Quote:


Now that is what I call a vastly superior design. Compared to the AmigaOS4.0 look, it has:

1) Contrast
2) Clearly defined user interface elements (brighter than background)
3) Non muddy appearance
4) Nicer layout and spacing

the only thing I prefer is the font from the AmigaOS4.0 shot - I like wider fonts - thin fonts are for newspaper columns - not GUIs!

@Hattig

As I understood it, (from various hyperion comments here and there), the layout, spacing and gadgets were some of the things that were not done yet. But would come into place during the course of the tour.

The gadgets are the fallback gadgets and not the full fledged fancy ones.

Perhaps some one of the Hyperion staff can confirm the above?

I don't think we should read to much into the precise details of the first screenshots, but more the general idea of the design.

/Björn

nice SimoAmi !
thats professional and modern looking stuff.
anyhow, i would have kept the style of the buttons (save, use etc) as on the os4 shots (but brighter of course) and "sharper" frames/borders around the input boxes, and not 100% white (but nearly) for them, if its for a potential os4 default...
anything else.. just amazing ;)

Of course, that screenmode requestor is badly designed, regardless of the look of the user interface.



Now whilst I am not going to be bothered designing a nice looking GUI for it ... the following is much more logical...



(this example assumes a dual-head Radeon card in an AGP slot and a Voodoo card in the PCI slot, one tab per card display output)

It appears to me to be more logical laid out that way (however ugly I have made it! :D ) and simpler.

The Display Properties now shows information for the graphics card itself (i.e., what the card can do as a whole) ... I think you would need somewhere in the GUI to associate a monitor with the graphics card (as that can affect what options are provided to the user regarding screen mode and refresh, etc)... I don't even know if that information on the right is even required in that GUI, I might go and remove it altogether...

Edit: simpler and easier?

Although the pic is far from detailed (rather flawed actually), it gives the idea of the functionality that could possibly be gained by using window tabs. In reality there would be more tabs for things such as network settings etc etc.

Obvious faults with the pic are the missing buttons in the recessed window group such as icons for revert, default, load prefs and others. The list box would be populated by different display cards or similar and the resolution and depth would not be applicable (as they are selected outside the list box)

re: the actual screen prefs section. i have changed it a bit to illustrate that at least the screenmode prefs could be updated with dramatically better usability and more logical layout, im sure my design can also be improved to a large degree too. incase your wondering, ive removed the "Test" button with the assumption that the "Save" and "Use" button would detect a screen mode cange at run time and prompt to run a test at that point (windows style) for the single reason that it help clean it up a bit (ie, i could find anywhere to shove it ;-)

ps, a.org has nicely set up a section for screen mock ups just now. You will notice from the above image urls that i am linking to them. Stops me wasting bandwidth on my server anyways...

Although some of the ideas that have been proposed are very nice, are we perhaps going a bit far (at least for the moment) in recommending changes to the GUI which would require changes at the code level.

@Bodie, Thats the big catch with my designs, they are a more lower level change. I wouldnt expect them to be considered for aos4 but instead for future versions.

Thats the great thing about simoami's stuff, it looks like his designs will simply be able to be applied as a skin/theme for the next OS version(os4), which is great, but id also like to think more long term and also accept it wont be for a while.

ps, if people think my ideas are bad or unfeasable please say so! (i wont be hurt) and give a reason. i really do want to help improve the gui but dont want to put to much effrot into somthing that isnt worth while. Otherwise, i might go ahead and try to get a basic javascript/css version of the windowing system online this weekend...

@teotwin

No by all means do continue because you are very talented when it comes to GUI design . Eventually, (OS4.1?) hopefully we will see many of your ideas being implemented as well as the ideas of others.

@SimoAmi

Wow - I like a lot

The only things I'd suggest (and I think other people have said this) is that the titlebar gadgets were a bit bigger and had lines, to make them more like intuition, and that the resize gadget wasn't resessed.

Apart from that, I cannot fault it

_________________

> But doesn't it make a difference when 2/10 ppl like it or when 8/10 ppl like it?

Where do you get those numbers from ? Guessing ?

> Don't get me wrong here. I'm not here to slag of Hyperion

No problem

> Just look at all that blue, how can anyone not like it, hehe ?

Hehe. Well, *that* look will definitely in my "themes" drawer... And everytime I'm feeling down, I use that look, and start "boexer", "Dotty" and "lines" (those olde multi-tasking demos that came with WB1.3)

@teotwin

Actually I think your concept hits a point that will need to be addressed after OS4 comes out.

If you recall OS1.3 had an integrated prefs editor, you went to one place to edit everything. Then OS2.0x was the first one to split that out into seperate modules.

What we see here is an example of just what I personally would not want to see ( although it is reminicent of Mandrake Control Center and would hopefully accept prefs plugins ) because the number of tabs would increase as more prefs programs get written to dynamically register taking excessive screen real-estate for a job that could and should be done by seperate configuration applets ( IMHO ).

