3 ms·

Sci-fi Interfaces

95 points by rglover 6y ago

nine_k 6y ago
I wish the author put the last paragraph first. It makes a ton of sense. It also could be a real interface. The painstaking detail analysis is useful, though.
- dukoid 6y ago
  Thanks for pointing to that gem (got bored after the 2nd paragraph or so...)! I hope whoever will do the inevitable remake in 2032 will read it, too :)
- mistersquid 6y ago
  Like my sibling commenter, thank you for calling out the last paragraph, which is a tone-preserving reimagining of the scene where Deckard analyzes a printed photograph taken from Leon's hotel room. The preceding analysis "justifies" the rewrite and is useful and interesting, but the rewrite is much more impressive, especially in terms of its articulation of a user-friendly interface.
theelous3 6y ago
I noticed something in slight contrast with one of the critiques here, but on a real modern device. On a kindle, if you open the browser and navigate to a random real web page, you can pinch to zoom / zoom out. It is almost exactly like the zoom on this photo interface, sort of clicking in on a grid, one rendered rectangle at a time. It's a result of the e-ink display's refresh rate limitations, along with a simplistic approach to zooming "render every step of the zoom no matter what". It's kinda cool, even though it's bad design. I instantly thought of bladerunner. Funnily, I think the solution to the kindle's design problem is to go full blade runner. First calculate the final level of zoom from the last pinch operation. Second, isolate that area on the screen with two vertical and two horizontal lines, showing where the zoom render will leave you spatially. Third, render the zoomed area. For zooming out, basically the same thing, though the grid lines will show you were you were, the last fully rendered area, for one refresh cycle.
notjustanymike 6y ago
I've dealt with refactoring UIs designed by Python junkies from Academia, and tend to believe that's where the tools in movies come from. They aren't consumer products in the movie, they're hacked together open source projects (Or VB UIs to trace hackers!). Heck, last time I served on a jury the prosecutor used VLC to demo videos instead of media player or other consumer level products.
- beojan 6y ago
  Why is VLC not a consumer level product? Even people who don't otherwise use OSS use VLC because it'll play virtually any format you throw at it.
drdeadringer 6y ago
I remember a podcast episode [can't remember or quickly find the make or model] where they discuss, in retrospect, why technology or processes may have been designed as shown and demonstrated in film. One example was The Circuit in 'Logan's Run'. The Circuit is basically a vending machine for companionship with a Star Trek transporter pattern buffer for storage in the back end; you can dial through your options of who is available [as electronically stored in the machine] and pick who you'd like to spend [presumably intimate] time with before that selected person goes back into storage. The order of the availably-stored people appears random, but is it at least for the first option presented? The main character [a male] appears interested in opposite-sex company [at least at the time of that scene]. The first person that is offered by The Circuit is male. After an exchange of smirks, the main character continues to dial through several more options. Presuming that The Circuit somehow knows or guesses the main character's preferences, why offer the complete opposite first? One possible thought offered by the podcast hosts was that The Circuit has some type of logic akin to the following: "Out of the next 10 people to walk through that door, you must select one. If you do not select any of those 10 people, you must take the 11th person." ... so by doping, seeding, weighting, priming, spoiling, or throwing the first option with a "definitely not what is being sought after by this user", The Circuit nudges the user [the main character here] into thinking harder on the next few presented options.

95 points by rglover 6y ago

I wish the author put the last paragraph first. It makes a ton of sense. It also could be a real interface. The painstaking detail analysis is useful, though.

dukoid 6y ago
Thanks for pointing to that gem (got bored after the 2nd paragraph or so...)! I hope whoever will do the inevitable remake in 2032 will read it, too :)
mistersquid 6y ago
Like my sibling commenter, thank you for calling out the last paragraph, which is a tone-preserving reimagining of the scene where Deckard analyzes a printed photograph taken from Leon's hotel room. The preceding analysis "justifies" the rewrite and is useful and interesting, but the rewrite is much more impressive, especially in terms of its articulation of a user-friendly interface.

theelous3 6y ago

I noticed something in slight contrast with one of the critiques here, but on a real modern device. On a kindle, if you open the browser and navigate to a random real web page, you can pinch to zoom / zoom out. It is almost exactly like the zoom on this photo interface, sort of clicking in on a grid, one rendered rectangle at a time. It's a result of the e-ink display's refresh rate limitations, along with a simplistic approach to zooming "render every step of the zoom no matter what". It's kinda cool, even though it's bad design. I instantly thought of bladerunner. Funnily, I think the solution to the kindle's design problem is to go full blade runner. First calculate the final level of zoom from the last pinch operation. Second, isolate that area on the screen with two vertical and two horizontal lines, showing where the zoom render will leave you spatially. Third, render the zoomed area. For zooming out, basically the same thing, though the grid lines will show you were you were, the last fully rendered area, for one refresh cycle.

notjustanymike 6y ago

I've dealt with refactoring UIs designed by Python junkies from Academia, and tend to believe that's where the tools in movies come from. They aren't consumer products in the movie, they're hacked together open source projects (Or VB UIs to trace hackers!). Heck, last time I served on a jury the prosecutor used VLC to demo videos instead of media player or other consumer level products.

beojan 6y ago
Why is VLC not a consumer level product? Even people who don't otherwise use OSS use VLC because it'll play virtually any format you throw at it.

drdeadringer 6y ago

I remember a podcast episode [can't remember or quickly find the make or model] where they discuss, in retrospect, why technology or processes may have been designed as shown and demonstrated in film. One example was The Circuit in 'Logan's Run'. The Circuit is basically a vending machine for companionship with a Star Trek transporter pattern buffer for storage in the back end; you can dial through your options of who is available [as electronically stored in the machine] and pick who you'd like to spend [presumably intimate] time with before that selected person goes back into storage. The order of the availably-stored people appears random, but is it at least for the first option presented? The main character [a male] appears interested in opposite-sex company [at least at the time of that scene]. The first person that is offered by The Circuit is male. After an exchange of smirks, the main character continues to dial through several more options. Presuming that The Circuit somehow knows or guesses the main character's preferences, why offer the complete opposite first? One possible thought offered by the podcast hosts was that The Circuit has some type of logic akin to the following: "Out of the next 10 people to walk through that door, you must select one. If you do not select any of those 10 people, you must take the 11th person." ... so by doping, seeding, weighting, priming, spoiling, or throwing the first option with a "definitely not what is being sought after by this user", The Circuit nudges the user [the main character here] into thinking harder on the next few presented options.