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Topic: Desktop with icons metaphor

	Desktop metaphor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The desktop metaphor is a set of unifying concepts currently used in a number of graphical user interfaces in computer operating systems.
		The desktop metaphor itself has been extended and stretched with various implementations, since access to features and usability of the computer are usually more important than maintaining the ‘purity’ of the metaphor.
		The desktop metaphor is ubiquitous in modern day computing found in most desktop environments of modern operating systems: Mac OS X, Windows XP, Linux.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Desktop_metaphor (391 words)

	TechBlog: Is BumpTop your new desktop?
		Jef Raskin was later said to regret the desktop metaphor and over the years became openly critical of both the Apple and Windows desktops.
		MacOS, of course, is based on the desktop metaphor, although Apple has fiddled with it so much over the years that it bears only a passing resemblance to the original Macintosh desktop.
		Despite the near universal acceptance of the desktop metaphor, it's been criticized often over the years, both in the popular press and in academia.
	blogs.chron.com /techblog/archives/2006/06/is_bumptop_your.html (780 words)

	Desktop environment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		The name is derived from the desktop metaphor used by most of these interfaces, as opposed to the earlier, textual command line interfaces (CLI).
		The desktop environments for the popular proprietary operating systems Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X are, in their intended use, relatively unalterable.
		X window managers that are meant to be usable stand-alone -- without another desktop environment -- also include elements reminiscent of those found in typical desktop environments, most prominently Enlightenment.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Desktop_environment (450 words)

	MacKiDo/Innovation/Desktop
		Icons were used -- but icons were usually used as controls -- click on them to do things (buttons), they weren't objects on their own.
		Selecting a file, then hitting a "move" key to relocate it on the virtual desktop is nothing like your real desktop (not a good imitation of the metaphor you were supposed to be using).
		Xerox did call their interface a "desktop metaphor" -- but it wasn't close to what people think of today when they use icons on the desktop on a Mac or PC.
	www.mackido.com /Innovation/Desktop.html (4024 words)

	Elimination of the desktop metaphor? - MacNN Forums
		This way the representational metaphor for the desktop remains unchanged, clicking on the harddrive to access the resources available to one's self, while the OS can employ its more robust Unix underpinnings to determine what it is exactly the user sees.
		If someone has reasons why the "old" desktop metaphor has to be abandoned in favor of the new, and those reasons are directly related to the adoption of OS X and it's Unix underpinnings--as in you can't have the Unix without a new desktop metaphor--I would love to hear them.
		The desktop metaphore, while known and loved by many, was created to enable office workers to learn to use a new computer as quickly as possible.
	forums.macnn.com /showthread.php?t=91226 (9959 words)

	Stardock: Object Desktop - DesktopX
		Because DesktopX objects are true objects, unlike Windows icons, they can be easily animated to react to different messages as well as display visual information on what they are meant to represent without the need to have what it represents opened.
		Additionally, items on the desktop tend to be hard coded to specific paths (example: a graphic representing MS word might be hard coded to e:\my programs\microsoftword) requiring users to spend a lot of time tweaking those links or spending time modifying the theme to eliminate graphics that point to programs they don’t have.
		Icons would be replaced with objects that could interact with the system and other objects.
	www.stardock.com /products/desktopx/infoguide.html (1863 words)

	Chapter 9. Icons
		Icons are a graphical metaphor presenting a visual image that the user associates with a particular object, state or operation.
		Icons can compactly represent a large number of objects when there is insufficient space to display textual descriptions (such as in a toolbar).
		If there is text in icons it should not form words in your native language, a good metric for ensuring that the particular text is not lending to the meaning of the icon.
	developer.gnome.org /projects/gup/hig/1.0/icons.html (2588 words)

	TWiki . Javadesktop . IconsIn3D
		The desktop should become visible by pitching down the camera view, as you were lowering your look from the monitor to your real desktop.
		Why not have icons mature at a slower pace like the Tamagotchi’s (electronic animals that needed feeding and grew), or have icons track online conversations with ones partner over IM so a lover heart would glow pinker when at a strong point in the relationship or turn to a colder grey when bonding is strained.
		I envisage icons reactive not just to input data from weather forecasts, user manipulation but also by themselves (in conjunction with other meaningful data) autonomously; even at a slow pace like an evolution of animal or plant growth or with the seasons e.g.
	wiki.java.net /bin/view/Javadesktop/IconsIn3D (1497 words)

	Xerox Star
		The Xerox Star was actually not originally meant to be a stand-alone computer, but was part of an integrated Xerox "personal office system" that also connected to other workstations via Ethernet and an optional laser printer.
		The Xerox Star was the first commercial computer to use a graphical user interface (GUI) with the familiar desktop with icons metaphor and a mouse.
		The Xerox Star, like virtually all products developed at Xerox PARC, was a commercial failure but a trip to Xerox PARC by Apple Computer's Steve Jobs led to the GUI and mouse being integrated into the Apple Lisa and, later, the first Apple Macintosh.
	www.ebroadcast.com.au /lookup/encyclopedia/xe/Xerox_Star.html (168 words)

