@cnlpepper:
i agree with everything you say there (btw if i remember correctly, you did some nice mockups for the window borders and gadgets aswell a long time ago at Amiga.org),

BUT there are some things to consider:
- the design shown in the official screenshots isn't finished. As you will have seen, there were 2 different backdrops used, the gadgets were not finished, even the alignments and so was not done and Matthew (who works on this) said that even different textures had to be tested. Moreover, Mason seems to be doing something with icons, and this was not shown aswell. So the question remains: how much have we actually seen from the default OS4 look?
- they say that the thing was done by 3 experts in UI design, so i don't think they will be happy to change anything now.
- they probably do have a vision behind all this

@CnlPepper and z5,

Really you are slightly colored here.

For the first part I don't see the developers showing any negativity towards Simoami's design, not openly at least.

Next, despite the fact that most people liked Simoami's design (and I am one of them) but most people liked AOS4's too.

You can even read comments that suggest improvements even for Simoami's.

With all these discussions going on at the same time developement is progressing I think you are losing a bit perspective.

At the moment the target buyers are you and me, Linux and Windoze users won't be invading the local amiga computer resellers en masse to get AOS4 on release.

If they do there won't be any computers for them anyway. I hardly think production is geared for an event like that.

Adverstising and PR will also have to wait until there is a product and you and me and all the other brave amigans have tried and worked with the OS for awhile.

When the time comes I'm sure there will be a gui most of us can be proud of and if not there will be more skins than you can shake a stick at.

Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe there are more surprises lurking in the shadows.

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@z5

The problem of writing long posts! :)

You took the gist out of most of my last post with your most recent one.

I thought the critisism was a bit premature seeing as nothing is ready yet.

But I still like the idea of the thread and I'm sure the developers are watching it with interest.

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@ CnlPepper

Quote:

Simoami's os4 tweaked design vs default os4 design.

At this point this does not make much sense. Matthew's unfinished design as shown in the screenshots is actually already implemented.

SimoAmi's design was designed solely in a paintprogram, without knowing the actual abilities of the GUI thus far.

We need someone who can test these themes and check the possibilities with people like Massimo who know how far the GUI has advanced and will continue to advance for various AmigaOS releases. We need someone who can co-ordinate this effort and is visual expert.

When designs have actually been implemented and tested we can then organize polls regarding the various theme proposals.

aye, I'm getting carried away with myself....

I guess when you've been waiting a while you just want things perfect first time!

It is premature to discuss this as a default design. I do hope however that the team have taken some suggestions on if applicable - it'll save them time later.

CnlPepper - He who will be without os4 for a long time (money, a lack thereof)....

Quote:

We need someone who can test these themes and check the possibilities with people like Massimo who know how far the GUI has advanced and will continue to advance for various AmigaOS releases. We need someone who can co-ordinate this effort and is visual expert...

Well I must admit I do not have any AOS4 beta access, neither do I yet own an AmigaOne, neither is my non-accelerated Amiga4000 plugged in for the moment and I do not have any connection with any Amiga developers.

So in the light of this I might be unsuited to be any kind of "lead person" in the GUI effort you are talking about. I do believe I have a very sound view of what is good and what is not but then again, so does alot of people :)

I think the amount of interest in the GUI is astonishing. It clearly shows its one of the most important aspects of a computer.

I can offer the services of creating interactive working win32 mockups of the userinterfaces created, but it's quite alot of work to do it since I do my GUI designing by programming it in Dark Basic or Blitz Basic where every aspect of the GUI comes from draw commands.

I do it mainly for fun...

Here's my example of what OS4 could look like..

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Quote:

1. fully customizable window gadget functions where the user can edit via prefs what happens when you click, double-click and drag gadgets, window borders and titles etc (plus same for right mouse).

I've been thinking of something similar for a long time... But in a slightly different direction. 'Fully customizable keyboard short cuts that the user can edit via prefs.'

What I mean by this is that there are certain cases where an app doesn't have a keyboard shortcut when it should. As an example, Windows does not have a keyboard short cut in Explorer for creating a new folder... Something I do all the time! I should be able to add a keyboard shortcut to do this, without downloading some hack. The same for inverting a selection... Why Windows allows you "select all " but not invert a selection via keyboard short cut is beyond me...

