Appstore Look

[craigix]

No one is wasting time here because slowly we are working out the best possible layout.

 

[shill]

I've taken some of Dariens design and placing of things and made them a little and simpler bigger for the Pandora screen.

I've also now totally dropped the top bar, it's a waste of screen space.

But it was purdyyy

 

[darien]

Cascading panels might be a good solution as far as navigating categories, or some tooltip info panes would solve problems with little widgets that only contain small amounts of information with them at face value.

Edit, also I know we're focusing on vertical scrolling, but horizontal scrolling has its pros as well. Imagine an app store that reads like a ticker or panoramic magazine. Just throwing out ideas.

 

[craigix]

A mix of Darien's and Travis's is what I'm going for right now.

Try not to use drop down boxes or anything too fiddly, it needs to be easy to use on the small screen. Nice big text, minimal space wasted. With the top bar removed and the things on it put on the left panel the space saved is superb.

I'm currently not using any graphics, just html, I'll smarten it up once I *think* I've got the layout cracked. Keep the ideas coming, I am trying them out on the small screen. I'm *hoping* we can get it so everything can be pressed with fingers if people want to.

For example all I have on the left bar now is (large travis style, big enough to finger press): (note clicking on 'games' will then go more indepth on a new page.)

Search
Home|Games
Emus|Applications
Misc|Upload
Popular Today
1
2
3
4
5
Top Rated
1
2
3
4
5
Most Downloaded
et.c

 

[El Jefe]

what kind of database are you using to store the applications?
a bunch of xml files, sorted by category?

 

[craigix]

They are stored by category, there is also a latest uploads list, a top rated list and a most downloaded. They can all return basic information on the app, then each app has it's own more detailed individual file too.

 

[dschroeter]

I realize this is now blasphemy, but I want to go on record as thinking that sidebars/buttons are not great UI for a screen this narrow. Scrolling with Grab and Drag in FF is great; I'm willing to bet scrolling with a nub will be transcendent. Save the 800 pixels of width for thumbnails and descriptions. Darien's design is gorgeous, but I suspect we are overestimating the number of subcategories/links/info needed. K.I.S.S. I am absolutely loving the talent and work of this community - even before The Device is in our hands!

Edit: craig's post above narrows the number of major buttons needed. To ~4.

 

[Vorporeal]

They are stored by category, there is also a latest uploads list, a top rated list and a most downloaded. They can all return basic information on the app, then each app has it's own more detailed individual file too.

Yay, that's exactly what I was hoping for. It'll make the data collection part of the standalone app I'm envisioning much easier. It'll probably end up being something along the lines of synaptic, which is probably good for most people. I might make two different interface types - a synaptic-style interface and an iPhone app-store style interface. There are too many whiny Apple fan-boys to just totally disregard the second one.

 

[Esn]

I realize this is now blasphemy, but I want to go on record as thinking that sidebars/buttons are not great UI for a screen this narrow.

It's not that narrow. My own computer that I'm using now has a screen resolution 800px wide (by preference, not because it can't go bigger). Frames/sidebars are perfectly fine if you don't waste space like most websites do nowadays because most people have huge screen resolutions.

 

[dschroeter]

Your screen isn't 4 inches wide. I have an N800, it doesn't like sidebars.

 

[Alex.]

I think the Top-5 Rated list will settle on the same 5 apps after a very short while. Considering how diverse and numerous Pandora apps will be, it won't be of much use except on the first visit. So maybe you should have a big "Getting Started" tab instead, that leads to the initial must-haves and helpful tips. The same thing kind of goes for the Most Downloaded list too, I think the front page should be as dynamic as possible, Popular Today and Featured Apps should be the points of interest.

 

[craigix]

I think the Top-5 Rated list will settle on the same 5 apps after a very short while. Considering how diverse and numerous Pandora apps will be, it won't be of much use except on the first visit. So maybe you should have a big "Getting Started" tab instead, that leads to the initial must-haves and helpful tips. The same thing kind of goes for the Most Downloaded list too, I think the front page should be as dynamic as possible, Popular Today and Featured Apps should be the points of interest.

I agree, that's why I've moved them down beyond the 480 res, they are there to take up the lower space, but not in your face. I might even make 'Popular this week' as that might give a more balanced view of the recent activity.

'Essential' is a good idea for a tab, I'll add that in.

 

[DasFool]

I don't recall anything being said about being able to assign favorites to various applications, so I'd like to suggest the ability to do so. After adding something as a favorite you would then find it later under your favorites tab. I did this a lot when I was working with World of Warcraft mods on curse.com. The favorites tab showed the mod name as a link, the last update date, type of mod, and a direct download link to the newest version. It wasn't as good as a direct application updater, but it worked.

 

[conso]

What I'd like very much would be a full "newest releases" list without size-restriction, so one can browse it after beeing away for weeks.

 

[darien]

What I'd like very much would be a full "newest releases" list without size-restriction, so one can browse it after beeing away for weeks.

It would be nice to be able to sort everything by date, price, rating, genre, etc...

 

[Trevsweb]

A mix of Darien's and Travis's is what I'm going for right now.

Try not to use drop down boxes or anything too fiddly, it needs to be easy to use on the small screen. Nice big text, minimal space wasted. With the top bar removed and the things on it put on the left panel the space saved is superb.

I'm currently not using any graphics, just html, I'll smarten it up once I *think* I've got the layout cracked. Keep the ideas coming, I am trying them out on the small screen. I'm *hoping* we can get it so everything can be pressed with fingers if people want to.

For example all I have on the left bar now is (large travis style, big enough to finger press): (note clicking on 'games' will then go more indepth on a new page.)

noooooooooooooooooo x2 you called me Travis :/! Trevor please dont make my kill you, i would make it a pretty death.

 

[Jonttu]

I hope I'm not too late to submit my idea. Been bust this week, so this is my WIP

 

[Vorporeal]

Wow, looks great. That might be a better interface for a local app than a web app though.

 

[Wertigon]

I wonder why so many miss the painfully obvious?

"App Store" is the same thing as "A repository in which you may charge for the packages".

So, App Store ~= Repository

Now what do we know works great with packaging and repositories? That's right, apt/yum and their frontends (synaptic et all).

...

...

...

Spoiler

Fork off synaptic, do a few slight modifications and then call it "My Universal App Store" and reap loads of cash.

 

[borgqueenx]

I hope I'm not too late to submit my idea. Been bust this week, so this is my WIP
nice image posted

also a great theme but i think that one will also be hard to code in html/php/more.