I was thinking about interaction interfaces, precipitated by the discussions here at work around the Apple iPhone touch UI. Apple has had a touch UI for their laptop trackpad, stretching back at least to the PowerBook 3400c (which was my previous work Mac, BTW), back in 1997.
But, thinking on what folks want to do on the move and how, I keep wondering if the whole Pointer-Icon-Windows metaphor is no longer relevant, especially for mobile, small-screen, one-handed devices.
There is no reason to think that the current metaphor will last. Microsoft Vista and Google (and Lifeblog) and other search-centric worlds have been slowly killing the hierarchical folder structure. Might there be an end or diminishing of the tyranny of the current desktop interface metaphor?
I’m not smart enough to think of alternatives. And I always think desktop metaphors dominate the mobile world, so I am biased. But I am sure there are better ways to interact with devices that are more natural and fit the mobile environment more closely.
reminding me of David Gelernter’s “lifestream”-metaphor. i would love to read your thoughts on applying this to the Nokia Universe …
“New software requires a new metaphor. Today’s files, folders and desktops are obsolete. Desks and file cabinets are furniture; computers are machines. The traditional ‘Still Life with Icons and Menus’ is obsolete, too. Information hits us constantly; we need a dynamic display that shows us information as it happens. I want one unified information stream – the electronic story of my life.” (just a teaser, there’s a lot more text worth reading)
http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/gelernter/gelernter_p1.html