Pandora Interface Design Concept(s).

[Megagun]

Hmm.
One thing I just noticed Efegea's design is that it's not very non-touchscreen friendly, with the 'layered' tabs (one row of 'my' tabs, one row of 'specialized' tabs)...

To those who basically want a direct port of GMenu2x to the Pandora: note that the Pandora allows for a lot of very interesting UI designs, and having a 'basic' UI like GMenu2x would probably not do enough justice to what the Pandora can do.

Also, whatever the final UI is, we'll need a file explorer which you can use to browse the SD card(s) and open up files automatically with the program associated to them (give a list of programs for file types such as .bin and .zip which are often used in aplenty of emulators).. One 'neat thing' that this will result in is that people will develop with this in mind, and thus allow for commandline opening of files early on in the development cycle. Another result would be that you can put icons to specific games (ROMs) somewhere, rather than icons to a specific emulator.

 

[efegea]

Hmm.
One thing I just noticed Efegea's design is that it's not very non-touchscreen friendly, with the 'layered' tabs (one row of 'my' tabs, one row of 'specialized' tabs)...

Why not? You are on the icon grind, on the first row, press "up" and you are on the 'specialized' tabs, press "up" againg and you are on 'my' tabs.

Also, whatever the final UI is, we'll need a file explorer which you can use to browse the SD card(s) and open up files automatically with the program associated to them (give a list of programs for file types such as .bin and .zip which are often used in aplenty of emulators).. One 'neat thing' that this will result in is that people will develop with this in mind, and thus allow for commandline opening of files early on in the development cycle. Another result would be that you can put icons to specific games (ROMs) somewhere, rather than icons to a specific emulator.

On the "our new machine, the pandora" we discussed about that (the file association thing) but the developers said it was too soon for discussing it. I had a lot of ideas for file association, like the .desktop linux files and the mimetypes.

 

[AnonymousTipster]

I think that the file association idea is great, and definitely something that needs to be decided sooner, rather than later. These should be implemented and put into developer samples so that new developers can use them.

I think that the first priority for a portable system is speed. Turn it on - it's ready. UI is quick to use and gets what you need quickly but intuitively. File associations help with this, if you've found the file you want in the UI's file manager, it'd be a waste of time to go and launch the application, then re-navigate to the file when you could just open the file then and there in the UI, launching the correct app automatically.


Actually, speaking of speed of use, has it been confirmed that Pandora will support a sleep function like the PSP?

 

[javaJake]

Actually, speaking of speed of use, has it been confirmed that Pandora will support a sleep function like the PSP?

Yes. Either it'll be official, or someone will figure out how to get it to work. In other words, the ability to do it is confirmed, whether or not it is implemented has yet to be seen.

 

[Sphinxter]

While there aren't any standards if you want to play well with others there are some specifications one should follow. That MIME types thing again.
http://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Specifications?action=show

 

[Frogboy]

I disagree with a Windows-like interface because it would pretty much force a user to use the touch screen. You'd have to emulate a mouse pointer with the analog stick, which isn't very quick to use.

I think that it would be quite simple to use the entire interface with the d-pad, two of the face buttons and a small number of extra keys. START or MENU could bring up the OPEN menu. The d-pad could navigate through menus. The A button could be left click. B could be right-click. X could be close or cancel out of a menu. DEL could delete a file without having to drag and drop into the trash. X, C and V could shortcut to Cut, Copy and Paste. Maybe R for Rename File and D for Desktop Icon. Maybe M for move to reposition the Icon. How about TAB to switch between windows? Most of these are pretty standard keyboard shortcuts (for Windows at least) and would require little, if any, learning curve for most people to use the OS.

I am not a big fan of the GP2X firmware 2.0 interface. I usually have to pop the SD card into my computer to really do much to the file structure. Delete is about the only one I use and that is just because I usually forget what I wanted to delete by the time I bring it up on my computer. The Copy and Move functions are not very intuitive.

I do like the idea that was posted earlier that would give you the option to choose what kind of interface to boot up in. Booting up into a simple shell with no GUI would make it a lot easier to mess around with programming your own interface while giving you all of the functionality that you would have under DOS or older Linux distros. It might not be too difficult to cater to both groups.

 

[Nilsiboy]

I read through most of this, but not all of it, so please bear with me if it has been suggested before, but what about a radial menu, Zodiac style?

They are supposedly much faster to use because of muscle memory and such, and since we have 2 analog sticks, we could use the left one to select an item and the right one to pick the category or the action to do (like open, info, move, eject, etc.).

Of course, with some people probably having tons of different apps on there, you'd probably run out of space pretty soon, so maybe just have the left stick-click bring up some kind of "favorites" menu and use a regular grid-based one the rest of the time?

For that menu, some effects would be really nice, though. I agree with the people saying that the UI has to stay put and use as little resources as possible, but I don't think that the effect of animations wears off as fast as DaveC suggested.
In my opinion, especially little things like animations can totally change the feel of a device.

For example, the animations in the PSP's XMB don't get in the way too much, if at all, yet they make everything seem more fluid and high-end-ish.

Now I do realize that the Pandora is being built for a very specific niche audience, with a comparatively high percentage of people who won't care much about eye-candy like that.
But at the same time it would be great to have some animation in the default menu - even if it's "only" something like a slight magnification of the selected icon. This machine is going to have more power than any other handheld gaming system to date, and IMHO that should be noticeable in any part of the hard- and software, not just the emulators, homebrew games, linux apps and exterior design (which I'm pretty sure will all be pretty awesome).

