://imgur.com/a/PF3oA [2]: https://imgur.com/a/uDeBs
Absolutely loved the typography and UI of NGE.
Re: Fantasy UI
#100The single biggest common denominator between so many fantasy UIs, is transparent (HUD-style) interfaces. I was just watching the latest episode of The Expanse , last night, and saw them all using these transparent PDA/phones. Ever try using a transparent UI? It's absolutely maddening. Looks cool on the screen, but is pretty much unusable IRL.
I remember in early(ish) Linux, the terminal programs had a setting to be at least partly transparent, so your desktop background (and other windows? I forget) could show through. Wound up constraining what desktops you could choose, and how you had to set up your terminal colors. And since I prefer dark text on a light background, it didn't work for me from the beginning. I imagine those programs still have those se…
This can be a surprisingly useful tool at times - I've definitely used it to advantage when doing creative coding so that the graphic or animation is displayed behind my terminal and I can see and edit the code at the same time as viewing the effect without switching windows.
Of course, a second monitor can do this too and without the downsides, but sometimes you're away from your desk and it's a nice workflow.