STOPPED - New graphic Interface for OMNIA

[Guest mobilehappy]

Keep it as a today plugin and keep the WM bars, you can then for instance use WishBar Advanced 3 for skinning and enhancing the bars themselves.

Some examples of very nice bars using WA3:

Prot'n V2 Skin

Clear Gloss Skin

Zifi Skin

Edited November 6, 2008 by mobilehappy

[Guest Gibeon]

Yeah, those bars are ugly, there is no way you can integrate them nice. But I think he means something else, but I dont know how to explain in English :$

[Guest Barthlon]

So you need wm bars? I understand the utility of softkeys, but i find extremely ugly window bars, i'd prefer to embed a sort of softkeys inside the design itself, il would be more consistent.

well i don't need the default softkeys at the bottom, but i see no reason to remove the top windows bar. i think the default battery-/volume-/network-/reminder-indicators are great there at the top of the screen. but thats just my opinion :lol:

also the bars are to some point skinnable and in that way they should be able to "be one" with your design.

i'm very curious if speleomanic is interested in continuating this project with you :D

[Guest speleomaniac]

Concept code works fine. Nice effort.

However on the overall concept, rigging a 3d type front-app on a limited 240 horizontal is pushing it a bit. Perhaps the scroll effects should go vertical ? in portrait and horizonal in landscape. Somewhat similar to the widget bar but with more funtionality ? No, not like feWidgets.

vertical scrolling version

OmniShell.zip

[Guest Hellbender]

well i don't need the default softkeys at the bottom, but i see no reason to remove the top windows bar. i think the default battery-/volume-/network-/reminder-indicators are great there at the top of the screen. but thats just my opinion :lol:

also the bars are to some point skinnable and in that way they should be able to "be one" with your design.

i'm very curious if speleomanic is interested in continuating this project with you :D

Me too ;) as for now he's the only one who seems to be interested in this project.

[Guest speleomaniac]

Well i think this shouldn't be necessarily 3d, a 3d illusion could be to just move the icons on an elliptic path and scale them according to their position, switching from forground to background.

This could give the illusion of depth when there isn't really one. Possible? Maybe easier ?

thats exatly what i've done :lol: maybe it would be faster if i change the project to Direct3D from DirectDraw. will try it later, when i

[Guest taril]

I've just started to learn WM6.1 SDK and Sony Ericsson X1 SDK HTML skin and Direct3D.

Im interested in plan and bulid a project that makes Omnia the best. I use VS 2008. (cabwiz doesnt want to work yet dont know why?)

And of course am working on running Linux on Omnia. (I prefer opensource programs, microsoft can go to *#*Đ*##)

[Guest Hellbender]

vertical scrolling version

I see your point. I need to redesign a little the portrait version to match the vertical scrolling.

By the way i would do a couple of things to keep the interface clean and improve performance a bit (maybe):

- the circular path should be smaller (now icons touch the top bottom borders, i'll stick inside 2/4 of the screen height.

- what about fading in/out icons when they reach the top/bottom most of their path ? this will mean more possible icons in the ring and less icons visible at a time.

- different background for the portrait and the landscape version.

- icons rotating 90 degrees while in landscape (and consequently orizontal path of rotation)

it's a shame that we loose the reflection effect with the vertical scroll in portrait.

[Guest Barthlon]

vertical scrolling version

haha funky interface man :lol:

i'm personally not a fan of the vertical scrolling idea, mainly because you are left with a very narrow space to put extra's. with the horizontal scrolling you have better oriented space left i think which you can use to add buttons/weather/calendar or something like that.

i don't know how much time it had cost you to make this, but it seems that it was farely easy for you to make change it from horizontal to vertical. maybe different configurations are possible for people who like vertical/horizontal scrolling etc...

keep up the good work guys, i will keep on testing and giving my (very personal) opinion :D

[Guest Hellbender]

I've just started to learn WM6.1 SDK and Sony Ericsson X1 SDK HTML skin and Direct3D.

