Orb³
 

continuing on from this thread, the client has been named orb³ and development is coming along quickly.

i've attached a screenshot of what orb³ looks like so far. a site should be up in a few days and a usable alpha version soon after.

if anyone has any suggestions or ideas for their ideal opennap client i'd be interested to hear them.

solid folks, i'm sure you'll find a lot of alpha testers here at nu. good job. put me down for one please. :tu:

- js.

I want to try it, too, please. Keep up the work!:tu:

cough cough,

we still need a few days but please leave us a post hehe


Woo

I'm willing to wait bececause I have tremedous confidence on all who worked the project.:)

you know u can count me in:tu:

That UI looks very nice and simple - great job! I didn't know Napster clients could be this simple.

:tu:

woohooo :AP:

well lets see what it can do :D

Developers channel
 

We have opened a developers channel for this project and encourage any and all people interested to contact us their as well.

http://tux-irc.net/chat/chat-orb.html

Woo

I am not selling my oppinions and nobody is buying, but I did want to say though, I think the idea and program is very good, its good to see napsterites coming together to build better p2p apps.

But god could you make the UI look any worse? I hope thats just the alpha. In the screen shot its terrible. Plain awful.

Its the kind of interface design that makes you want to keep your time using the program to a minimum.

Simple is good yes, but it looks like you have all been sucessful at one thing. Making simple look awful.

The name is good, but please make up your minds and pick a style. Apple candy look or Windows xp teletubbie.
If your using XP's icons make sure they do the same thing in your app as they do in windows.

Don't segment a users desktop, if your app is performing a unique function, make sure the app has a unique icon that represents it.

ethen:

i'm fond of the some of the xp 'look' myself (well, just the icons.. note i don't use the oversized title bars and so on). blue is pretty and full-time xp users with green start buttons will likely use that skin, but rest assured it won't be the only one.

we plan to include at least black and white (winmx/napster style) and later let people design their own skins too.

what would you like simple to look like?

cool name :tu: will keep an eye out for you.
best of luck

"What would you like simple to look like?"


Miss Alpha,

I decided to illustrate that simple doesnt always mean barren and lots of space. It can mean an Inductive UI too that still maintains simplicity visually and in fucntion.

I rushed through throwing that together for ya, so lots of errors and mistakes. If you check out some UI design material you will uncover them :) Now that I look over my sample design again, it looks pretty awful too.

You can use XP icons and still have uniqueness to em. You have aqua blue tabs and xp icons which means segmented. I think making it themeable or skinable is good.

Play around a bit do many, many prototypes as you feel are needed, either way I am sure you will come up with something really amazing.

Always remember once you have a idea of what your happy with once you make changes, never add a new design feature untill you take one current design aspect out. Thats how all good UI's are achieved.

Chrome has been popular lately, Various linux apps, microsofts Msn8 and media player 9, Nividas dvd player, M$ Office.net, plus not to mention a zillion chrome skins for diffrent mp3 players and xp desktops. I should have done the above in chrome. If I had to change parts of the example, I would change allot. About the only thing I like is the "Transfers" icon. Anyway, I just wanted to give you the other side of simple through Inductive UI.

I could go on and on about UI design, and all the complex rules and tricks. Instead I recommend you head to http://www.uiweb.com and read up. Its the definitive design resource for UI's. Check out the annotated design links section.

You will find a link to a good Inductive UI guide from microsoft there too. It will show you what inducitve user interface design is about, and take you through the design process with examples from many of micrsofts own projects like Money 2003.

You also might want to join Chi-web or sigia mailing lists if your intrested in UI design. Thats pretty much the internet hub for designers to share ideas. I think apples UI mailing list is Phi. But don't see the link listed. Allot of the big design gurus post and can give feedback. Like Ron Impas. He designed the Icon style used in xp. (Luna "the sea of blue" was headed up by another designer.)

Any way, Looking forward to seeing the final program. Keep working at it :)

Remember a good design takes tons of prototypes (on paper or in photoshop, theres tons of methods) before it even begins to reach its potential. Not to mention lots of time.

ethen,

wow.

- jaan

Welcome to NU.
are you on Slavanap board?

ethen:

i have to admit, reading your first post it seemed you were just finding fault for the sake of it, and i responded accordingly. i can see though now that you have lots of good ideas.. thanks for taking the time to show me them.

my main focus is to get the client connecting, chatting, searching and downloading (i didn't sit and design the ui at all, it was just something i threw together while being determined not to use the standard button bar and make it a napster/kazaa clone ui). i do indeed plan to revise the ui over time, and your example looks very nice. it's vaguely reminiscent of the windows xp user accounts screen, but prettier.

as i said, the end plan is to make the client skinnable, not taking it as far as say winamp3 does but being able to change just about all of the colours, graphics and layouts in the client. for a default skin, something close to the looks of shareaza and the simplicity of xolox is my goal.

i'm not out to make a bland client. note that my two examples of good looks and usability are both gnutella servents - all the opennap clients i have seen, winmx, audiognome and the less well-known - use highly deriviative uis, to maintain the spirit of an 'open napster'... something that looks and works like napster, with enhancements. there are enough clients like that around that making another becomes just about pointless.

the screenshot is of an early alpha version, and so it's by no means too late for the default ui to change and my own to become a skin (if it's included at all in the end). if you'd like to help out more in the ui area of the project, then email me at alphabeater@hotmail.com. i'm interested to see and read any more ideas you've got. thanks again.

"i have to admit, reading your first post it seemed you were just finding fault for the sake of it, and i responded accordingly. i can see though now that you have lots of good ideas.. thanks for taking the time to show me them."