 

[Sphinxter]

If it's running X set the keys/actions to whatever you prefer , `man xmodmap`.

 

[AnonymousTipster]

I read through most of this, but not all of it, so please bear with me if it has been suggested before, but what about a radial menu, Zodiac style?

I actually thought about this, and suggested it a way back.
The way to solve the 'finite number of items in the radial list' problem is to have each item in the list dynamically expand when you move the analog stick near it. If you've seen the menu bar on Mac OSX, that's a good demonstration of what I mean - you push the analog stick in roughly the right direction, and all the items in that direction expand, and make it easier to select the precise item you need.
If done correctly, you could get many many more items on a radial menu.

The only thing with radial menus is that it's best for items that have no inherent order (such as Music, Movies, Games, Utilities). If you were browsing a directory in alphabetical order on a radial menu, it might take you a while to work out where the item you want is, and a straight directory list would be better.

I expect that the optimal solution would be a radial menu that can be used to select a few high-level items like Music, Movies, Games, Utilities, and then when we get into a section that has more than 10 items in it, use a list.

 

[Nova]

Ok, I just came up with this concept, tell me what you think.

Basically, the user controls the rotation of a 2D box (see what I did there) with the left and right shoulder buttons. Each side of the box represents a different category, which is populated with icons of executable files of their respective folders (eg /games/game.exe).

At the top is a windows-like bar, with an "open" button (borrowed from an idea i liked here), where the user can quickly get to a program using the touchscreen. Also, programs can be minimized to the bar, and there is a battery display and clock.

Feedback, people!

 

[Shiny]

Ok, I just came up with this concept, tell me what you think.

Basically, the user controls the rotation of a 2D box (see what I did there) with the left and right shoulder buttons. Each side of the box represents a different category, which is populated with icons of executable files of their respective folders (eg /games/game.exe).

At the top is a windows-like bar, with an "open" button (borrowed from an idea i liked here), where the user can quickly get to a program using the touchscreen. Also, programs can be minimized to the bar, and there is a battery display and clock.

Feedback, people!

http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/3249/pa...cemockupsg9.png


It reminds me of the Gamecube system menu.
It could work if done right, but many people would need more than four options.
... and that rotated text is extremely annoying XD.

 

[imec]

It's very attractive, but you could use a cube or multiple squares because plenty of people like to sort their games by platform, but I could personally live without it. Add more options, and this would be awesome (it reminds me of zsnes, which I believe has the best frontend out of any other emulator).

 

[Magnulus]

It could actualy work quite nicely if you build a menu system that creates shapes based on how many options there are, so that if you create a folder for different systems and you have five different systems (and thus, folders) then you'll have a five-sided shape that will rotate to give you the options. You could even have one over and one under and you could move them by either dragging your finger across them (kinda iPhoneish) or by using the analogs or something.

Could look pretty slick.

 

[Jae686]

I'm more than happy with an solution similar to the psp gui , it checks the executable files on the card and displays them on a list. its way better than having to browse the sd card....

and PLEASE, no windowing on the main manu.........

 

[atomicthumbs]

For being impressive, something 3D would be awesome.

 

[AnonymousTipster]

For being impressive, something 3D would be awesome.

Yeah, but would it be intuitive/easy to use?

I suppose you could do something 3D like flip 3D in Windows Vista, except actually useful.

 

[Magnulus]

If anyone wants to help me build a prototype UI like the one I'm detailing in my previous post, contact me. I'd love to just see how it works.

I'm thinking it would look pretty slick if done with a simple, vectorised style. Basically, it would adapt to how much you're putting in your menus. Ask me if you're interested at all, and I'll give you some more thoughts on it.

 

[Series-8]

large Mockup1

Heres the brief idea:

Its designed for 'fast' navigation;

The top is a text, information area about the selected item.
The next row of Tabs are for major organization heatings (categories of games, software, configuration options, ect)
Then ICONs for each app/software widget or configuration option.
On the right are Master-Categories, like: GAMES, CONFIGURATION, INTERNET, APPS, SYSTEM.
(these control which set of tabs you are looking at)
On the bottom is the usual status indicator.

The idea is the two analog pads/ digital pads are used to quickly select a master category. One left stick controls the left categories and the tabs, the right can select an icon (app).

No 'mouse' cursor needed.

P.S. Yes, it looks bad... what am I a graphic artist?!?

 

[CoMiKe]

I vote for an XFCE (or IceWM) based interface, with a minimal bar on the top or bottom of the screen (54 pixels height, 48 pixel icons) to show shortcuts to application sections (Emulators, Games, Internet, Multimedia, System) on the left and currently open applications on the right, like a system tray.

That shortcuts should be reachable through the gaming controls or hotkeys at any moment, of course.

I will post a muckup if I get it done.

 

[Zarneth]

I vote for an XFCE (or IceWM) based interface, with a minimal bar on the top or bottom of the screen (54 pixels height, 48 pixel icons) to show shortcuts to application sections (Emulators, Games, Internet, Multimedia, System) on the left and currently open applications on the right, like a system tray.

That shortcuts should be reachable through the gaming controls or hotkeys at any moment, of course.

I will post a muckup if I get it done.

Booting up to XFCE uses 99mb of memory on my pc. (that was before i started using compiz) I'm sure that can be cut down a lot but can you get it as low as say 28mb? leaving 100mb for programs/games? XFCE would be incredibly awesome though if you can get it small enough.The button/task/panel bar is completely customisable. Wouldn't need any custom menu system then.