Im interested in plan and bulid a project that makes Omnia the best. I use VS 2008. (cabwiz doesnt want to work yet dont know why?)

And of course am working on running Linux on Omnia. (I prefer opensource programs, microsoft can go to *#*Đ*##)

That's cool, any help would be appreciated. As for WM, i'm not a fun of M$, but at this time the majority of users will stick for the wm version, that sayd i'm not excluding to help in developing a Linux version, expecially if we have chance to get better performance :lol:

[Guest taril]

Just PM me if someone is interested in developing new interface for Omni.

[Guest Barthlon]

haha funky interface man :lol:

i'm personally not a fan of the vertical scrolling idea, mainly because you are left with a very narrow space to put extra's. with the horizontal scrolling you have better oriented space left i think which you can use to add buttons/weather/calendar or something like that.

i don't know how much time it had cost you to make this, but it seems that it was farely easy for you to make change it from horizontal to vertical. maybe different configurations are possible for people who like vertical/horizontal scrolling etc...

keep up the good work guys, i will keep on testing and giving my (very personal) opinion :D

as to be more clear about what i mean by this i added this image of my ideal home interface. because of the horizontally orientated spinner you have the rest of the screen for info etc.

the calendar in my eyes doesn't have to be for a whole month but just a week or two, which saves a lot of space.

i must add that i am neither a programmer or a designer so please don't make fun of my image :o

EDIT: totally forgot sms/mail/call indicators, i would place them under the clock ;)

Edited November 6, 2008 by Barthlon

[Guest taril]

Why do you want Dildows Start menu?

[Guest bobobird]

as to be more clear about what i mean by this i added this image of my ideal home interface. because of the horizontally orientated spinner you have the rest of the screen for info etc.

the calendar in my eyes doesn't have to be for a whole month but just a week or two, which saves a lot of space.

i must add that i am neither a programmer or a designer so please don't make fun of my image :D

EDIT: totally forgot sms/mail/call indicators, i would place them under the clock :lol:

I am lost here. How is this any different from a "circularised" Ultimate Launch ??

If we are to consider a new interface, then the one important thing is to do away with the today screen mentality and do it some other way.

And if one must have them, the way indicators are done nowadays takes up almost the whole screen, whereas all that info including date/time + indicators could in fact take up no more then 2 lines. eg s2u2 does most of that (except date/time) on one line!

[Guest Barthlon]

Why do you want Dildows Start menu?

i don't need the startbutton, but the rest of the topbar is usefull. as i stated before i miss this in, for example, spb shell. you always have to return to the todayscreen to tap volume and reminders etc...

really, i don't need the windows bar, as long as the replacement interface replaces the functions it contains in some way :lol:

[Guest Barthlon]

If we are to consider a new interface, then the one important thing is to do away with the today screen mentality and do it some other way.

thanks for the wake-up call you're totally right here. i got a little excited i guess.

i also read the startpost again and noticed hellbender already had a 2-slide idea for the interface which would deal with my "problem".

i'll stop hijacking this thread now :lol:

Edited November 6, 2008 by Barthlon

[Guest Hellbender]

i don't need the startbutton, but the rest of the topbar is usefull. as i stated before i miss this in, for example, spb shell. you always have to return to the todayscreen to tap volume and reminders etc...

really, i don't need the windows bar, as long as the replacement interface replaces the functions it contains in some way :lol:

about the phone status and volume controls, they already are in my layouts, i agree they are vital, they are just at the bottom of the screen, and the start button i can't see it so essential as long as you can find all the functions it contains under other submenus. So the whole bar thing would fall.

Mainly this is meant to be cool to see, AND usable, but i'd sacrifice a little usability in favor of coolness, cause there are plenty of interfaces out there that are pretty useful and so spartan :D

i'd like something more on the other side. Today is actually way too efficient (with plugins) to be beaten, but i find it ugly (very personal opinion), so i'd like to make something new.

[Guest GodsGift]

To everyone involved WOW superb work.

As previously stated I would be happy to donate to see this come to fruition ... Only thing is its gonna end up being a WM6.1 App rather than an Omnia specific.

