Jan 27 2007
Building a Better Desktop
We’re all familiar with the desktop on our computer. This is the screen we wind up at after the computer finishes booting and logs us in. The desktop uses metaphors to mimic a real world desktop like drag and drop, folders to store programs and data files, and a trash or recycle bin for placing objects for later deletion. While these metaphors sound good, the desktop doesn’t really behave like a real desktop on a table should.
This is where BumpTop really shines. This is a new desktop being developed by the Dyanamic Graphics Project at the University of Toronto. It uses physics models to sort and arrange items on a desktop.
People arrange documents on their real world desktop to show the importance of the document to the owner. For example, when we pile letters (envelopes) on each other, we may arrange one of the more important letters in a way that sticks out from the pile which would get our attention better. BumpTop uses many familiar metaphors like this and others for arranging and sorting documents. Take a look at the following video and see the desktop that may be on your computer someday.
&nbpsp;