The Zen of UI design

[Jay Nelson]

Ulf wrote:
 > I do not recall seeing anything in your "ramblings" that
 > would preclude adding an OO framework

That is true.  It specifically was stated to allow a
separate layering.  Refer back to my "seven levels of
UI nirvana" posting last month:

http://www.erlang.org/ml-archive/erlang-questions/200302/msg00473.html

Level 5 is where "object enlightenment" occurs.
That was another rambling post that attempted to put
a concrete design on an amorphous discussion.

Vlad wrote:

 > the core application is completely unaware of any UI

yes!  very good

 > This is more or less the ModelView pattern.

I think this approach is more general than an OO approach
and includes OO as a special case.

I think with the approach you described you will come up
with more interesting ideas and have a chance at defining
something that feels distinctly different.

 > My interest right now is concentrating at the third part

Hmm...  you seem in a rush to get something on screen.
I suppose you have a specific purpose or goal, but I would
try to build the user interaction model first that maintains
the internal state.  The reason I say that is because once
you have text boxes and other widgets, your interaction
style will be constrained by how they operate.

I lay awake in bed this morning imagining the user interface
without a monitor.  Just the keyboard and the mouse.
Imagine the sound of one hand clapping...


I have to say this mailing list is far too fertile for me ;-)  I am
thinking about things that I never intended, it interferes with
my work and sleep and keeps me distracted all the time.
I'll never get to the tasks I wanted to accomplish!

jay