I recently added my AIM account back to Messages for Mac for the first time in a while. After signing in and everything was squared away, I realized two things:
1) The buddies list and other controls are still its own window (a “problem” I noticed since beta)
2) At the bottom of the main window in Messages for Mac, your AIM status is shown
As mentioned in number one, I noticed that the window was separated in beta and was puzzled because I felt that there could be a great way to integrate it into one view without having two open windows. At the time, I didn’t really think of a solution but it’s been jostling in my head. After reviewing this again and getting my thoughts together, I came up with a solution: a Show/Hide view.
A Show/Hide button would be added to the current view along with your AIM online status. Clicking the icon would expand the view showing all the same info that the regular list has but in that view. It’s scrollable just like normal, and even the buttons at the bottom are visible. To hide it, simply click the Show/Hide button again. The amount of content in your list will determine the height of the view (unless otherwise specified — read further). Even when this view is open, you can still scroll through your iMessages just fine. You can even change the height of the view at anytime when it’s open by simply dragging the border (just like any other similar view).
Since I don’t have any other social networks to add, I can’t test this, but, if there were multiple status cells at the bottom of the window, each and everyone one of them would have a Show/Hide button.
In light of this implementation, I don’t see any reason to still have the option show a separate window. If you wish to have it in a separate window, you could click and drag the view off the window.
Feel free to comment! Look forward to hearing from you.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
This year, I had the privilege of attending Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in San Francisco. Although I wasn’t able to get a ticket, I still went to hang out with friends, meet new people, and attend Indie Developer Lab, which was running as an alternative to WWDC.
Since I live in the Sacramento area, it was only about a two and a half hour drive from home to the parking garage near the Moscone Center. When I arrived however, all my friends I had intended on meeting up with were down in Cupertino with the Apple pilgrimage (friends in question: Adam Bell (@b3ll), Steven Troughton-Smith (@stroughtonsmith), and David Schuza (@PolishDemon)). Because I was planning on staying with someone else during my stay and didn’t have a hotel room, I initially had nothing to do until they got back. So I decided to just wait at the Moscone Center until they returned. Little did I know that I would meet a really unique guy and be the second person in line at WWDC for a short time.
When I arrived at the Moscone Center, it was somewhat crowded as expected. Everyone was getting their badges for tomorrow’s event and chatting with fellow developers along the way. As mentioned above, I didn’t have a ticket, so I didn’t need to go inside. Instead, I plopped myself at the front of the line with my fold-out chair I had brought from home for the upcoming night. I soon realized that I was second in line and sitting next to the infamous man who had been first in line for many years at WWDC.
Every year since I had been really into the Apple world and the conference, I had always heard on the news about this one guy who would be first in line every year. But I never imagined I would have the opportunity to talk with him in person. Especially without sounding like every other person who wanted to talk to him as he proudly sat in position number one.
The man was just any typical person. He had an REI fold-out chair and was sitting in it when I arrived. He also was wearing a wide-brimmed hat to protect him from the sun and a pair of sunglasses to protect his eyes. He was dressed normally like anyone else and was very poised as he said. When I first arrived, he was playing on his iPhone, which spurred me to ask him what devices he owned as one of my first questions. He said he owned a MacBook Pro, an iPhone, and an iPad. Don’t remember the exact models.
My first couple questions after that to him consisted of how he was doing and when he had arrived that day. The answer to the “How are you doing?” was the typical “I am well, how are you?” Then he told me he had been there since 11:00 AM that morning, which was about two hours before I arrived. Even though that was baffling, he said he usually starts lining up much earlier than that. We got off on a tangent about whether the conference Wi-Fi was up and then continued with a discussion about our families and personal lives. He mentioned he was from Virginia and that he enjoyed trekking here every year to be at the conference. I followed up with the question he most likely gets all the time, “So how many years have you been first in line at WWDC?” He replied with the following:
2000 to 2005, 2006 - Present. That’s 11 years!
I was in awe at the dedication he has shown over the years for this conference and Apple. But what was the most amazing thing the whole time I sat with him was that it wasn’t a one-way conversation. It was very much both ways! He drilled me with questions about myself, what I had done, and things about who I was as a person. It was truly amazing; a connection that you get with very few people.
As we sat there, people would come up and ask what we were doing. He would reply that he was waiting in line for the conference. The various responses were super hilarious. Either it was a congratulatory response or “Wow you’re so crazy.” There were even people who took our picture because they thought this was so awesome. It was quite a funny experience. But the whole time that went on, we still continued to talk, laugh, and share our stories.
