Pandora Gui Concept I Made
- Thread starter Joppu
- Start date
fishybawb
Hired Geek
With a couple of thousand ROMZ for each emulated system all being listed on the same screen, I predict navigation difficulties 
skeezix
Internal Development
Uh, erm, well.. n ooffence, but well, not good
Start menu in the bottom left is a right give that you think Windows has a useful GUI.. meh
This is a handheld, with a small high res screen, so you need to treat it very differently. Think from scratch not base on so many ideas you've gotten accustomed to using on other platforms that target different uses..
jeff
Start menu in the bottom left is a right give that you think Windows has a useful GUI.. meh
This is a handheld, with a small high res screen, so you need to treat it very differently. Think from scratch not base on so many ideas you've gotten accustomed to using on other platforms that target different uses..
jeff
Holokauston
Member
if you want to know how big the screen is, look at the specifications and draw it on a piece of paper and you will understand why that GUI doesn't really work
Karel Jansens
Active Member
I do like the idea of a grid-based interface though. I think it'll fly better than an icon-based one.
Maybe a combination of grid and Pepper-style tabs?
And please! no "start" buttons?
Maybe a combination of grid and Pepper-style tabs?
And please! no "start" buttons?
Tobriand
Well-Known Member
I must say, for all that I agree with Skeezix eventually, I think the grid view would be very interesting. For instance:
- Tap on a given box --> Only entries matching that name are displayed.
- Double-tap on a box --> go to a menu listing all the existant entries for that column, select one to filter by it.
- Tap and hold for a second --> rename an entry - or if in the class menu, every entry with that name.
This *could* make navigating large lists very intuitive. Want some more snes games to be listed? Hit anything saying SNES. Want only native homebrew? Hit anything listed as such. Only interested in games by Konami? Well, do what you'd do for anything else.
Then of course there's extra tweaks like making re-naming non-destructive (if you rename an entity, it doesn't overwrite the old one, it merely augments it with a new one and sets that to the correct one - so if you find you've accidentally told it all your CPS2 games are Genesis ones, you can re-classify them at any time).
Problems with this, however are legion:
- Inability to include database files with the console as this might provide evidence that it was intended for emulation, and so potentially allow for lawsuits from disgruntled makers of the original systems.
- Time taken to scan media likely to be significant.
- The aforementioned database files may not even exist; Goodroms or similar might do the job partially, but for some systems it won't exist (e.g. scumm games).
- Interpreter Integration: roms are easy to deal with (typically one file, or a common first file extension); so are executables. Interpretted games, not so much - how is the system supposed to integrate with e.g. ScummVM or GemRB?
- Complexity of adding metadata for native executables might discourage developers from doing so, leaving it up to the user to fill the gaps.
- Everything would have to have command-line access to work with such a system (not a huge problem, but present nonetheless).
Most (all?) of those are beatable, but they certainly make things harder.
That said, I'm not a fan of pretty much everything *but* the grid view - and I suspect said rid view, whilst being (as I've stated) incredibly efficient, would look potentially cluttered, and not too pretty.
- Tap on a given box --> Only entries matching that name are displayed.
- Double-tap on a box --> go to a menu listing all the existant entries for that column, select one to filter by it.
- Tap and hold for a second --> rename an entry - or if in the class menu, every entry with that name.
This *could* make navigating large lists very intuitive. Want some more snes games to be listed? Hit anything saying SNES. Want only native homebrew? Hit anything listed as such. Only interested in games by Konami? Well, do what you'd do for anything else.
Then of course there's extra tweaks like making re-naming non-destructive (if you rename an entity, it doesn't overwrite the old one, it merely augments it with a new one and sets that to the correct one - so if you find you've accidentally told it all your CPS2 games are Genesis ones, you can re-classify them at any time).
Problems with this, however are legion:
- Inability to include database files with the console as this might provide evidence that it was intended for emulation, and so potentially allow for lawsuits from disgruntled makers of the original systems.
- Time taken to scan media likely to be significant.
- The aforementioned database files may not even exist; Goodroms or similar might do the job partially, but for some systems it won't exist (e.g. scumm games).
- Interpreter Integration: roms are easy to deal with (typically one file, or a common first file extension); so are executables. Interpretted games, not so much - how is the system supposed to integrate with e.g. ScummVM or GemRB?
- Complexity of adding metadata for native executables might discourage developers from doing so, leaving it up to the user to fill the gaps.
- Everything would have to have command-line access to work with such a system (not a huge problem, but present nonetheless).
Most (all?) of those are beatable, but they certainly make things harder.