Which is good for the authors but would be nice to keep it omnia specific

(selfish arent I!)

I like speleomanics vertical loop, but wouldnt this be more suited when in landscape to conserve screen real estate?

Can see this being huge in the WM community...

GG

[Guest Hellbender]

Keep it as a today plugin and keep the WM bars, you can then for instance use WishBar Advanced 3 for skinning and enhancing the bars themselves.

Some examples of very nice bars using WA3:

Prot'n V2 Skin

Clear Gloss Skin

Zifi Skin

if you need to skin them to be nice with my interface, why just not cover them with the entire interface wich already is consistent with the theme. If you ask for that because you use taskbar applications, well, that's not a typical usage, and it falls in the "today usage" users :lol:, so if you want usability you need to sacrifice appearance and vice versa.

[Guest speleomaniac]

a quick "programs" launcher - vertical style...

this one scans the "programs" directory and adds them as icons to the app. may be restricted to ENG firmwares only...

if you don't want to see your custom shortcuts, delete the file shortcuts.txt.

OmniShell.zip

[Guest speleomaniac]

Here comes the latest version. (I won't have the time to update it for the next few days..)

Changes are:

# Changed background image from .png to .gif. (better performance?)

# Some perspective changes.

# White icon text.

# The shortcuts can be run by clicking the buttons, optical joystick has no effect anymore.

# Configuration changes. (see shortcuts.txt in attached zip file. will change the name and format of this file later, when i don't feel so lazy.)

- Lines starting with ';' are comments now.

- The line starting with 'OSConfig': first parameter is directory to scan for additional icons [eg: \windows\start menu\programs]. if left blank, no icons are added. second parameter enables vibration on focused icon change [0 or 1]).

- Icons added by the specified directory will be zoomed 2x. (increased chance to hit)

- If the second parameter of a line is OSEXIT, the app will exit when the button is pressed

# The rotation stops now on the correct position. (sometimes takes a while if there are lots of icons. tried it by adding all files in windows directory :lol: )

# Operator name functional.

# Phone signal strength functional.

# Battery strength and status functional.

# Added clock.

# Program doesn't close anymore when a shortcut is selected.

# Changed the directdraw code. The app should now be compatible with any phone running WM 6.0+. Runs fine on emulators.

# ...

Anyway, if you liked it that much and want to have it launched at boot time, add the following registry key: HKLM/init/Launch200 which contains the full path of the program. (String value. \Program Files\OmniShell\OmniShell.exe in my case.)

Edit is in bold.

OmniShell.zip

Edited November 7, 2008 by speleomaniac

[Guest Gibeon]

@speleomaniac: WOW. This is going really fast dude! I really love this stuff!

Only thing, if you flip the screen the app wil turn white, and you cant get it back with restarting the app, I needed a soft reset. But I assume that will be fixed later :lol:

As previously stated I would be happy to donate to see this come to fruition ... Only thing is its gonna end up being a WM6.1 App rather than an Omnia specific.

Which is good for the authors but would be nice to keep it omnia specific

(selfish arent I!)

Indeed, I would be nice to keep this as a Omnia interface!

[Guest brainy85]

wow looks really great !

superb work but the Battery strength dont work for me !

[Guest saitronprince]

Quick quips from an outsider (I've found an outside viewpoint can help) NOTE: I don't currently own, and never have owned, a winmo device. I'm 15, unforunately. I'm getting the omnia soon, however, so I've taken an interest in just about everything winmo. Anywho, my quips.

1) While it might be nice to have a good today screen, why not go deeper? I'm thinking:

-new scroll methods (flick scrolling, woooo!)

-do away with the scroll bars

-new interfaces for places people don't like, such as the camera (from what I've heard)

-integrate possible hardware intonations i.e. using hard keys for other functions

-recreate the widgets function. This is my most elaborate idea, I'm thinking this can be done TWO WAYS

1) Have some of the necessities that cannot be moved on the today screen. Then, have one little button that opens up a menu that allows you to pull up and drag stuff onto the mainscreen, including just about anything on the phone, as well as having a couple specific ones be more elaborate and expand, like the music player or calendar.