	The Macintosh Interface
		It's called the desktop metaphor because the icons are supposed to remind one of their office, with some document icons in file folders, some put away in file folders in filing cabinets (the hard disk, I suppose), and some on the desktop that you are actively working on.
		Much of the purpose of the desktop metaphor is to make navigation through the information stored on in the file system on your hard disk easier.
		Icons are pictures that are supposed to remind us of their function.
	icogsci1.ucsd.edu /~cg3x/cg3.interface.html (6656 words)

	Designing Accessible Icons
		The GNOME desktop includes accessible themes that make the desktop and the applications running on it accessible to users with a range of visual impairments.
		To be considered fully accessible, all icons in your application must be replaced by a suitable alternative when one of these themes is used.
		Low contrast icons are generated from the existing regular icons by adjusting the levels in GIMP.
	developer.gnome.org /projects/gup/hig/2.0/icons-design-accessible.html (363 words)

	True Desktop Metaphor - MacNN Forums (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-22)
		My problem with desktop metaphor as it has been for years now is that it is basically not a desktop, its just a full time directory running fullscreen.
		Since you have a window level neath the desktop icons in 10.2 basically all you would have to do is make an app with a transparent window and call it a Desktopling.
		The desktop itself was and still is a folder on the harddrive.
	forums.macnn.com /showthread.php?t=127543 (4092 words)

	MRTC - Rikard Lindell (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-22)
		The desktop metaphor explains to users the structure of file, directories, and programs.
		The data surface paradigm contrasts with the desktop metaphor and elements of the desktop metaphor: windows, icons, menus, document files and application programs.
		The data surface paradigm is based on a reassessment of the fundamental design values of the desktop metaphor interface.
	www.mrtc.mdh.se /index.phtml?choice=publications&id=0808 (410 words)

	The Spatial Way
		The OO metaphor, after long debates, seem to be the easier of the two, for new users to learn how to use - it abstracts the need to understand the filesystem and allows for the concept of directories to be understood better.
		In the example, on the left, notice that the "python" and "rpm" folders have already been opened, and their icons are significantly dimmed, in comparison with the "evolution" folder.
		The GNOME Desktop has started breaking down the myth of the "average user" and the "power user" and instead focusing on "good defaults and elegant interface design makes software better for everyone to use, regardless of their level of experience", and drastic changes like this is only going to push the open source desktop further.
	www.bytebot.net /geekdocs/spatial-nautilus.html (1029 words)

	The Desktop Is Changing... But to What? - OSNews.com
		By desktop metaphor we mean the concept where the Graphical User Interface represents an office desk on screen.
		The only change is that some of the icons do not represent files but instead launch "applications" which allow the user to edit the files that represent documents.
		The all-time-classic "My computer" icon is the proof that users will get accustomed to anything over time even if it fits nowhere in the metaphor they are presented with.
	www.osnews.com /story.php?news_id=13974 (613 words)

	User interface with multiple workspaces for sharing display system objects - Patent 5394521
		The term "icon", on the other hand, is usually applied to a display object which does not have this characteristic of distinct internal locations, but which is a relatively small and visually suggestive of its function.
		In this interface, a group of icons is displayed in a container called a room, with some of the icons being door icons which, when selected result in the display of a different room.
		Pointer 18 is currently pointing at door icon 16, and if the user provides a select signal at this time, door icon 16 will be selected as a unit, without regard to the position of pointer 18 within the icon.
	www.freepatentsonline.com /5394521.html (19368 words)

	[No title] (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-22)
		Smalltalk used unpicturesque icons (collapsed window tabs) for desktop objects as far back as 1972.
		What Star probably had was the first commercial use of manipulable document and folder icons to represent files.
		A user of a direct manipulation interface should be able to move a window, icon, or other object by dragging it.
	www.stanford.edu /~hodges/Xerox/RewritingHistory-LarryTesler.txt (697 words)

	CHI95video
		The first generation was the command line interfaces that required users to know about computer concepts and syntax; These were replaced by second generation graphical user interfaces with the desktop metaphor, icons, and folders.
		For the desktop we suggest the use of a tailorable overview of the organization (here called Bankscape).
		It is made of 4 parts: the personal and workgroups views (both reflecting the personal roles of the user), plus the business unit and institutional views reflecting the environment in which the work is conducted.
	hcil.cs.umd.edu /trs/95-03/95-03.html (758 words)

	Usability First: Usability Glossary: desktop metaphor
		The prototypical example is the Macintosh desktop which is used as a backdrop for all application windows and the surface on which files are manipulated.
		Files are organized into folders, and other objects including disks and printers, appear as icons on the background desktop.
		This organizing metaphor presumably makes new users more comfortable with the system and helps them to learn more quickly how to interact with it.
	www.usabilityfirst.com /glossary/term_458.txl (123 words)

	Is the computer desktop an antique? By Steven Johnson - Slate Magazine
		The desktop metaphor has served us well, particularly during a period of mass adoption when consolidating around one overarching visual metaphor helped new computer users adapt to life in front of the screen.
		Ironically, the company that has put forward the greatest challenge to the one-metaphor-fits-all model is the company that first popularized the desktop metaphor nearly two decades ago: Apple.
		So, by bundling iPhoto with OS X, Apple is basically saying: The desktop metaphor is great for certain types of files, but not for files that happen to be photos.
	www.slate.com /?id=2075219&device= (1334 words)

