New GUI idea, but no clue where to go with it...

[Ghost|BTFH]

Hey all! I have a weird idea that's slipped into my noggin' and it just won't let go. It's for a new interface - a way for us to interact with the system via touch or mouse, but I honestly have no programming skills, no prior experience other than being a repair tech and a geek most of my life and so I have no idea where to go with this...

Is there a place in the community to share new ideas to release them into the wild and let the programmers have at it? I really think it'd be interesting to see it developed. I believe it'd be an amazingly beautiful and simple interface, that allowed for a great depth and complexity at the same time.

Any information would be greatly appreciated (and if this is the spot I've been looking for, I'll post it here and in a new thread)

Cheers,
Ghost|BTFH

[Ghost|BTFH]

In hopes that someone will be able to direct me on where to toss this idea...it goes something like this:

A hive-style tile set of icons covering the desktop (or in part).

Each tile has six sides...when depressed, the tile explodes (raises up), enlarges and then displays six more tiles around it, with more options.

For example, you have a tile marked "Office" and you depress it.

Now "Office" is enlarged as the primary focus on the screen and six more tiles surround it, "Calc" "Impress" "Draw" "Math" "Writer" and "Dictionary"

Any of which may now be touched (clicked) to bring up said program.

My idea for minimizing/maximizing items is to utilize the standard program title bars and X [] _ buttons. However, minimizing would shrink the program into the TILE it came from, making the root tile (in the above example, "Office") glow. Touching the root tile would bring up the other tiles, with the one active and minimized, glowing. Touching that one would then show mini-tile windows of each process of the program running (Think Windows Preview in Hex format).

I think the concept may be challenging (especially when you add into it the idea of 3D, a ball of hex tiles that can be shrunk down out of the way when not in use, etc) but I think the effect and the flexibility allowed the user (considering each tile could be a shortcut OR a menu+sub-menus) would be well worth it.

Basically, it would allow a user to either dump all shortcuts into the hive, custom sort them into groups, or into sub-groups, utilizing as little or as much space as they desired, dependent upon their personal preferences.

With a setup like this, for example, I would toss all the important daily programs I use as individual tile-shortcuts. The rest of them, I would set up in an array of menu groupings with no sub-menus (I personally hate sub-menus).

For menus requiring more than six places, I would see the hive tiles growing more tiles as needed. ergo, instead of six tiles around the center one, it would have those six plus more added onto the base six, expanding outward in a ring. If this sounds confusing, I can always try to draw a mock-up of what I'm trying to explain.

So, what do you guys think? Crazy? Genius? Waste of bandwidth?

You decide.

Cheers,
Ghost|BTFH

[Copper Bezel]

If you just want to talk out an idea, I'd start the thread in the Community Café or Art and Design. If you don't have any programming skills and can't get the ear of a developer, your best shot is to just put together a pretty concept, pass it around, and hope that someone rips you off. = )

Edit: Bit of simultaneous posting going on there, sorry. Have you seen the new Windows 8 demo? It's actually similar to what you're describing.

[Ghost|BTFH]

That's the general idea here, I'm wanting someone to take the idea and run with it! :)

I think it has potential to give the desktop back to the users and allow them to get back to the focus (that computers are tools) and grant them the ability to find things quickly and directly without going through outdated file hierarchies.

So, you think the Cafe is the best place for it?

[Copper Bezel]

Yeah, I think so. The support forums are primarily for fixing problems or working out technical stuff in a granular way.