Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

  Blog \Blôg\, n. [Jrg, fr. Jrg. "Web-log".
     See {Blogger, BlogSpot, LiveJournal}.]
     A stream-of-consciousness Web journal, containing
     links, commentary, and pointless drivel.

On My Blog Menu:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue

« ? Blogging Brians # »

Book Plug:

Buy it and I get
money. I think.
BSD Mall

10/6/2003 -  10/8/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Tuesday, April 22, 2003

16:14 - My Mac's Got Piles
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,3959,1036539,00.asp

(top)

Hey, this is interesting. EWeek has scooped some info on OS X 10.3, codenamed "Panther"; we've known about several of its included features for a little while now, such as 64-bit support, multiple simultaneous GUI user logins, document sync with PDAs and other computers, and the usual performance boosts. But apparently there's more-- and not just of the "Hey, look, more iDoodads!" variety.

They said User at the Center features will make it simpler for individual users to personalize their computing experience and to move seamlessly among Macs and other devices. And as a marketing strategy, Panther's User at the Center capabilities are intended to challenge user-centric capabilities of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows XP as well as its forthcoming "Longhorn" client.

"User At the Center" is evidently a new design paradigm, tied in with the document-sync stuff (probably involving iSync to some degree), but from the language here it's a much more sweeping change to the user experience. There's also this:

In addition, sources said Panther will finally mark the debut of the much-discussed "piles" GUI design concept, which Apple patented in June 2001. According to the patent, piles comprise collections of documents represented graphically in stacks. Users can browse the "piled" documents dynamically by pointing at them with the cursor; the filing system can then divide a pile into subpiles based on each document's content. At the user's request, the filing system can automatically file away documents into existing piles with similar content.

Back when the original Mac OS was being developed-- that is, System 1, back during the Xerox PARC idea-sharing era-- Apple had yet to decide on just how the "Desktop" metaphor would look. The now-familiar ideas of a menu bar at the top of the screen, disk volumes down the right, and folders and documents that you could pull out and scatter around the 2-D space were not by any means the obvious direction Apple was planning to take things. I'm told that one of the front-runner metaphors for file organization, prior to the PARC trip (though the Alto's influence was in other areas than this), was a "stack" of paper-- seen from the side, piled up the left-hand side of the screen. The pile would grow taller as you used and created more documents, and the most recently used ones would be at the top. You would browse your document history by rolling your mouse up and down the stack; each file would flip up and present its icon under your cursor. Almost a Dock, in a way; and bear in mind, this was circa 1982.

(See David K. Every's Mac UI History page for clarifications on the origins of the Mac's user interface and the whole PARC thing.)

One reason why the "stack" metaphor wasn't satisfying was that it was date-based, rather than spatial; it was an incarnation of the "diary" metaphor, in which the user sees his data in time rather than in space. Unfortunately, as Lileks described so well last Wednesday, such a metaphor is butt. Humans think in spatial terms, not temporal terms. I'm much more likely to remember that such-and-such a file was in the blue folder over here in the corner, than to remember that I'd last used it on October 14, or that last time I looked, it was about twenty documents down from the top of the the ever-changing stack.

So what's this new "piles" thing? Is it a reiteration of the "diary" metaphor? I hope not; it's never been an idea that's worked well. Is it, instead, just another way of grouping data, with weird advanced semantics for associating files on the merit of their content or type? Interesting, if so... I'll definitely be looking forward to the screenshots as soon as insiders start leaking them to Think Secret.

It's hard to imagine them coming up with a worse name for a revolutionary new feature, though. (Microsoft doesn't fail me, though: apparently WinXP's successor, Longhorn, has something called a "shingleprint".)

UPDATE: Here's a Flash mock-up of the "piles" concept in action, by Richard Das. Damn, that's cool! I want it!

Thanks to Paul for the tip.