That said, I'm not a fan of pretty much everything *but* the grid view - and I suspect said rid view, whilst being (as I've stated) incredibly efficient, would look potentially cluttered, and not too pretty.
Arialia
Member
i agree with you but if you have no roms , only programs how does it look ? For me i prefer put my program in the folder i want ...Tobriand said:
i see today the gui of an eeepc black on supermarket, and very pretty with tabs and icons
but for me it will be more easier with a browser folder and files in each tab
and with quick icons ( favourite maybe ) : configuration, dialer, calculator , mail, surf,terminal on the right side in vertical and a menu like my linker Acekard RPG with actions available on select item but not to launch application
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chad78
Active Member
I would prefer to have it look something like this:
click me for a larger version
The wallpaper would be user changeable - and you could add and remove icons. from the "desktop" and the sidebar.
The Home icon would take you back to a clear desktop (close the "folder" you are in)
The globe would open up the web browser - or the web apps (RSS Reader, Email client, IM, Browser, VoIP, etc.)
The Media icon would do the media apps
The pen and pencil would do office apps
and the joystick would do the games.
The center part with the different title screens there would open the different emulators, or native games. You navigate by tapping, dragging, or with the D-pad, or with the analog sticks.
The icons across the top are "docked" icons. Icons the user wants on their home screen. The ones I have there are: News Reader, Calendar, Email, Weather app, Preferences, Volume, Battery status, and Help
Probably the Volume, Battery Status, and Help icons should be on the home / menu screen at all times.
And, of course, the copyright thing wouldn't be on the GUI itself - that was just because I put it on Flickr.
click me for a larger version
The wallpaper would be user changeable - and you could add and remove icons. from the "desktop" and the sidebar.
The Home icon would take you back to a clear desktop (close the "folder" you are in)
The globe would open up the web browser - or the web apps (RSS Reader, Email client, IM, Browser, VoIP, etc.)
The Media icon would do the media apps
The pen and pencil would do office apps
and the joystick would do the games.
The center part with the different title screens there would open the different emulators, or native games. You navigate by tapping, dragging, or with the D-pad, or with the analog sticks.
The icons across the top are "docked" icons. Icons the user wants on their home screen. The ones I have there are: News Reader, Calendar, Email, Weather app, Preferences, Volume, Battery status, and Help
Probably the Volume, Battery Status, and Help icons should be on the home / menu screen at all times.
And, of course, the copyright thing wouldn't be on the GUI itself - that was just because I put it on Flickr.
Chip
[Insert Custom Title Here]
I like the idea, but I would go the other way with the catagory vs docked icons. This would make tabbing between catagories with the shoulder buttons more intuitive. Tab between catagories with L1/R1, scroll between docked icons with up/down, and scroll through the coverflow-style icons with left/right. This is ideal for quick activity selection without having to use the touchscreen, though you certainly still could use it if you prefer.chad78 said:I would prefer to have it look something like this:
I would keep settings and help on the top, and would probably add a seperate catagory for wifi (you want to be able to turn it on and off quickly). I'm not sure you even need a "home" icon - you're never more than one level deep in any menu and the left/top menus are always visible until you actually start an application.
It's certainly a good start though. It has the makings of an excellent default UI.
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chad78
Active Member
Ask and ye shall receive. here's the Tabbed GUI.
Click me for bigger.
I removed the "dockable icons" -- to get to those - you click the Home button.
"Home" will be more of a quick launch screen - ala the N800's home - seen here.
It's a place for widgets, search boxes, RSS feeds, weather, etc.
Actually, adding a clock to the top right-hand corner might not be a bad idea. It has a real time clock, right?
And, like Chip said, shoulder buttons switch tabs. And I added a Wifi indicator / button.
Click me for bigger.
I removed the "dockable icons" -- to get to those - you click the Home button.
"Home" will be more of a quick launch screen - ala the N800's home - seen here.
It's a place for widgets, search boxes, RSS feeds, weather, etc.
Actually, adding a clock to the top right-hand corner might not be a bad idea. It has a real time clock, right?
And, like Chip said, shoulder buttons switch tabs. And I added a Wifi indicator / button.
Tobriand
Well-Known Member
Actually, it'd look much the same - except the box marked "system" would have everything listed as Pandora, and thus be a non-useful category to sort things by.Arialia said:
However, other columns listing genre would still be under the same principle of hit a genre, get all that genre et al.
On another note, that tabbed interface of yours looks gorgeous, Chad. It'd need some mode to move it to much much smaller icons for speed of changing. But apart from that, very pretty indeed
. Especially if it's possible to create a standard such that the screenshot displayed is that of state the program was in when it was last closed - though I think that might be down to the program devs themselves... not sure.