No worries. I was just being honest. I dont go around sugar coating words just to be sure everyone is feeling good about themselves on a forum.

I sent you a PM regarding Orb3.

Creating very graphical and visual intense UI is good but not maybe for a VB app? i dunno but i think too much of a snazzy interface and skinnable properties will increase memory usage alot?

I think UI's should be kept simple and easy to navigate, although many people like graphically intense interface the majority of users will be looking for an app that resembles windows. For ease of use. I suggest if you make skinnable to give choice of 2 skins by default, normal windows type and then maybe a more graphical intese for whoevr wants it.

good point. :) also a NICE UI ethen....alphabeater you appear to be a lovely person in your tactfulness and handling of criticism. I admire that. also you and the others working with you on the project orb3 seem to have some really good ideas...please keep up the goodwork and I think/hope that ethen (if he so choses to do so) would make an excellent edition to your "team" of developer's based just on the screenshot he showed...he seems to have the right ideas when it comes to useability/layout feature design...i do hope he will become a part of the orb3 project..

oh and Red i checked out your site. VERY GOOD indeed..your forums were excellent and enjoyable. I too would like the source code for your protocol. please PM me with a link

thanks,

-kento ;)

Red is right on the point about UI vs. Perfromance.

As I mentioned there were a few errors in the sample UI I posted. One of which is the fact there is too much eye candy going on which causes the experince of actually searching and getting your files to be lost in the fog.

In a screen shot its all very flat. Meaning when the app is actually in use things are excpected to be in motion. Like in any application, with most icons there are mouse overs etc, so when you apply the expected motions to the UI you can see things would get a bit busy.

For every UI there is always a 1000 and 1 possibilites. You have to take into account the basic look, is the UI comfortable on the eyes, being a p2p app its probably gonna be looked at quite a bit, at bit more then say the UI for Installing fax services on xp, or some other obsceure run once app. Secondly how high is the level of useability. Is the UI detracting from the useability of the program. Does the UI hold anyone back? Does an experinced user feel like they are stuck using an app designed for a newbie user? etc.

Lastly how does the UI effect performance of the app.

I think criticism is a developers best tool. The ultimate goal of developing a client is user appreciation. If you dont accept and listen to user criticism then you move further and further from this goal.

I love to read a users comments on my projects, it helps me improve and get an ideas of how these users think about my projects.

Developing my protocol and client, i originally was not panning on leech prevention in any way, i got lots of criticism and suggestions now i will be implementing these such features. because of criticism you move forward.

just my opinion. :)



Yeah i find that a very graphical intense UI always distracts me from what im doing, My intensions maybe one thing then ooo look they are really nice graphics, then forgot what i origionally wanted to do.

Graphics in a program require them to be loaded into the memory, if there are too many graphics loading through your program it causes mem usage to rise. This is my expierience with VB but with other development languages it may not be as bad.

If your using the graphics in your program then in VB they are loaded with your program even if they are not used.

Thank your for the lesson, I am glad you kept it short :)

"Lastly how does the UI effect performance of the app." Sorry that statement I made didn’t exactly equate to the common sense I am so fond of dishing up.

The statement was meant not literally, but in a figurative point, one of the third questions one should be asking of any good UI.

I could have worded it allot better. Like Is the UI effecting the performance? for example.

As I mentioned earlier I agree allot with what your saying regarding an app and its UI. Good points all around.

I took a peak at your app on your site. Sphere P2p looks like it has been developing nicely congrats on the network.

As for the client. Well, I wont use words like Impressive, Wow, Cool, or Holy kazowie. Well maybe Holy Kazowie awful.

"majority of users will be looking for an app that resembles windows. For ease of use."

There’s nothing wrong with that, and allot of other windows applications strive and achieve the same effect. But please don’t over do boring.

It looks more like a Networking configuration tool which would probably cause some users to fall asleep.

Even just adding a for example say a dent style to the icons would live-in it up a bit.

The other big point is you mention ease of use, but I think you have a programmer notion of ease of use for people who know how to boot into Linux. (Glad to see a Linux version on the go. Thats a good thing, and it doesn't need to look jazzy in any manner because linux by nature of its users, each and every package is has a certain aura of clean looking.)

As for relatively new users with a hard drive full of music, Congrats on sending the learning curve through the roof.

Terms like "Node class", "Sockets", and "CPU" look scary to some. At least provide a definition on mouse roll over or split the interface into a simple or advanced modes.

There’s mention of a profile feature "This will allow the software to be used by many different people. Each person can have a profile each with its own settings, services. Profiles wll be password protected and passes encrypted. The Admin of network using profile feature has 'Admin access' so he/she can set default family filters. This is perfect for families using the software who have Children."

Go dead simple but not dull. Just highly useable. Most parents simply let the internet baby sit their kids. Those that do sit down to set monitorization software or features often walk away in frustration.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing the final product. Remember your not making another Kazaa or Napster. Your building your own file sharing app, which might end up being the next step in p2p evolution. So be sure to make it a good one.

lol, red you asked for it...looks like you got it: criticism/feedback etcetera...but at least ethen seems to know what he's talking about.

good luck on furthur developing your client and network.

greets,

kento :tu: ;)

Congratulations, SWATProteus & alphabeater - the project is obviously advancing nicely and there is always room for a new nice OpenNap client. :tu:

Ethen's UI advice and links are good. A cool, intuitive and functional UI can make a big difference to the user experience of any software, and it is good to play with different styles and ideas. :)

- tg ;)