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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Contributors Wanted!

Since I've gone independent I don't have enough time to keep this blog alive all by myself...

So if you're working with game interfaces and would like to contribute, please drop me a line at info@[this domain]!

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Windows 7 - Oh why don't they just give up...

Also on gizmodo: Windows 7 Walkthrough

Oh why don't they just give up? I doubt they'll ever be able to fix the mess that is Windows. They aren't brave enough to make radical changes where they are needed...
They added some real improvements it seems, but mostly they're just trying to fix stuff that was obviously broken in previous versions (they way you select wireless networks, reducing the amount of popup-warnings, etc.) or adding things that Mac OS has had for many many years (the taskbar-stuff - try right-clicking an icon of a running application in the dock..., again the wireless network selection, more overview in the control panel, etc.).

I don't see myself switching back to Windows in the next couple hundred years...

New XBox360 UI

The "New Xbox Experience (NXE)". They're completely changing the user experience with a mandatory firmware update on November 19th. Lots of pictures on gizmodo.com. 
NXE comes with Microsoft Miis (internally they call them "Avatars" though) and especially the character creation looks really nice... 

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Little Big Planet

The Pop-It menu is pure genius. Every player gets his own menu-system for changing clothes, applying stickers and building stuff, and the best thing is: they all work in parallel! It's multiplayer-menus! Did I mention that the entire Interface is insanely pretty and full of good ideas, just like the game itself?

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

How they created the new UI of Microsoft Office

Not entirely game-related, but interesting none the less: Jensen Harris' talk at the MIX conference in Las Vegas. You can download the video from his blog: "The story of the Ribbon".

What's inside:
  • A nice overview of the Interface of Microsoft Word from version 1.0 to 2003 with screenshots of each version
  • Their design process
  • The creation of "the ribbon" ("The Ribbon" is the part of the new Office UI that runs along the top of the screen and replaces the long menus and toolbars of previous versions)
  • He shows lots and lots of prototypes, including some really fancy ideas

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Diablo III

Just wow. The interface of Diablo III is promising to become one of the best-looking (and as I know Blizzard also one of most useable) interfaces out there... I love how they kept the memorable pieces of the original interface (the 2 big glass-spheres filled with liquid), but updated everything to the pretty and polished look that World of Worcraft is known for. The subtle and simple minimap, the overhead healthbars, the dialogue-mode when 2 characters talk, the sounds when you move stuff around in the inventory... I'm telling you, that this is going to be good. But see for yourself: Gameplay Trailer

Friday, June 6, 2008

John Nack writes about future photoshop UI changes

Check it out on John Nack's blog - there's a video there too...

I for one never liked floating panels and was extremely happy about the new UI in CS3 and think that they're continuing to head down the right road... And it's a funny story how they got on that road:
Macromedia copied Adobe's interface -> Adobe sued Macromedia -> Macromedia developed its own, better interface -> Adobe bought Macromedia and took on the new UI...