How Palm could reduce screen real estate waste...

[azkevman]

While looking at my pre the other day I realized how much of the screen real estate is being wasted in card view. So much room, that there is even enough room to add a second launch bar at the top of the screen, which would add an additional 5 apps to be able to be launched without having to scroll through the launcher pages to find them. This could be done by simply moving the cards slightly down on the screen...no resizing needed.
So I decided I would go to work with a photo editor and see how it looked mocked up. I think it would be a great way to use that wasted space.
Here is my mock up...



In the mockup I also removed the "Launcher Icon", since it is redundant with the Swipe Up to display the launcher pages. This would give us a total of 10 quick launch apps directly from card view vs. the 4 we get now. And best of all nothing else in card view would be compromised.

Now combine this with my other wish list: http://forums.precentral.net/web-os-...-thoughts.html and I think we would have some nice built in functionality.

What are your thoughts?

[hammysink]

I like the cut of your jib, sir. I would love more quick launch icon real estate, even if only in card view.

[windzilla]

I would like the option however I do see a strength of webos cardview as being uncluttered. To many of my old phones have cluttery interfaces that can get in the way as much as they help.

but this is a pretty darn nice concept

[spudland]

Me Likey!

[wodin]

I would like to see the Card View default to the smaller cards. I almost always tap the screen to reduce the size of the cards so I can see more of them.

That would free up even more real estate.

[davis.rob]

I tend to prefer the uncluttered look ... this is a little too crowded for my taste. What would be cool was if the Quick Launch icons would scroll left-right like the cards do in this view. Then you could add as many as you like there.

[azkevman]

Originally Posted by wodin

I would like to see the Card View default to the smaller cards. I almost always tap the screen to reduce the size of the cards so I can see more of them.

That would free up even more real estate.

Originally Posted by davis.rob

I tend to prefer the uncluttered look ... this is a little too crowded for my taste. What would be cool was if the Quick Launch icons would scroll left-right like the cards do in this view. Then you could add as many as you like there.

Both good points. I think the key here is that there are several ways the the Card View could be better optimized.

[Xyg]

A few things:

That's gonna look real cramped on devices with smaller screens. Lop 80 vertical pixels off your mock-up and see how it looks. Infact, scale your mock-up down to the actual size of the Pre and you'll see the same thing.

That interface is crowded. Universal search should be your friend.

[licotto]

Originally Posted by davis.rob

I tend to prefer the uncluttered look ... this is a little too crowded for my taste. What would be cool was if the Quick Launch icons would scroll left-right like the cards do in this view. Then you could add as many as you like there.

Top notch idea here!! Thanks davis.rob!! We need to get on Palm.com & feature-request the CRAP out of this!!!



I will say that I do also like the extra launch bar idea, but I'm also a fan of the no-clutter mess -so I think the moving QL bar is my fav.

[azkevman]

Originally Posted by Xyg

A few things:

That's gonna look real cramped on devices with smaller screens. Lop 80 vertical pixels off your mock-up and see how it looks. Infact, scale your mock-up down to the actual size of the Pre and you'll see the same thing.

That interface is crowded. Universal search should be your friend.

The mockup is 320x480...a direct edit of a screen capture from the Pre...not sure what you mean to scale it down to the actual size of the pre??

[youngzayiles]

Originally Posted by davis.rob

I tend to prefer the uncluttered look ... this is a little too crowded for my taste. What would be cool was if the Quick Launch icons would scroll left-right like the cards do in this view. Then you could add as many as you like there.

THIS IS A GREAT IDEA!!! Off to palm we go with another idea or maybe this will show up in theres a patch for that!!

[Kyusaku]

Originally Posted by azkevman

The mockup is 320x480...a direct edit of a screen capture from the Pre...not sure what you mean to scale it down to the actual size of the pre??

What he probably meant was instead of the size in pixels, scale it down using metric units(cm or inches) not pixels to the size of the physical Pre.

The launcher will lose a decent amount of real estate if such a change is made. Because remember the Quick Launch bar is always visible with the launcher is up.