	GUIdebook > Articles > “The desktop environment”
		Although windowing systems are only now corning to the attention of the general public, the desktop metaphor made its first commercial appearance in 1981, in the form of the Xerox 8010 Star Information System.
		Thus, it remains for 1984 to go down in history either as the year in which the desktop metaphor truly becomes a concept for mass installation – or else the personal computing industry’s folly of all time.
		In addition, most developers of desktop software seem to recognize that the speed with which a system responds is one of the measures of ease of use.
	www.guidebookgallery.org /articles/thedesktopenvironment (4272 words)

	Xtreme Tech Show: Project Looking Glass Transcript
		Other cook effects are the menu bar that floats in 3D space and active icons that switch places depending on the activity of the desktop.
		One of the more interesting aspects of the 3D desktop is the 180 degree virtual screen environment which allows you to have multiple desktops which align in a 180 degree panaramic view of the 3D background scenry.
		Each of these views is a completely functional 3D desktop that allows you to place your favorite applications together in differnt places in your 3D world.
	www.sun.com /bigadmin/xtreme/shows/lg.html (952 words)

	desktop - Webopedia.com
		(1) In graphical user interfaces, a desktop is the metaphor used to portray file systems.
		Such a desktop consists of pictures, called icons, that show cabinets, files, folders, and various types of documents (that is, letters, reports, pictures).
		You can arrange the icons on the electronic desktop just as you can arrange real objects on a real desktop -- moving them around, putting one on top of another, reshuffling them, and throwing them away.
	systems.webopedia.com /TERM/D/desktop.html (120 words)

	Organization Overviews and Role Management: Inspiration for Future
		The type of message (meeting setup, report, request for info, etc.) is marked by the shape of the icon and the urgency of message by its color.
		Other icons (stars) can be new policies or reports prepared by colleagues for review or final publication.
		Breaking away from the currently popular cluttered desktops of the Macintosh Windows, and Motif is difficult but the capacity to cope with more complex tasks is appealing.
	hcil.cs.umd.edu /trs/95-11/95-11.html (3115 words)

	Sun Microsystems
		Sun is at work on a desktop interface that's going to blow the lid off the traditional windowing paradigm.
		Icons become dynamic thumbnails of the content they represent, instead of static placeholders.
		Today's desktop systems are equipped with 3-D graphics capabilities including video memory and processors powerful enough to handle multimedia code.
	www.sun.com /2004-0323/feature (1172 words)

	Human Factors
		Data icons -- documents, folders, record files -- objects on which actions are performed.
		desktop metaphor -- electronic counterparts of physical objects made users more comfortable and cut down training needed.
		Desktop functions are displayed as icons, property/option sheets define available options.
	sern.ucalgary.ca /courses/CPSC/451/f01/HumanFactors.html (574 words)

	Lightbulb Icons (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-09-22)
		I am so against white as a background color for web pages (and desktop screens) but for this Light Bulb set it was unavoidable.
		I'm well aware that a search on the internet for "light bulb icon" is usually not a search for desktop icons at all -- instead, most people are really looking for clip-art images they could use for web site graphics.
		Quite a waste of time, on my part, but icons are "my thing" and so they are here even if it's just for the pleasure of seeing all these little jewels in a set.
	www.jeffs-icons.com /LB-Flat.html (435 words)

	The History Of Computers 1970-1995
		Researchers at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) developed the basic ideas of a graphical user interface along with all the associated innovations - the mouse, the desktop metaphor, icons, windows, menus etc. Although the ideas in the Xerox Star were revolutionary, it was a huge failure commercially.
		The Mac also had a floppy disk drive that used 3.5" disks, which were physically smaller than their 5.25" PC counterparts, but were sturdier and could hold more data (400k).
		Finally, Sun's desktop utilities were converted to Motif and became the utilities supplied with CDE.
	www.geocities.com /v10de/h.htm (11573 words)

	Application Development Trends - Software innovator David Gelernter says the desktop is obsolete
		Early efforts to organize computer work, designed around development project software and desktop and file cabinet metaphors, may have reached the end of usefulness.
		But the metaphor or paradigm -- pick your favorite term -- is overtaxed.
		Everything is presented in a ''stream,'' a choice of metaphor, said Gelernter that better represents how we work.
	www.adtmag.com /article.asp?id=7187 (988 words)

	XPThemes.com Forums: Thread "Apple's Dashboard vs. Konfabulator vs. DesktopX"
		This would be OS/2 Warp 5 was to have a full OpenDoc based desktop in which end users, using REXX for their scripting language would be able to make use of OpenDoc parts and put them together easily to put mini-applications on the desktop.
		I think most of the graphics needed by a desktop object are already in or could be added to a WB skin.
		This implementation (icons represents actions) was very different from the Mac OS desktop metaphor (icons represents objects).
	www.xpthemes.com /forums.asp?MID=19&CMID=37&AID=19800 (6612 words)

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