However from your GUI concept what I WOULD like to see is simplification. We should not be exposing users to more clicky things and information than they really need to know, by default.

For example, screen prefs should be a matter of selecting resolution and depth - no more. If you want to do more ( like modify a customisable display mode or create a broad vitual desktop ) or see more then a general *saveable* setting to show more. Kind of like clicking on "advanced".

Whilst I like what I see in your graphic design skills ( and the same goes for simonami ) purely as an end user I would prefer if we had a selection of Mac, RiscOS, Gnome, KDE, Ice, Windows themes ( then on installation the user could select from "what operating system look and feel are you most familiar with" ) but the default one should irrevocably remind me of the crisp clean and above all fast to blit AmigaOS window style and not really be a mixture.

Im not asking for OS1.3 topaz 8 because the world has moved on since that being needed, but the more complex the imagery the more sluggish the windowing system - so something pure and elegant that does not resort to shading and textures to achieve it.

If you can strip the shading from your WM example above that might be on the nail. Not sure.

Regards

Dave.

Quote:

Where do you get those numbers from ? Guessing ?

This aren't real figures. I was trying to explain that indeed, everything is personal taste, but having a lot of ppl liking it usually tells something about the quality.

@others:
This thread is useless ofcourse if nobody from Hyperion take notice. You can do as much screenshots, gui ideas as you want, but it's of no use if the developers are not interested.

Also, i would like to see what direction they will go with the default look. It was only 80% done, so maybe we will know more at the end of the month. Maybe it will improve... Because with a bit of work, and a new background texture, a lot can be done. Maybe Matthew of Zeoneo could give a little update...or we will just have to wait and see.

@z5

I disagree totally with your assessent. If nobody from Hyperion takes notice then as Mike said right at the start, this could be free downloadable themes or even *shock* on the contributions drawer.



OTOH those of us that have the tools to go play are seeing how much of the current UI will allow these concepts to be retrofitted when the time comes.

Quote:

I disagree totally with your assessent. If nobody from Hyperion takes notice then as Mike said right at the start, this could be free downloadable themes or even *shock* on the contributions drawer.

Well, i'm no expert, but to make a skin now or to think about a future skin, one has to know what is possible with the GUI in OS4, no? You can't make a skin if you can't test it out and if don't know the possibilities. So for that, they need help from Hyperion. (at least if they want to start now and make themes ready for the release).

OK fair enough z5, I get your point now. But if Hyperion don't mind Im sure some betatesters would try things out for contributers.....

Quote:

Ofcourse it is a matter of taste. It always is. But doesn't it make a difference when 2/10 ppl like it or when 8/10 ppl like it? Doesn't that mean that somehow, the author has created something that more ppl can live with it?

Your estimation that only 2/10 people liked the OS 4 design and 8/10 like the other is colored by your own dislike. From the reactions I've seen, most people liked it, and likewise most people like simoami's design.

You should also take into account that these are screenshots. Having this on a real monitor, and using it, might be different, especially when it comes to finding your way around. For example, in simoami's first design, I didn't see much difference between normal and selected buttons. They are very hard to tell apart.

For the OS 4 default look, I can say that this isn't the case, because I work with it on a daily basis.

Assuming that there is a way to save an entire GUI theme of course...

Heh ...

{reaction element="button" mode="active"}
{gradient start="#ffffff" end="#888888" angle="0" transparency="50%"/}
{image url("themes/marble/lightmarble.png")/}
{border style="solid" color="#000000"/}
{/reaction}
...

edit: stupid thing stripped out the angle brackets ... so curly brackets instead... :(

edit2:

man, i love it

Any chance we could have a poll on the front page.... Simoami's os4 tweaked design vs default os4 design.

These will be real figures then.

I'm not entirely sure why hyperion arn't being more accepting of the UI suggestions - especially the obvious like the need to increase contrast in the os4 default. I seems quite apparent you have forgotten the hard of sight.

If you restricting yourself to a design that makes old apps lok constent then STOP! Old apps are just that, old - living in the past is not the way to advance an OS

It would only take a few minor tweaks to the OS4 default as it currently stands to improve the contrast.

One thing that does strike me as slightly narrow sighted is the view that the default doesn't need to look "really good", it DOES need to look really good, any commercial user or any company selling/demonstrating amigas are unlikely to bother spending the time to customise the look. The default has to look good and be functional. Why do you think Apple and Microsoft spend so much time on UI design - its the first thing a user sees. The old saying "The first bite is with the eye" rings true here. People won't find out about how great and functional the os is if they take 1 look at it and its dismissed as "old tech" as it still currently looks.

Now the "newness" feeling about the screen shots has gone I can see all the silly flaws with the new default.

I've not seen a good reason yet from hyperion why our suggestions have been dismissed. "it can be changed" is not a reason!

I really want the new amigaOS to succeed in grabbing peoples attention - to do that it has to look good.

CnlPepper - Now probably battling too much....