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Obviously Path has done something great in terms of coming up with a beautiful, innovative menu design. Do people here think that Path should have been granted

Obviously Path has done something great in terms of coming up with a beautiful, innovative menu design. Do people here think that Path should have been granted some type of protection so that others couldn't copy its look and feel so quickly, or it is okay that competitors have come out almost immediately? I am just asking the question, I'm not sure how I feel about the issue. I'm against software patents, but I could certainly understand if Path's GUI designers are pissed that people are copying them so quickly, and making them lose their advantage.

thwarted 15y ago
I seriously hope they don't consider a menu design to be a major competitive advantage. Presumably, people will use Path not because of the menu system.
eCa 15y ago
> Do people here think that Path should have been granted some type of protection Of course not. If so, the same would have had to be said for any number of design elements created in the past.
endtwist 15y ago
I think this would fall under a "design patent"[1] (though I may be wrong). Since they didn't bother to get one, as long as the actual assets aren't used, the interaction and design can be imitated. Also, speaking as a designer, I would be thrilled if I saw people so fervently duplicating an interaction scheme I had created. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," and all that. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent
moe 15y ago
understand if Path's GUI designers are pissed that people are copying them so quickly, and making them lose their advantage. Repeat after me: The arrangement of a popup-menu is not patent-worthy.
AndyJPartridge 15y ago
I saw a very similar idea a while back here, and bookmarked it. http://playground.mobily.pl/jquery/mobily-blocks/demo.html http://playground.mobily.pl/jquery/mobily-blocks/demo.html It's a short breath away from what Path have done. I love the aesthetics of both, I have to say. Great work.
- ConstantineXVI 15y ago
  The concept itself isn't very far removed from pie menus[1]; which have been around for quite some time. They're much more common in console games these days (the layout maps very well to an analog stick or face buttons); SketchBook (on both the desktop and phones/tablets) is another recent example that comes to mind. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu
mundizzle 15y ago
i'm sorry, i don't understand who is competing or how this hurts Path. all i've seen are people being inspired by Path, saying as much, then cleverly recreating the effect for themselves. these same people turn around and share their own code with the rest of the world via blog post or GitHub. if anything this has helped spread the word about Path. this was how i first heard of them. throw in a bunch of people sharing and learning code techniques and it's a win for everyone.
- jklp 15y ago
  > i'm sorry, i don't understand who is competing or how > this hurts Path. > > all i've seen are people being inspired by Path, saying > as much, then cleverly recreating the effect for > themselves. these same people turn around and share > their own code with the rest of the world via blog post > or GitHub. Looking at this from the perspective of Path, who have probably spent a fair amount of time thinking and conceiving the menu widget. Not just in how to implement it, but actually coming up with the idea, creating mock ups / wire frames, iterating on those mock ups, designing the icons, the animations, etc. All this for the sole purpose to give the user experience something new, and also to add a bit of delight to an app which could have easily become "yet another social networking app". Then someone comes along and copied all their hard work (without figuring out the concept, the design, the animation, etc) and (as if to rub salt into the wounds) released it for free for everyone to use. Honestly, if I were Path I'd be rather frustrated that this has happened though as a developer I love the fact that someone has done this and shared their work :)
  - jasonlotito 15y ago
    Wait, you mean to tell me you think this menu idea is unique and original? Oh, it's not seen that often, for sure, but it's not unique or original. It is well worn territory, used in a variety of applications prior to Path. This example might have seen their design and drawn inspiration from it, but they aren't the originators of this.
  - mamp 15y ago
    Radial menus have been around for a while. Path have done it very well though. It would be somewhat unwise to have your whole business model based on a menu animation. I wouldn't have found out about Path without this post, so I imagine that Path are happy about the publicity. It looks like a cool app.

thwarted 15y ago

I seriously hope they don't consider a menu design to be a major competitive advantage. Presumably, people will use Path not because of the menu system.

eCa 15y ago

> Do people here think that Path should have been granted some type of protection Of course not. If so, the same would have had to be said for any number of design elements created in the past.

endtwist 15y ago

I think this would fall under a "design patent"[1] (though I may be wrong). Since they didn't bother to get one, as long as the actual assets aren't used, the interaction and design can be imitated. Also, speaking as a designer, I would be thrilled if I saw people so fervently duplicating an interaction scheme I had created. "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery," and all that. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent

moe 15y ago

understand if Path's GUI designers are pissed that people are copying them so quickly, and making them lose their advantage. Repeat after me: The arrangement of a popup-menu is not patent-worthy.

AndyJPartridge 15y ago

I saw a very similar idea a while back here, and bookmarked it. http://playground.mobily.pl/jquery/mobily-blocks/demo.html http://playground.mobily.pl/jquery/mobily-blocks/demo.html It's a short breath away from what Path have done. I love the aesthetics of both, I have to say. Great work.

ConstantineXVI 15y ago
The concept itself isn't very far removed from pie menus[1]; which have been around for quite some time. They're much more common in console games these days (the layout maps very well to an analog stick or face buttons); SketchBook (on both the desktop and phones/tablets) is another recent example that comes to mind. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu

mundizzle 15y ago

i'm sorry, i don't understand who is competing or how this hurts Path. all i've seen are people being inspired by Path, saying as much, then cleverly recreating the effect for themselves. these same people turn around and share their own code with the rest of the world via blog post or GitHub. if anything this has helped spread the word about Path. this was how i first heard of them. throw in a bunch of people sharing and learning code techniques and it's a win for everyone.

jklp 15y ago
> i'm sorry, i don't understand who is competing or how > this hurts Path. > > all i've seen are people being inspired by Path, saying > as much, then cleverly recreating the effect for > themselves. these same people turn around and share > their own code with the rest of the world via blog post > or GitHub. Looking at this from the perspective of Path, who have probably spent a fair amount of time thinking and conceiving the menu widget. Not just in how to implement it, but actually coming up with the idea, creating mock ups / wire frames, iterating on those mock ups, designing the icons, the animations, etc. All this for the sole purpose to give the user experience something new, and also to add a bit of delight to an app which could have easily become "yet another social networking app". Then someone comes along and copied all their hard work (without figuring out the concept, the design, the animation, etc) and (as if to rub salt into the wounds) released it for free for everyone to use. Honestly, if I were Path I'd be rather frustrated that this has happened though as a developer I love the fact that someone has done this and shared their work :)
- jasonlotito 15y ago
  Wait, you mean to tell me you think this menu idea is unique and original? Oh, it's not seen that often, for sure, but it's not unique or original. It is well worn territory, used in a variety of applications prior to Path. This example might have seen their design and drawn inspiration from it, but they aren't the originators of this.
- mamp 15y ago
  Radial menus have been around for a while. Path have done it very well though. It would be somewhat unwise to have your whole business model based on a menu animation. I wouldn't have found out about Path without this post, so I imagine that Path are happy about the publicity. It looks like a cool app.