Comments on: Filespots: Is it Vista? Or the web?

By: mattr

mattr — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:46:07 +0000

Hi altogether,

checkout the final release at https://www.filespots.com!
It’s online for about one Month right now and it looks even better than the closed beta from 2007…

By: mdmadph

mdmadph — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 13:43:03 +0000

@Michael

Have you ever designed an application where you were directly involved with the users? I wish I could make my applications look as closely-related to the host OS as this — trust me, it would remove about 90% of the headaches that I have (you know, questions like, “Where’s the button at?” and “Where do I type in my name?”).

By: Martin

Martin — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 11:34:25 +0000

The problem is when webapps try to emulate the look and feel of a desktop app but fail is some subtile ways. Menues don’t quite behave like in the OS, reactions to dragging are not 100% done. It is already irritating when (even modern) Java applications differ in some ways from native ones.

I am a huge fan of leaving the form controls in their native look for usability reasons. But I refrain from creating the impression that the webapp will behave exactly like your native app. For now at least.

By: DaveC

DaveC — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 08:32:13 +0000

I disagree on the point that web apps should look different. â€œWeb conventionsâ€ arose as a result of browser and technology limits. Whilst I understand violating the userâ€™s mental model is sometimes bad (for example, single clicking a file in the OS opens it – most (all?) OS’s use double click to open a file), this is not one of those cases.

Quotes from an Oâ€™Reilly article and Bill Higgins respectively state:

â€œWe must ensure that we design our applications to remain consistent with the environment in which our software runsâ€

â€œA Windows application should look and feel like a Windows application, a Mac application should look and feel like a Mac application, and a web application should look and feel like a web applicationâ€

Whatâ€™s the environment in which the application runs? Is it really a browser, or just another runtime in the OS? Whatâ€™s the difference between a browser running a JavaScript App and a JRE running a Swing app (Swing is not native – it is another desktop emulation)?

I think the line has (or always was) blurred for those who arenâ€™t technology professionals. Do most users really care that thereâ€™s a distinction between a desktop app and a web app? I donâ€™t think so, or are they really concerned with getting the job done quickly and efficiently?

I also don’t agree with the whole “uncanny valley” thing, I don’t believe anyone has ever empathised with Micrsoft Word or Mozilla Firefox. I think what happens with browser based apps is that when it looks like a native app the user expects the app to work like a native app e.g. drag ‘n’ drop, single click selection, right click context menu etc – when the app dosen’t work like this is when it’s ‘broken’ or ‘uncanny’… if you must.

Just my 2p.

By: Alberto Lopez

Alberto Lopez — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 02:44:33 +0000

I think this web desktop approch has its advantages depending in the type of the application. For example many server requests can be saved using windows (like in the desktop in the ext examples). You can have many windows opened (data grids for example) with the information you maybe need for later use, instead of hiting the back forward buttons of the browser or simply doing an action again.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 20:56:33 +0000

It looks real nice, but I agree with other comments saying web apps should have their own designs/personalities rather than an OS’s.

By: Kae Verens

Kae Verens — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:24:13 +0000

wow! I was impressed when webshare popped out of nowhere to steal KFM's glory, but this looks even better! Looking forward to actually trying it out.

By: Andy Kant

Andy Kant — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 19:19:45 +0000

@Mike
Given that the Windows explorer interface is pretty well known (even among those who don’t use Windows as their primary OS), I don’t think its much of an issue in this case. The Vista version of explorer is a bit different, but better (I love the combo clickable/text paths). Generally though, I would agree with you.

By: Stoyan

Stoyan — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:47:39 +0000

Looks good, but IMO having your web app open in a popup is a no-no, a bit too 1998-y where you have a simple page saying “enter” and then a flash site pops up in a new maximized window.

By: efattal

efattal — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:18:06 +0000

Stupid question: who has an invitation, please?

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:30:53 +0000

So, who thinks that a webapplication should look just like a regular application? I think it shouldn’t. For one, a Mac/Linux/Windows XP user is not familiar at all with this interface, so why copy the ‘exact’ looks of Vista?

By: Bernado

Bernado — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:12:44 +0000

Mac theme is coming soon… ;-)

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:08:28 +0000

@Cyril:

Lol but at least it is a clean, good looking UI.

By: Cyril Doussin

Cyril Doussin — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:41:10 +0000

well, that’ll look nice on my mac…

By: Peter Michaux

Peter Michaux — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 14:37:21 +0000

The Uncanny Valley

http://billhiggins.us/weblog/2007/05/17/the-uncanny-valley-of-user-interface-design/