2) Continue with the rotating bar, but have one little button all the way at the back that allows you to customize order and and which ones are in the bar itself. This seems a little smarter than my first idea. A cool idea would have it that a single press expands it to show something about the program i.e. music player expands to show songs or something, and another tap opens the program. This is like PC laptops, where one touch on the pad selects and a quick two-tap executes it. Or, a little something like the blackberry storm, 'cept less elaborate.

Of course, these ideas are just ideas. Use them how you wish.

I now that a lot of this will require a helluva a lot of coding. I, however, only know HTML. So sue me. Sorry I can't contribute.

Also, a request: SCREENSHOTS! I wanna see how this is working out!

[Guest Hellbender]

I'm out for a couple of days, when i'll come to work i'll make some more examples on how i think the wheel should behave.

Speleo i'd like to have 4 parameters accessible from the text file:

icons translation path width, translation path height/inclination, translation path center coordinates on screen and max visible icons at a time,

this last should come with another graphical tweak: as i said before i'd like, if possible, that when icons complete their 180° arch they disappear fading out, at the far sides of the path, this will lead to less icon on screen, bettere performances, and clean reading of the foreground icons (the background icon are indeed unreadable especially when covered by the foreground ones).

in the mean time i'll build a little flash animation to show you the icons behaviour when pressed and transition between menus.

Quick quips from an outsider (I've found an outside viewpoint can help) NOTE: I don't currently own, and never have owned, a winmo device. I'm 15, unforunately. I'm getting the omnia soon, however, so I've taken an interest in just about everything winmo. Anywho, my quips.

1) While it might be nice to have a good today screen, why not go deeper? I'm thinking:

-new scroll methods (flick scrolling, woooo!)

this is already present in some apps written for WM6, mainly ports from iphone apps. I think it's possible, but i'm not a programmer and basically this is just the launcher, i'd like to perfect it BEFORE starting to work on some other screen. Flick (or kinetic) scrolling is cool, will keep it in mind.

-do away with the scroll bars

-new interfaces for places people don't like, such as the camera (from what I've heard)

never red of that, i though that camera was just fine, it's minimal and standard stylish. I don't actually know if we will push so far in designing.

-integrate possible hardware intonations i.e. using hard keys for other functions

-recreate the widgets function. This is my most elaborate idea, I'm thinking this can be done TWO WAYS

1) Have some of the necessities that cannot be moved on the today screen. Then, have one little button that opens up a menu that allows you to pull up and drag stuff onto the mainscreen, including just about anything on the phone, as well as having a couple specific ones be more elaborate and expand, like the music player or calendar.

2) Continue with the rotating bar, but have one little button all the way at the back that allows you to customize order and and which ones are in the bar itself. This seems a little smarter than my first idea. A cool idea would have it that a single press expands it to show something about the program i.e. music player expands to show songs or something, and another tap opens the program. This is like PC laptops, where one touch on the pad selects and a quick two-tap executes it. Or, a little something like the blackberry storm, 'cept less elaborate.

Of course, these ideas are just ideas. Use them how you wish.

I now that a lot of this will require a helluva a lot of coding. I, however, only know HTML. So sue me. Sorry I can't contribute.

Also, a request: SCREENSHOTS! I wanna see how this is working out!

Actually i though that widgets was a bad born of an interface that wanted to stand between a today and a more visual appealing interface, the result (imho) is just discouraging, nor extremely functional neither particularly cute (i disabled them the first day i had my phone). I repeat that this is just the launcher environment, it's the core of this interface, but it isn't the section that you will have on screen for the most time i suppose, some sort of graphical app browser, there will be other sections with different functions, i hope (it doesn't depend just on me). Obviously i'd like the launcher to be customizable (in terms of number of tabs and programs launched). We will see.

Thank you for your thoughs.

Edited November 9, 2008 by Hellbender