And before the pro-Windows zealots crawl out of the woodwork... Please understand I'm only using Windows as an example because I'm using it right now. I also wanted to creat a new directory and invert a slection in Explorer, "right now", without having to use the mouse to acess menu items THAT SHOULD HAVE A KEYBOARD SHORT CUT!!!!!!!

Anyway, I can understand that there maybe certain short cuts that should be reserved and/or standard. I just happen to think this is one area of UI design that tends to be an after thought.

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@SimoAmi on 12-Jun-2003 8:57:59

"Bandwidth Limit Exceeded
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to the site owner reaching his/her bandwidth limit. Please try again later.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apache/1.3.27 Server at www.simoami.com Port 80"

Sigh.... missed it....

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@DaveyD:

That is another step on the ladder, no doubt.

But I think the default look should have a more discreet, if any, background pattern.

DaveyD,

That looks verry good for a default look to me.

It has the basic grey stuff but shows the gradient
possibilitys from the new OS version.

Hyperion? What do you think?

De groetjes, Dirk.

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Very nice indeed

The only 'problem' is still is still the checkbox ... I really 'love' the checkbox made by SimoAmi

But still very nice DaveyD

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hattig said:
Quote:

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

Mmmh... That is a very interesting topic. It's more about
usability, coherency and logic of the interface than its
"looks".

There is an unvaluable document about prospected changes
to intuition and Workbench in the Dave Haynie archives. It's
from Devcon'93, and it includes a lot of interesting points
from the original AmigaOS maintainers at Commodore. It
has some "modern" ideas on it. It is worth a look.

I allways wondered why nobody ever pointed it out in these
GUI discussions. It is may be because nobody read it since
93? Don't know.

By the way, you can obtain it downloading the unified zip
archive with all the documents and pictures included on it.
I think there is no direct link to this unique '93 document.

Haynie files.zip

@MikeB

Quote:

I have been talking to various people with regard to starting an effort here at AmigaWorld for designing alternative GUI themes, which could later be implemented when AmigaOS4 is available and could for example be included with future OS releases.

Sounds like a plan - nice one!

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Here's another mockup..



Instead of

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The colors from your first ... the checkbox from this one

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I like the titlebar gadgets on the latest one - they still have the familiar intuition look, but they look nicer than the plain black outline ones IMO. Very nice

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Hi DaveyD - your latest example of GUI has
very nice colours - I like it.

I wish this could be default look of OS4.

And according to latest OS4 snapshots - it won't be that hard to implement it.

Anyway, you all know about them already:

Shot 1: AmiPDF
http://amigaworld.net/modules/features/os4/shot1.html

[looking good & clean]

Shot 2: YAM running emulated on OS 4
http://amigaworld.net/modules/features/os4/shot2.html

Shot 3: Playing Colonization on the Workbench using OS4.
http://amigaworld.net/modules/features/os4/shot3.html

Shot 4: Ibrowse running emulated on OS 4 as well as Notepad, OS4's replacement for "Editpad"
http://amigaworld.net/modules/features/os4/shot4.html

Shot 5: A slightly different look: most gradients rotated 180 degrees to get them to look bulging
outwards instead of inwards. Also has a 30 degree gradient on the title bar.
http://amigaworld.net/modules/features/os4/shot5.html

Well the latest one looked like it has the best colours [just to get rid of gray texture, but also its colour also can be changed in any art program].

Here are few things I like in latest OS4 snapshots:

- nice fonts [finally no ugly topaz fonts]
- nice window gradient [in snapshot 5]
- slightly rounded buttons [finally!]

And some things I dislike in latest OS4 snapshots:

- still very gray, but like I said - texture colour can be changed [why not put all textures have blue metallic colour?]

- buttons should be in lighter colours than background [I hope it is possible to change?]

- OS3.9 glow icons are ok [I like glow effect] but icon design is [if compare to MOS os MacOSX] oldfashioned.

I'd also like to see a digital clock on the workbench bar, on top-right, showing time and date as default in OS4. And memory & CPU display in percentage [a-la DopusMagellan] would be nice too.

Overall - Os4 is getting better and better :)

djnick [djnick.org]

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@DaveyD
Quote:

Here's another mockup..

Nice design indeed.

But, i did notice something when comparing your mockup to the newly released Screenshots.
Your Gadget design are Exactly the same as the new screenshots?. Did they contact you, or you them?.

Who borrowed from who?

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I took them from the latest screenshots

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