Activity Space Mockup

[Brian Fleeger <brianfleeger yahoo com>]

Hi all,

I have put together a mockup of some ideas about activity spaces -- please have a look at the attached PDF document. 

My idea is have two overlay modes: the current one for general/complex use, and another "Frame" for displaying the task-list and launching frequently used objects. Users could use the first to search out applications and files that are infrequently used, or to reorganize Activity Spaces, while they would use the second to activate the task-list and to open apps and documents within a given activity. I tried to avoid redundancy with the main overlay where possible.  I think of the main "Activity" overlay as like a big store-room that holds everything, where the "Frame" would be like the tool box you take with you to do a specific activity -- that is, you only take the objects you need for the job.

In the attachment I detail three user interfaces:
1) a task/window list method based on thumbnails;
2) a "Frame" palett for user-customizable activity spaces, and;
3) an intuitive (IMO) graphical way to tile windows based on thumbnails. 

At the end, I give an alternative task-list based on an expose-like view, but I know from this list that there are complications with that.  It is usually not a good idea to talk about too many variables in one proposal, but all three kind of blend into one another, so please pardon me if it seems like brain dump.

The idea of using frames came from playing with the OLPC Sugar OS, as well as this early ToPaZ design: (http://live.gnome.org/BrianMuhumuza/ToPaZ/DeskTop).  The idea of using thumbnails to list windows comes from the Palm Pre/Web OS method of switching apps using a "card" metaphor (effectively thumbnails lined up in a row).  The only thing which (I believe) I thought of completely on my own was how to tile windows using thumbnails.

Regards,

Brian

Attachment: overlay 2.pdf
Description: Adobe PDF document