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Chip
[Insert Custom Title Here]
I like. I like.chad78 said:
The home function is a good idea, but I still think it should be another tab instead of a seperate icon. It is not easily accessable with standard controls down in the corner.
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chad78
Active Member
Thanks for the compliment.Tobriand said:On another note, that tabbed interface of yours looks gorgeous, Chad. It'd need some mode to move it to much much smaller icons for speed of changing. But apart from that, very pretty indeed
I might need to explain a little better. The screenshots would launch the emulator - not the ROM, necessarily.
Like Mario All Stars is SNES - Sonic 2 is Genesis - Bonk is TG16 (see what I did there? I said TG16 - not "PC Engine")
It would depend on the devs how the emu would launch - either into the last game played - the last freeze state - or the ROM list. So you'd have maybe 10 Emus to scroll through - not thousands of ROMs. And Pandora native games would have their own individual screenshot - so, I guess that could get a little crowded - unless we made it like a fake EMU - a Pandora Group - on the Games screen. Or perhaps an EMU tab and a Games tab? What do you think?
So, from start up (let's say cold boot gets you to the home tab) - you shoulder button over to, or click on, the Games Tab - then you scroll / coverflow to the Emu you want - then you select the game. That's 3 layers. Is that too many?
You could have a (for lack of a better word) "command line" version - similar to Joppu's GUI, (which is pretty slick, btw!), which lists all the games you have, by system. A search feature would be incredible. "Mario" brings up games on all platforms. Or do you want to be able to select from "CoverFlow" (as pictured) and "Grid" which would just evenly space all the icons in that tab, and maybe "List"....
That's a lot of options. Me making the mock-ups is easy. I'm sure actually coding it all to work would be difficult.
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Chad, your Gui is very nice and lots of people like "apple" style menus. My consept is windowed Gui which power users will like for sure. I cant personally imagine using firefox or openoffice from frontend like that. But it is my opinion. Most people will like easy-to-use menus. I gotta do more scetches tomorrow.
Sphinxter
Says What?
Try to open and use 2 windows at once on a 4.3 inch display, that 7 inch eee display is not even enough real estate to make two apps usable, be a complete waste, the screen is just too small. One app at a time taking up all available space is really the only usable configuration, for that reason alone X would be wasted, not to mention how many actually usable X apps will fit in 128 megs with no swap is damn few.
chad78
Active Member
Apple? I thought I was stealing more from Sony - as in the GUI for the PSP. But I guess they did steal the coverflow thing from Apple.
As far as not using Firefox from this menu, on a PSP you get the web browser the same way you get to a game or a song. Or using a Nokia N8X0 - it's not that different, really. I mean, why does it matter how you get to the program, as long as you get there. And, another comparison, the (Default) Easy mode of the Eee PC. (Now, I used a Game System, a pocketable Internet device, and a clamshell UPMC in my comparison - the Pandora is all three, so hopefully you can see how each function would work with a similar interface.)
That said, I really do think a simple grid of icons would be better in some situations - which is why I added the options icon on this latest version, so you can switch between Coverflow, Grid, and List.
Here's a bottom tabbed version, for easy tappin' [thanks Sinbad] (in Coverflow). And, btw, I added a "Home" tab [Thanks Chip], and a Pandora Tab - so your native games will be separate from your Emus.
Click For Big!
There would be a reason to have an RSS reader open and a text editor open at the same time - even on a small screen - or a media player and a web browser - or a media player and a game.
As far as not using Firefox from this menu, on a PSP you get the web browser the same way you get to a game or a song. Or using a Nokia N8X0 - it's not that different, really. I mean, why does it matter how you get to the program, as long as you get there. And, another comparison, the (Default) Easy mode of the Eee PC. (Now, I used a Game System, a pocketable Internet device, and a clamshell UPMC in my comparison - the Pandora is all three, so hopefully you can see how each function would work with a similar interface.)
That said, I really do think a simple grid of icons would be better in some situations - which is why I added the options icon on this latest version, so you can switch between Coverflow, Grid, and List.
Here's a bottom tabbed version, for easy tappin' [thanks Sinbad] (in Coverflow). And, btw, I added a "Home" tab [Thanks Chip], and a Pandora Tab - so your native games will be separate from your Emus.
Click For Big!
Palm pilots have done multi-tasking with more than one app/window open on the same screen using a much smaller screen and much less powerful devices - for decades.Sphinxter said:
There would be a reason to have an RSS reader open and a text editor open at the same time - even on a small screen - or a media player and a web browser - or a media player and a game.
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