[gregorylkelly]

While I love the UI of the PlayBook, here are some things I hope will change over time. Please let me know your thoughts.

1) The dock should be able to be pulled up smoothly, similar to how you do it with OS6 and OS7 BlackBerrys. I wish that when you were in an app and you started a bottom bezel gesture that the dock would come up with your finger and allow you to actually bring it back down smoothly without completing the gesture. There are times when I accidentally do a bottom bezel swipe while in an app and would like to be able to just pull my finger back down before letting go and having it act as if nothing happened. This would also allow for a "sexier" look and feel imo.

2) Also, when the dock is showing and apps cards are in view, I think you should be able to pull the dock up slightly like you do on OS6 and 7 devices. While doing this, the open app cards should resize appropriately.

3) When looking at the dock and app cards, it would be nice (and slick looking) to be able to pinch to zoom one of the apps. As of now you can click an app to open it, but it would be nice to be able to do a quick pinch and zoom in on the app for a second and then have it snap back to being closed if you didn't pinch it all the way open.

4) I love how open apps slide in from the size on the new Windows 8 Dev. It would be pretty cool if RIM could use that idea (not copy it exactly, but just use it as motivation) to make app switching not only extremely easy, but slick and sexy too.

Like I said, I LOVE the current UI but I think it could use some sexification and take advantage of some of the liquid graphic features of OS7 devices. The way the app dock works on my Bold 9930 is so much sexier than the PlayBook.

[harshalbid271]

I'd love to see these ideas implemented but somehow I don't see it happening. Anyway, the idea of bottom bezel swipe up being gradual is pretty awesome

[peter9477]

There's actually support for the top-swipe being gradual in apps (specifically there's the usual SWIPE_DOWN event that we use, but also a SWIPE_START event which is now undocumented).

Unfortunately it appears they may be moving away from supporting that, and I'm not even aware of any apps which do. The only time I've seen it used is the "peek" gesture where you swipe from either top corner (without releasing the drag) and you can drag the current app down, revealing the status bar, and then back up all in one gesture.

Possibly they couldn't get it working reliably for some reason, or maybe usability tests (or feedback from beta testers) led them to conclude it's a lesser user experience, more confusing, or something like that. I agree it would be nice to have the "gradual" gesture available in other places as it is for the "peek".

[gregorylkelly]

You know what, the top corner gesture is exactly what I'm talking about. Something more like that with the bottom gesture. You kind of get it with the side swipe, but not as smooth as the top corner swipe is.

[Zedi Master]

I like the suggestion about the mistaken bottom swipe. But I think there are other more important changes I'd like to see first.

When using the builtin browser we should be able to swipe up then down in an arch to go to the bottom(?) of the page. And the same should be implemented for going to the top of the page. Say the swipe down and up from the top bezel.

Another improvement would be to open the new tab (Open in new tab command used on a link on the foreground tab) should render in the background.

P. S. Anything that makes the PlayBook look like Windows 8 should be avoided as all cost.

[JerryButtons]

I also like the idea of there being more bezel gestures implemented. I would love for something like a two-finger swipe left and right to go backward and forward inside browser. This would be far more intuitive than having to actually press the back button.

[kbz1960]

Some good ideas. I'd like to be able to have all the icons hidden on the home screen also.

[gregorylkelly]

What do you mean?

[SifJar]

What do you mean?

I think he means hide the dock as well. Presumably then having running apps slightly bigger than they currently are (unnecessary in my opinion).

[kbz1960]

I think he means hide the dock as well. Presumably then having running apps slightly bigger than they currently are (unnecessary in my opinion).

No that is not what I meant or not for that purpose. I would just like all the icons hidden when nothing is open to see some of the wallpapers without icons on it. Kind like you can on the phones.

Really not a biggie I just like to see my wallpaper without things covering it up.

[UrbanGlowCam]

The reasoning behind inconsistencies in fluidity is due to different areas of the UI being built on different frameworks. To my understanding, the main screen is native and in turn has that smooth scrolling we get from say an iPhone or Windows Phone 7. Another area like the picture viewer, where the pinch zoom and panning is quick and responsive is also native I believe. Basically, the apps that TAT have implemented/designed most likely use a combination of their own Cascades UI framework with native code. I believe this includes apps like the calculator, Scrapbook app, app viewer, Print to Go, and even picture app I mentioned earlier.

