iSightReflection: A Testament to Superfluous Eyecandy

October 3rd, 2007 | Posted in: Applications, Mac, Programming, Tech | Save to del.icio.us

As I was sitting in my RELI lecture class, I had a little idea for a quick and dirty app to make. This idea wasn’t for something useful. It was merely to play around with a different toolkit and have something cool to look at for a few minutes.

Looking at what is coming in Leopard, we are seeing a more 3-dimensional interface:

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The dock is looking more like a platform with icons sitting on it. If we look at Time Machine we are seeing a 3rd dimension develop even more clearly. It’s as if we can look past the computer into a physical 3rd dimension.

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Now what if instead of just a simple dock platform, the entire desktop emulated a 3D interface. For instance, let’s extend the dock’s platform farther and make it into the floor of our 3D box. What’s natural to happen to a floor when you give it an OS X feel? That’s right, a reflection. And what better to reflect than the thing that should be reflecting. Here, take a look:

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Get what I’m saying? This is simply a fun little test into how far we can take UI design. Is this really beneficial? Probably not. It’s a bit distracting, and it’s not particularly efficient:

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Nevertheless, I think it’s pretty cool. I’m going to put the program up, so you can give it a try yourself (Download it here), but I’m really posting about this more as a discussion about UI. I wanted to hear any feedback you readers have about this topic. Does this 3rd-dimension idea really translate well to the desktop? Is it any more useful than a 2D desktop? I really want to hear other’s thoughts, so please comment if you have something to say. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted, so I wanted to get back and here some of the community’s thoughts.

Ryan

@ Joe...
Remember Microsoft Bob? Well it was a utter flop. Great idea, but history sort of proves that it does not work.

steve

oh man, i wish i had a monitor with an iSight now because that is so awesome, granted, not entirely usefull, but awesome nonetheless.

Dustin Bachrach

That's a real good point Tom. At the moment, our input devices really make a 3d interfaces unnecessary. But it won't be long until we have devices that can usefully provide input to a 3d desktop that actually increases productivity.

Tom

I'm assuming you've seen the BumpTop prototype video?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0ODskdEPnQ

I agree that at this point a 3D interface desktop is totally overkill. But who knows when someone will create the Next Big Thing in input devices or interfaces that will suddenly make all of this relevant?

Joe

I think the UI having a third dimension at this point would be extremely superfluous as there is no easy way for a user to navigate said interface. I can't think of many applications that would take advantage of a third dimension. On the desktop level I suppose an interface analogy could be produced where the user could navigate to different "rooms" within a digital "house" where each room had different function and set of tools akin to the tools specific to a program, but again I'm not sure how that would aid a desktops functionality. (except for the people who don't think of things existing within the same space and have to 'move' to a new space to do different things...)