Photoshop Windows Rome!

[d3nuo]

Quick mock up :p :rofl:

no thanks :) makes me wanna vomit. worse than vista's ui

[mdtaUK]

Here is a very rough idea of my way of thinking. I may work on better versions, to a proper scale, but for now here are some images of the task/start bar.

[mdtaUK]

Here is the same idea, but more accurate to sizing and scale, and with more detail.

[primexx]

thats very nice lol. I hope someone at MS is taking a look at these ideas lol.

Microsoft actually has their own ribbon idea, it's at the bottom, and much more powerful than just a navigation tool. I'd like to see that in place.

Here is the same idea, but more accurate to sizing and scale, and with more detail.

Usability would be hard though...

[Tiger.Girl]

Here is the same idea, but more accurate to sizing and scale, and with more detail.

It's not perfect but its one of the more interesting ideas in this thread. It would be cool to see with a maybe a separate taskbar for open windows. It almost makes me think of like windows mixed with OSX if you were to take the taskbar/menubar and move it to the top and add a taskbar/dock to the bottom

[Helba]

You guys have some nice ideas going, but they look a whole lot like Vista, which really isn't the aim here.

I think we need to work on an entirely new design.

I had a cool idea for a desktop where the entire UI would be widget based. You could dock things to the sides of your screens for a more traditional feel but everything is movable and customizable. It should also be perfectly skinnable.

I also had a sort of cool idea that now that I think of it sort of reminds me of older macs. When you run an app, your desktop arrangement hides itself. If you then hold down the Windows key for one or two seconds (also changeable) your desktop objects appear over your current application, even if it is full screen (I'm not sure about that one, full screen games for example, what with resolution changes and all, but I think you know what I mean.)

I was also thinking of a 'wheel' type design that others have mentioned, and maybe I remember heard that Media Center has something like this. My idea was that, when you hold down the Windows key and move your scroll wheel, you toggle through running applications.

Also, I think mouse gestures could have a place here.

One more thought I had was that the traditional 'desktop' folder shouldn't exist in its current form. Instead, your 'workspace' could be toggled by a button (that would presumably be a movable widget, as I mentioned before) that would bring up a screen containing desktop contents. This space might even be tabbed and have files automatically sorted by type. This functionality would also be customizable right out of the box.

We should offer a stock UI that anyone can use, but, in an ideal OS, make it very easy to customize the UI to kingdom come.

This is where I think we should go with the Windows Rome project: Combining ideas that everyone has into one great, usable UI that doesn't closely resemble what's available right now, namely Windows Vista.

As a side note, I'm also working on a project to convert the Windows Live Messenger interface into an XP interface. When I first heard about Vista, I thought that they were going to go with the same scheme they used for Messenger, but they went with the black Aero UI instead. A thought I had that Microsoft could potentially go for (although I doubt they will) is to skin the next windows with their Windows Live interface, and then integrate all the 'Live' features they currently have or are working on. Bill Gates has said that their next Windows release will be a lot more user centric, and this could be a way to do it.

Anyway, I might post a concept shot of the 'Live' idea, but I would like to start working on my proposed 'Rome' features as well.

Would anyone here like to take a crack at Photoshopping any of my ideas?

[+Anarkii Subscriber²]

ok these are allll great but can we PLEASE try and stay away from the xp/vista look??? This is suppossed to be 2 generations ahead, and some of you are missing the point of what my original post consisted of...

Think TWO generations ahead of what we have now, so im talkin about 5 years from now, what im seeing so far (except that one a couple of pages back with the nice left sidebar) looks well, unoriginal.

close your eyes and try to think of what the desktop 5 years from now would look like with todays programs, thats what im asking. (yes that means concepts of IE, internet explorer and or ure other favourite programs)

[digitalsoft]

ok these are allll great but can we PLEASE try and stay away from the xp/vista look??? This is suppossed to be 2 generations ahead, and some of you are missing the point of what my original post consisted of...

Think TWO generations ahead of what we have now, so im talkin about 5 years from now, what im seeing so far (except that one a couple of pages back with the nice left sidebar) looks well, unoriginal.

close your eyes and try to think of what the desktop 5 years from now would look like with todays programs, thats what im asking. (yes that means concepts of IE, internet explorer and or ure other favourite programs)

i've just done that now i have about a 100 different ideas... had to draw some on paper so i dont forget.. lol

[MadnessRedx]

I have redone my ribbon/tabs idea, I will upload it soon

[George P Global Moderator]

I think in the future, we'll see the taskbar gone, and the sidebar take on more work, like storing the systray there like they originally thought of, What would be left is the Start Orb, and then a push towards using more Live icons/thumbs for when you minimize apps.

