Designing The User Interface
The next section is dedicated to exploring the creation of multi-touch application design using the Action Script 3 programming language, for use within the Flash player 10 environments. We will look at interface design within flash and the development of The Monolith Launcher design in general.
The Monolith Llauncher is aimed to be a natural user interface for use on the Monolith Multi touch surface computer or other TUIO outputting multi touch surface computers.
This is to start following the paths of multi touch pioneers Jefferson Han of perceptive pixels, New York University and the work of the Microsoft surface computing development team in the design and development of gestural based interfacing. This kind of human/computer interfacing has been widely regarded as the next generation of computing and has commonly been referred to as “natural interfacing”.
The Monolith launcher is a flash player 10 based multi touch system enabling the use of the most up to date features available via Flash. The interface has been designed as a single screen launcher with one simple access panel where the applications reside. The system was designed to contain a high amount of visual feedback when items were pressed to ease the transition between mouse based and button based interfaces to touch interfaces. Access to this panel is constant, sliding in and out of view at the top of the screen at the users command - enabling quick navigation. There is also a gesture library available at the home page within the details section at the centre of the screen. This details all of the gestures which can be used and how to use them.
The applications developed for this study over and above the Monolith Launcher are four simple applications which employ similar gestural interfacing but very different content and content purpose.
l The Drinks Ordering System – designed for table top interfacing in bars and restaurants
l Video Jigsaw – A simple moving game interface with gestural manipulation
l Photo Viewer – A picture launching system with gestural manipulation
l Maps – Very similar to the picture viewer in programming design and structure, But enables the user to rotate and zoom maps with gestural manipulation
The Basics of Initial “The Monolith Launcher” Design
What is it?
The monolith launcher is an application launcher for an array of self programmed applications including:
l The Drinks Ordering System – designed for table top interfacing in bars and restaurants
l Video Jigsaw – A simple moving game interface with gestural manipulation
l Photo Viewer – A picture launching system with gestural manipulation
l Maps – Very similar to the picture viewer in programming design and structure, But enables the user to rotate and zoom maps with gestural manipulation
The system has gone through dozens of system builds trying to find the best way of inserting (launching) the applications into the system and refining the design.
Out of the dozens of incarnations there have been three major builds, each build has been a development on the launching code (how the applications are inserted or launched within the program), and design. Each build proved successful in different areas for different reasons, developing into what I believe is a good all round design for program running speed interface design and aesthetic design.
The Concept
This was the first concept design for the monolith launcher this version never actually worked with touch points and was just a concept design for pitching purposes and self development in regards to crystallization of ideas. There was no functionality to the program no launching applications, no touch points and no action script 3 code. The program only showed what it might look like with reacting buttons when rolled over.
Quartz 1.0 and 2.0The “Quartz” builds was a development on the monolith launcher program. And was named to represent the interfaces transparency also - when released onto the NUI group for peer testing it would not bare the name of a different multi touch surface design/unit than their own (The Monolith). This version was the first build and first to be coded in AS3 and to successfully launch programs into the shell. The two versions of quartz attempted to launch these applications in very different ways. The design was based around a basic access panel on the opening screen. Within this access panel a list of available applications in the form of pictorial buttons.
The user could then press the button for the application of choice and the application would launch. The use of gestures in this process have been explored - for instance I tried experimenting with a gesture which calls the access panel at any point within any application for quick navigation away from the current app and into another. The gesture I explored for this navigation was the ”long press” gesture.
This posed problems when tested with peers, as the gesture was triggered falsely within general use and within other applications such as the ripple app and the picture viewer. These applications require long moments of contact within normal use so the gesture failed. I decided to postpone the use of gestures for normal navigation until I can program a class which recognises more complex gesture recognition.
The re-design
The third launcher “The Monolith Launcher” branded also as “NUI MultiTouch” for peer testing on the NUI open source group - has developed in terms of design. The first two system designs - the “Quartz” series was peer tested and feedback was given on
· General design
· Icon design
· Visual feedback
· Interface dynamic
· Ease of use
· And name
From this general information and opinion was given to help improve the design.
The first instance of a build using this collected data was the Monolith Launcher version 1 as shown here.
The panel was replaced with a dynamic bar at the base of the opening screen with cleaner clearer buttons with the application name only and no confusing pictures on the buttons. Then I added a centre info button which explodes outwards with different categories when clicked.
The users had a general dislike to the name “Quartz” – a name designed to reflect clarity, transparency and purity. This name confused the users and many reported other software with the same and similar names.
The Final Build - The Monolith Launcher
The final build was a redesign at the base level code returning to a similar coding architecture used in Quartz 1.0 – “the loading system” opposed to hard coding the applications directly into the whole application. Importing .swf files and calling them as children onto the stage when the applications corresponding button is touched on the launcher panel. This was found to be the fastest and most reliable for system stability and continued frame rate.
The redesign of the code was a further opportunity to refine the interface design.
This refinement of the interface design in this version, utilized the same info gained from the peer testing of the Quartz version. The visual aspect follows the same advice given by users and peers, retaining its simple button design with simple responsive visual feedback. This version in terms of design is viewed by my self as a refinement on the previous version.