TestFlight came out a little bit after I had arrived to pass out t-shirts to those who were there. Being a first time “tourist,” naturally I wanted a t-shirt. I went up to the group of boxes with t-shirts and then realized that I needed to show a badge for WWDC in order to get one. Disappointed, I headed back to my seat to continue chatting with the guy in the front of the line. He noticed that I was looking forward to getting my first t-shirt of the week and asked “Do you want a t-shirt?” I replied to him “Yes of course, but I don’t have a badge to get one.” He followed up with “Well, I don’t really like t-shirts myself, so can I grab you one?” My eyes brightened “Sure, I would love one! Thank you so much.” I made sure I kept his post guarded as he got up, walked over to the boxes, grabbed me a shirt and came back. He nicely handed it to me and sat back down to begin chatting again. I am so grateful for his kindness. I definitely owe him next year!
One part that will stick with me for the rest of my life was the responses the guy gave back to people who asked him about why he would sit so early. They all followed the same trend; it was a tradition and something he enjoyed doing. Never was it about fame, recognition, or media exposure. He was very humble about himself and always refused any media interviews or anything of that sort. Despite the laughs and pointing of fingers for his crazy “feat,” he would remain at his post, waiting for the doors to open the next morning.
About an hour after I had been sitting there, two of my other friends Chris Wade (@cmwdotme) and Will Strafach (@chronic) grabbed their badges and asked if I wanted to go eat at Mel’s Diner down the street. I decided to do that, picked up my chair, and walked away, of course after saying goodbye to the many friends I had met while I sat there. Although I had to give up my second in line position, it was well worth the hour I spend there chatting with people. And what was cool was that, when the time came for me to line up at midnight, I got to meet the actual second person in line and he happened to know people in the party I was with. Pretty cool! His name is Dimitri Bouniol (@dimitribouniol)
Unfortunately, I cannot remember every detail of this story and I so wish I did. But the one thing I want to hit home with is this.
“Never let anyone discourage you from doing what you love or ridicule you for the choice you made to pursue it.”
This man loved doing what he did. He claimed the first position every year because it was a tradition and it was a way for him to get “crazy” one time a year. It was never for selfish reasons or for fame. He was just a normal guy showing his passion for Apple and the conference by camping out prior to the actual event. With that said, if you love something so much that you want to be crazy about it, just do it! Don’t let anyone stop you. Pursue life and do the unthinkable just for the experience. You will live a much more fulfilled life when you don’t let anyone or anything stop you from pursuing your passions.
I look forward to being there next year with an actual ticket and a mind, body, and soul prepared for meeting new people and sharing stories, projects, and other fascinating information.
iDownloadBlog recently reviewed an upcoming tweak called MountainLionCenter which will bring the Mountain Lion-styled Notification Center to iOS. Although oriented towards the iPad, it works on the iPhone as well.
I have a few suggestions on how to make this project better, using the official Mountain Lion Notification Center as my guide. Note that these suggestions apply only to the iPad version.
1) Only the wallpaper moves, not the entire screen, when activating the Notification Center in Mountain Lion (SpringBoard).
I believe this point is extremely significant because it drastically changes the experience and purpose of the Notification Center. Here’s my justification:
iOS has multitasking (App Switcher) and, now with iOS 5, the Notification Center. When accessing the switcher, you’re make a conscious decision to move into another application. At that point, it’s appropriate for the user enter that view in the current window to fade or move aside. However, for the Notification Center, it’s meant to be an unobtrusive shade that is easily brought down and hidden without any disruption to the current activity. Accessing the Notification Center shouldn’t feel like you’re multitasking (in the iOS sense). I think there was a purpose in Apple’s choice to take the Notification Center as an overlay for iOS versus a screen pusher.
MountainLionCenter serves as a screen pusher at this point, but I think it can changed in this way to make the experience more of an overlay. On the SpringBoard, leave the dock and push the rest. And no need to fade the icons. Keep them the way they are.
2) The status bar does not move on Mountain Lion when the Notification Center is activated.
There are a two reasons why this is important. First, the way that MountainLionCenter (the tweak) does it now doesn’t make sense. If you look at the screenshot, the status bar in the Notification Center shade shows information that is still available to see on the actual page it pushed over (the time, bluetooth, battery percentage, etc.) Why display information twice? It looks weird.
Second, the fact that the status bar changes from something sleek to a linen texture looks pieced together. It doesn’t look good and doesn’t promote uniformity within the OS. Do it like Mountain Lion does it. Keep the status bar stateless. Move the content, keep the status bar. Then you won’t have to worry about re-showing certain info on the status bar because it will always be available to you from any view. Also, it eliminates having the two different types of bars merge.
3) The dock doesn’t move in Mountain Lion when the Notification Center is activated (SpringBoard).
This section is brief because I already proposed, from the SpringBoard, that everything is moved with the exception of the dock. Now that the dock is still there, do it like Mountain Lion does it. Have the Notification Center come underneath the dock so that the dock is on top over it. With this setup, you’ll also be able to use the applications on the dock without having to leave the Notification Center first. That’s one of the nifty things about OS X and how it handles the Notification Center. Anything outside of it takes priority. Not to mention, adding a two step process to opening a dock application when they are clearly right next to you doesn’t make sense.
I’ll leave you with this. When it comes to Apple’s intent of the Notification Center, I think its clear what their philosophy on the matter is: the Notification Center doesn’t take priority over the other core components. I think that’s a good point to refer to when doing anything with the Notification Center.
Photo courtesy of iDownloadBlog.
This project is in progress.
The pre-beta release of Mountain Lion gave us the definitive conclusion that unification between iOS and OS X is coming. It’s a great thing and will enhance the user experience and reliability between devices.
With that in mind, I feel that the iPad could take some additions from OS X like the Mac has done in regards to the iPad. Adding iOS 5 Growl-isk banners to the iPad would utilize more of the screen real estate, but allow for more content and could potentially fit this device quite well.
These banners are based off of the iOS 5 bubble notifications that appears on the lock screen and have been transformed to fit the iPad screen. The logistics of how you can interact with the notifications is in my head but hasn’t hit paper yet.
Keep looking back and see what happens! I really like this rendition. I would appreciate all respectful and constructive criticism that you have!
-Josh
Special thanks to my cousin Nevin for the iPad image.
© 2012 Joshua Tucker
It’s been a crazy last few days with this concept on my mind — I’ve learned a lot and I’m excited to move forward! Thank you for all your comments, support, and feedback; it’s greatly appreciated!
I’m going back through again to touch things up and change things if necessary. So without further to do, let’s start off Round Two with the Launchpad interface. Get acquainted with my prior concepts by visiting the following links:
Launchpad:
Activating the shade brings you to the Launchpad interface first. This particular page is a merge between two different components:
- Launchpad - launch applications
- Multitasking - switch between applications.
The shade can be launched from anywhere (lock screen, SpringBoard, inside an application).
You can also folder applications on the Launchpad as well if you desire.
Note: If you have a passcode on your lock screen, you will be barred from using certain features until you type it in.
There is a set of page dots to alert you of which page you’re on in the Launchpad. To change pages, you simply swipe just like you would on the SpringBoard.
Arrangement:
It is arranged from the bottom to the top with the running applications at the bottom. This allows for quick app switching.
Activation:
The interface can be activated using the Home Button or some other gesture (unsure of which).
Dock:
The dock at the bottom is how you access the different tabs in the interface. The dock isscrollable and can be scrolled with swipe/drag gestures. As an example, to switch between taps, simply hold down on the dock and drag until the tab you want is selected.
It happens to show three icons on the dock for easy access but, if you scroll left or right, it will show other options. Two of the icons that are not included are:
- Music (Music Controls)
- Settings (Options/Toggles)
Note: I’m looking to add more icons if applicable.
Here’s a more detailed explanation for some of the parts associated with the dock.
- Name Box - Since the bar is scrollable, as you move from icon to icon, the box at the top changes and tells you what section you’ve selected. In the case of the image, it says I’m currently on “Launchpad.” Now, if I were to swipe or move to the next icon (either right or left), the box would change to that respective name. After a certain amount of time (unknown) of staying on that tab, the box disappears.
- Selected Indicator - The blue icon on the bottom always says in the middle and alerts you of which tab you’re on. This is always visible even after the name box disappears.
Quit Applications:
Just like the current native multitasking, simply hold down on the icon to go into wiggle mode. From there, just hit the minus sign to quit applications.
Note: The minus sign won’t display on applications that are not running.
Stay tuned — I’m moving onto Round Two; WiFi!
“I never perfected an invention that I did not think about in terms of the service it might give others…I find out what the world needs, then I proceed to invent.” - Thomas Edison
© 2011 Joshua Tucker
Here’s Part Two of my recent multitasking concept. Visit below to get context if you don’t understand what I’m about to explain.
New iOS Multitasking Interface
Note: I changed how to distinguish which tab is in use; it is now the darkest tab is the one that is selected.
The low down is the following:
Music Interface:
If you remember from the first concept, basically when you launch multitasking, you will be given three options. Launchpad will always appear first, but you have the option to switch to another tab. If you choose the Music tab, than it will show this screen.
Music Controls:
Just like in the native multitasking interface, you have access to music controls,except you now have more options. The buttons I added are the following:
- Repeat
- Shuffle
Note: I may add more if applicable or reasonable.
Also, the volume slider is shown. If you swipe either direction in that area, the scrub slider will show (allows you to change the place in the song. You can easily go back to the volume toggle by swiping again.
There is more info now as well, such as the artist’s name and album. It is modeled out of the native Music application so the lighter text indicates the name of the song that is playing. Or just remember the middle string of text is the name of the song.
Album Art:
The album art of the album is shown at all times and will change if another album or artists starts playing (obviously).
Here’s the cool part — if you tap the album art, it will peel back revealing the Music icon, which allows you to go back into the native Music application. That area will be swipe-able and will house buttons beyond as follows:
- Tweet song
- Add to playlist
- Rate
- More (if I can think of any)
As always, a concept is always evolving so stay tuned! I have added Disqus support for commenting on my Tumblr so please comment away with your concerns, suggestions, or whatever.
Thank you for your continued support and all the wonderful feedback you’e given me. Without a further to do, I end with this:
“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” - Steve Jobs
© 2011 Joshua Tucker
The multitasking interface on iOS has been an area that I’ve had a lot of passion for. I’ve run into many ideas and have hit a lot of walls. Here is some of my earlier work:
Multitasking — Revised Version
I decided to go a different route and try to bring in the good characteristics of other Apple products and interfaces and merge them together.
Here’s my idea of bringing the Mac OS X Launchpad concept to iOS and merging the following into one interface:
- Launchpad
- Multitasking
- Music Controls
- Brightness / Volume Slider
- Basically all the multitasking utilities available to you now in native iOS
Initially, this would be a replacement of the entire multitasking interface all together.
Note: This interface can be launched from the SpringBoard and inside applications (not from the lock screen).
Also: This interface is more oriented towards the iPhone and iPod touch. I have another idea in mind for the iPad. After I’m pretty solid with this, I’ll move onto that.
Let’s break this down into sections so I can best explain this:
Activation:
This would be done natively (double pressing the Home Button) or by a gesture of some sort.
Shade:
When you activate this interface, the background as displayed in the photos will pop up. The shade is a mixture of the Notification Center shade (toned down a bit) and a blurred view of the background. The goal behind this view is to keep the experience all together — the focus should be on what is on the shade but it keeps a small sliver of what else is going on to promote a unified experience.
Applications:
On the shade, applications are lined up for easy access. They are arranged from bottom to top and by last used. That means that the applications that are running are down at the bottom closest to your fingers. The blue indicator under the applications lets you know that the application is running. Just like the native multitasking interface, holding down on the icons will allow you to get to wiggle mode and kill applications.
Since you’re bound to have more applications than 16 (per page), you can swipe from left to right to go from page to page. I’m unsure on how much configuration I personally would add to the layout of the shade itself, but it’s a possibility. Once again, Launchpad is a way of accessing all your applications and launching them from wherever you are — whether from the SpringBoard or inside an application.
Bottom Navigation Bar:
When you first activate the shade (however you do that), it will always start at the Launchpad. A button shade tells you which button you are viewing. To change buttons, simply press or swipe along the bottom bar to move onto the next option. As mentioned above, you can tinker however you want. But, the other buttons are important as well.
- Music — Instead of the music controls and what not being viewed from the start, simply swipe the bottom bar until Music is selected to view what that interface. My aim is to add more then just the standard music controls to this interface but I have not started on that yet. This would include the volume slider and what not as well.
- Settings — I’m not even sure I want to keep this: this was just filler to be honest. However, this could be useful if you want quick access to certain settings. However, I may change it to something else later on.
Note: This navigation bar could be potentially scrollable with more interfaces but I’m unsure of what to add.
I’ll be sticking with this for a while so stay tuned for what is to come! You’re always welcome to give suggestions and critiques as well. Thanks!
© 2011 Joshua Tucker