[Stetson]

I think something more like the Microsoft Scalable Fabric concept, where you just drag windows to the edge of the screen and they "minimize" to a live thumbnail. This is especially interesting when you imagine the size monitors that will probably be affordable in 10 years.

[Elliott]

no thanks :) makes me wanna vomit. worse than vista's ui

And that's your opinion. I love the look and behavior of OS X's UI.

[tao muon]

no thanks :) makes me wanna vomit. worse than vista's ui

Well, since it looks a LOT like Mac OSX, then we know you're against that too.

Cool!

[InternalStorm]

Well, since it looks a LOT like Mac OSX, then we know you're against that too.

Cool!

I don't think so... in what ways?

It's basically the same as Windows has always been, they have just changed the colors from grey/blue to black, and added some shinier graphics and transparencies to windows. OSX is basically all greyish and white and the only thing I see that's the same is the shiny icons. There no taskbar, start menu, and the theme looks totally different in terms of colors, transparencies, and menus.

[auto-logic]

Here's my go at it.

There's a system update / RSS / application hook-able ticker bar at the bottom, which has clickable links. A QuickSilver (or AppRocket) type application launcher at the top, for keyboard based application launching. An ObjectDock-like implementation of a computer explorer. The circular view is only for broad folders; list view will automatically drop down from the circular hierarchy when there are too many items to display. Note, this does not constitute any windows opening nor does it replace Windows Explorer. Windows can either be minimized to the desktop or to the bar on the left. The circular navigation is more like a document or file launcher than anything.

More coming soon...

[APH-Alex]

ok these are allll great but can we PLEASE try and stay away from the xp/vista look??? This is suppossed to be 2 generations ahead, and some of you are missing the point of what my original post consisted of...

Think TWO generations ahead of what we have now, so im talkin about 5 years from now, what im seeing so far (except that one a couple of pages back with the nice left sidebar) looks well, unoriginal.

close your eyes and try to think of what the desktop 5 years from now would look like with todays programs, thats what im asking. (yes that means concepts of IE, internet explorer and or ure other favourite programs)

Yeah man, but you gotta understand that you can't just scrap all the ideas and features from now, and start completely fresh. For instance, since Windows 95 to Windows Vista Ultimate there are still basic things that serve pretty much the same purpose, just in newer versions, utilized in a different and more innovative and easier to use way. For instance, take the Start Menu, Taskbar, and the three buttons to close/maximize/minimize/restore winodws. All of these things have been there since like, very early, but they didn't erase their whole existence. I think what the goal of a new OS is, is to make something new and innovative for people to enjoy, but not take everything out of what we have currently and start new and make strange compromises because you want to be completely original.

That's just my 2 cents. BTW. all these are looking really good, I'm doing a browser mockup, so I'll post soon.

[auto-logic]

Any ideas for IE navigation bar?

[APH-Alex]

I'm still working on an IE.

[auto-logic]

And for my mockup...

The way you minimize windows to the left (or wherever the user decides to place the "start bar") is by using the regular minimize button.

They way you "minimize to desktop" is by double clicking on a window's corner and dragging - instead of resizing, it will scale the entire contents of the window. This can also be done by double-clicking the maximize button, so the window will automatically scale and tile itself. A double click on the scaled window will bring it back to full size - when it is scaled, its contents will be updated but it will not take input. A single click allows you to move it around.

[MadnessRedx]

Kind of off topic but how does vienna differ from Vista

[APH-Alex]

It's not. ..Yet. I don't even think they've started work on it yet.

[MadnessRedx]

It's not. ..Yet. I don't even think they've started work on it yet.

Windows Vienna, was called Blackcomb and that has been going since 2000.

MS claim that is will revolutionize the way we think of operating systems and that it will change the way the computer interacts with the user.

If that is true then it explains why MS have invented nothing for the past 7 years.

XP=RIP of Linux/Mac

IE7 = RIP of Firefox

Vista=RIP of Mac

[digitalsoft]

....If that is true then it explains why MS have invented nothing for the past 7 years.

XP=RIP of Linux/Mac

IE7 = RIP of Firefox

Vista=RIP of Mac

that could start some fanboy fight...

[.AlleymaN]

I think that 5 years from now we would have touchscreen LCD's as commonplace and we might lose mouse pointers for good. (I can't PS to save my life though)

[digitalsoft]

I think that 5 years from now we would have touchscreen LCD's as commonplace and we might lose mouse pointers for good. (I can't PS to save my life though)

i agree. also i think there be a massive focus on voice activated computing.