This is inspired from Windows 8 new features - there’s no icons as such, but clicable “tiles”. Haved tried Windows 8, I find it neat, but poorly executed.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/f/f3/Windows_8_start_screen.png/290px-Windows_8_start_screen.png
With Haiku we have Replicants technology, that does it much more elegant.
So - why not a desktop based on replicants instead of icons? Android also does this with widgets.
One “block” or “tile” could be just basic icon-like entity, that just launches it’s app, or if developer chooses, it could present some content (IM messenger that displays user’s info, Facebook replicant, that displays latest post and private message notification etc etc).
More powerful and flexible way of desktop computing!
Uhm… I certainly doubt replicants were ever designed to be used in that manner. If it were possible at all.
For instance clicking on a replicant does noting like launch the full application or anything. You’d be better off designing something completely new for the job.
Not to beat a dead horse, but what’s a Windows 7 desktop widget? On second thought, don’t answer that, I don’t really want to know!
Any thread that comes down to “Haiku should be more like Windows 8” needs to be answered with a simple “no it shouldn’t.” Even Windows shouldn’t be more like Windows 8, but Microsoft is pressing on anyway in spite of all the screaming.
OK, ditch the Windows 8. Take Android. I really like how it’s “desktop” (home screen(s)) behave - you can have regular icons and resizeable widgets. Most apps come with some kind of widget.
I really think replicants are underused feature on Haiku. It could be much richer experience. Also, Tracker sould be made more replicant-friendly. There shoud be a mechanism for organizing/aligning them, also a simpler way for choosing and deleting. Drag and drop is nice, but do I really open the host app for that every time? I want to choose them from list.
I even want them appear them automatically on 4th desktop when app is installed.
Could you say a word or two, much more specifically, about what you would hope to get from Haiku’s replicant feature? Maybe an example, some application that we’d normally launch via an icon, but we’re using a replicant here - why? Like cb88 above, I’m not sure a replicant makes any kind of sense in this context. Maybe we just lack imagination, or maybe you’re thinking of something else and are using the wrong word?
I think he’s probably thinking of things like Windows 7 desktop widgets. I don’t know that replicants really make sense for that, though, since it’s not like they blend seamlessly into the desktop. And anyway, replacing the desktop with widgets altogether is a terrible idea…
It’s a little dealy like a stock ticker or a weather monitor or a clock or whatever that you stick on your desktop because you don’t have the attention span to focus on anything that isn’t in constant motion.
Shameless plug for my Corkboard (MacOSX Dashboard emulator) proof of concept - please try it out. (Requires editing a text file and knowing a little bit about Haiku app signatures):
http://haikuware.com/remository/view-details/utilities/desktop-accessories/corkboard
Thanks,
hey68you
Err…Windows 7 widgets are AFAIK just HTML or XML.
I’m afraid you missed the point. Haiku already have replicants. You can place a clock replicant on the desktop, for example. Or network replicant. So far they are just rarely used side-feature.
What I meant, is that Tracker could be much more replicant friendly. you could have a media player replicant for example, that lives at the desktop and when clicked launches media player. While playing, it could show current song, controls (previous track, pause/play, next track, volume).
Mail daemon replicant - 5 last e-mails, clickable.
Twitter - 5 last tweets
Etc. etc. etc. Use imagination.
I think there should be set some standards though for placement - for example, size of replicant could be linked with icon sizes, so they organize more neatly.
I just wanted to say one thing more.
Let’s not fixate into Windows 95 -era design ideas… Haiku is such a nice system, but it needs to evolve, like everything around has evolved.
[quote=vootele]I just wanted to say one thing more.
Let’s not fixate into Windows 95 -era design ideas… Haiku is such a nice system, but it needs to evolve, like everything around has evolved.[/quote]
Let’s not confuse activity with progress. Nothing needs to evolve unless in so doing it’s going to be an improvement and not impinge on what was already good.
I’d be a lot happier with Haiku staying firmly planted in the Win95 era than going to a glossy, spastic mess like modern OSes.