[Xyg]

Originally Posted by azkevman

The mockup is 320x480...a direct edit of a screen capture from the Pre...not sure what you mean to scale it down to the actual size of the pre??

The Pre's screen is 3.1" diagonal. Your picture measures 6.667 by 4.44 inches.

From the WebOSDev portal:

Device Screen Size vs. Emulator

A good way to simulate the Pre screen size on the emulator is to take a screen shot and shrink it to 65 percent, or 3.1 inches diagonally.

For the Pixi device:

1. Adjust the emulator by typing the following in a Command Prompt window:
VBoxManage setextradata "Palm Emulator (1.x)" "CustomVideoMode1" "320x400x32"
2. Take the screen shot and shrink it to 65 percent, or 3.1 inches diagonally.

[Brain Mantis]

Anyway idea how to hide the top launcher bar?

I like the clean look when i quit all my apps personally.

[un_designer]

not to be a debbie downer here, but one of the fundamental usage of the quick launcher bar is that it's accessible via 1-click from anywhere, even while running an application, which replicates and preserves the same functionality of the physical quick-launch buttons on the treos.

if the desire is to have more than 4 (or 5 if there's a way to get rid of the launcher icon) applications accessible at all time via the quicklaunch, then i'd say that the better solution would be one that has been pointed out in another thread: have the swipe-from-gesture on the left and right side of the button call up different quicklaunch bars. this would preserve 1-click access to even more applications.

if the desire is to have more applications accessible via 1-click while no applications are running, then an option to have the launcher, with all its icons, visible by default like that on the iPhones.

[azkevman]

Originally Posted by Xyg

The Pre's screen is 3.1" diagonal. Your picture measures 6.667 by 4.44 inches.

From the WebOSDev portal:

Device Screen Size vs. Emulator

A good way to simulate the Pre screen size on the emulator is to take a screen shot and shrink it to 65 percent, or 3.1 inches diagonally.

For the Pixi device:

1. Adjust the emulator by typing the following in a Command Prompt window:
VBoxManage setextradata "Palm Emulator (1.x)" "CustomVideoMode1" "320x400x32"
2. Take the screen shot and shrink it to 65 percent, or 3.1 inches diagonally.

Here is a scaled down version to 65 percent as described...

[dbdoinit]

Originally Posted by Kyusaku

What he probably meant was instead of the size in pixels, scale it down using metric units(cm or inches) not pixels to the size of the physical Pre.

The launcher will lose a decent amount of real estate if such a change is made. Because remember the Quick Launch bar is always visible with the launcher is up.

How about "Auto-Hide" both the top and bottom quick launch bars so they only show up when you need them. Now EVERYBODY should b happy.

[Xyg]

Originally Posted by UntidyGuy

There is absolutely no way Palm would go for something like this. It's way way too busy. They obviously made a decision to waste lots of space everywhere in the UI, probably about the same time that they decided to make the device roundish. You might as well put a button on the top right or bottom right corner that says "Start"

Yes, perhaps the device would look better with pages of 10 or 20 widgets?

[mikelightnin]

I think it's an interesting concept. As mentioned, there really isn't a need for a launcher button since there is a gesture that brings it up in the first place. And having the top icons with an auto-hide...or perhaps some small tab in the top corner to expand the icons at will. However, I do agree that it can be too much on the screen if "force-fed". It's too busy for the mass market and will primarily appeal to a poweruser. Not everyone who has an iPhone, Pre, Blackberry, or Android-phone is necessarily wanting the default screen jumbled with icons. Options, however, are a good thing.

I do like it but would prefer it to be an option...a collapsible option. Palm won't do it primarily because they're applying to the K.I.S.S. philosophy. Keep It Simple Stupid

[azkevman]

Originally Posted by UntidyGuy

There is absolutely no way Palm would go for something like this. It's way way too busy.

I was thinking that certain themes would add to the effect of it looking too busy, so I did a mock up using the default theme. Even still, a solid background would obviously cause the least perception of being busy..

FWIW here are the second mock ups: