hans.gerwitz » usability

A more realistic desktop metaphor

Posted on February 8th, 2007

The recent attention to Apple’s patents on “piles” reminds me of an entertaining conversation Ryan and I had in 2005.

We were caught up in the HDR fad, and lamented how poor iPhoto is at managing photos meant to be grouped, as when auto-bracketing exposure or shooting for panorama stitching. As I said aloud that the problem seems to be there’s a need for grouping items at a “less than album” manner, I recalled the original piles patent and lamented that they hadn’t moved forward on that, and here’s a perfect opportunity for them to actually innovate in user interface. I believe I went on to complain that if Tognazzini were still there they would’ve solved this problem already.

What makes this conversation memorable is the punchline: later that week I decided to look into Aperture and discovered that it has stacks. Exactly the feature we longed for. And it’d been there for a few months already.

Tags: apple, memories, photography, software, ui, usability
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iPhone dreams

Posted on February 7th, 2007

I know it doesn’t matter, but I have so many things I wish my next phone/PDA could do, I’m going to list them for my own amusement. Even though most of them won’t happen very soon, at least while the iPhone remains closed to native third-party applications.

I could manage data with specialized tools. Special-purpose editors for blogs like this, wikis for knowledge management at work, and genealogy records could take advantage of the multitouch UI.

Assuming it lacks aGPS, I could detect location by network to orient Google Maps and geocode photos.

[I happen to believe we’ll see aGPS or PSAP in a very early release, based on Jobs’s unusual and irrational enthusiasm about the satellite view in Google Maps.]

I could clean up and manipulate photos before sharing them online.

I could control my jukebox iMac from the couch without interrupting what’s currently playing to use Front Row. And control the rest of the home theater, lighting, etc.

I could update Last.fm on the fly.

I could play not just touchscreen microgames but serious games and puzzles.

Maybe I underestimate what will be possible with Safari alone, especially if it includes Flash. It’s already amazing how many of my “desktop” tools actually run in Safari or largely render via WebKit. If the iPhone is half as successful as it’s poised to be, it will quickly vault Safari to the ranks of browsers you cannot afford to ignore. I’d be surprised if Microsoft isn’t already talking to Apple about WPF/E.

Tags: apple, iphone, ui, uncategorized, usability, work
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