On the other hand, from the PlayBooks conception, it seems RIM and Adobe joined forces and built most of the UI on Adobe's AIR framework. From what I've seen, this is mostly what causes the more choppy, less fluid apps. Portions of Tablet OS like the pull down top menu, music player, and App World are obviously written in AIR. The recently added PIM apps use AIR for the UI as well, though they did a better job of making it a little smoother than most AIR apps we're used to. Most of the non-game apps were built in AIR too, which is why they don't seem as smooth as say, the better games (built in the NDK).

To my understanding, non-game apps can't be built with native code currently since there's no framework besides AIR available. This is the big reason why Cascades UI is so important. The way RIM shows their BB10 roadmap seems like Cascades will come soon as BB10 is nearing. If I had to guess, I'd say at BlackBerry World in early may. I believe it's already available in a closed beta with big names though. It's possible we'll see a complete UI revamp from Tablet OS to BB10 and they will go away from AIR with it. But we're likely to see BB10 on a smartphone before it hits the PlayBook.



I also want to see something like you're explaining anastasiophan. iOS and Windows Phone 7 (and Windows 8) have done a great job giving that 60fps, fluid feel throughout the OS. Not just in the smoothness of scrolling, bit little things in between. Also, when you have App World running extremely choppy (but designed nicely) and the main screen being fluid, you lose that cohesiveness. Hopefully BlackBerry World will shed some more light on this.

[peter9477]

Those of us going to the developer conference that runs in parallel to BBWC, the BlackBerry 10 Jam conference, are definitely expecting to see lots of new info about Cascades.

I'm expecting either an open beta available then, or an actual release if they've decided to skip the open beta stage.

[gregorylkelly]

What exactly will Cascades open up?

[Aaron_21]

yeah i like the zoom into apps thought bt zoom into open apps instead of them being sat on the front screen all the time and a 2 finger swipe gesture to show all open apps n what not . . . for example the browser zoom into the icon and see how a download is going or a game you want to play later from the same point with out it being in your face all the time and an opposite zoom gesture to hide away again, bt ther we are jst thoughts 'init', but good thoughts from the OP

Sent from my BlackBerry 9900 using Tapatalk

[abiator]

What exactly will Cascades open up?

Much more fluid apps

[UrbanGlowCam]

Those of us going to the developer conference that runs in parallel to BBWC, the BlackBerry 10 Jam conference, are definitely expecting to see lots of new info about Cascades.

I'm expecting either an open beta available then, or an actual release if they've decided to skip the open beta stage.

I agree. Great timing as developers can hopefully make rich, non-game apps and have them prepared/polished in time for the first BB10 smartphone release.

[ody360]

I'd like to see live wallpapers or at thievery least, see the time when bringing up my pb from locked status. Currently it goes straight to the security password with keyboard, but sometimes I just want to check the time, or seehow many new emails I have, or tweets, without unlocking phone. Maybe next gen pb can have a bezel that can become transparent on press, just for a quick info check.

[peter9477]

What exactly will Cascades open up?

It will bring the power of the Native SDK to apps other than games, and a "liquid" BB10 look and feel based on the TAT design concepts.

Basically, until now, no apps except games have been able to use the native SDK because it has had no suitable GUI framework. It has lacked the basic stuff like text fields, buttons, checkboxes, and so on, and many other things that would make it truly suitable for a wide variety of apps which are not games.

Ignoring games completely for a moment, the vast majority of the "interesting" apps up to now have been written in AIR, for this and a few other reasons. AIR doesn't and never will provide full "integration" with the operating system. (Recently it became possible to write "ANE" extensions that do let you hook AIR apps up to native code, but that's not really the way it will be done for most of the serious apps people have been waiting for.)

Once Cascades is here, along with some major pieces of the Qt library, developers will finally be able to build apps which exploit the full power of the operating system. The Native SDK has been a third-class citizen for non-game apps, but with the release of Cascades and Qt it should leapfrog past the others and finally become the first-class citizen which will let us write the "super apps" which RIM has long talked of.

In practical terms, these apps should look better, feel more liquid and responsive, run faster, take up less space, have access to a broader set of third-party libraries to let developers build more sophisticated apps faster, and also let RIM accelerate development of certain things (both apps and APIs) which have been held back for so long.

It will be a major milestone, ultimately far more significant (IMHO) than 2.0, even if it is rough around the edges in the first release (as it may well be).

[peter9477]

Oh, two interesting and new tidbits as seen in the catalog of BB10 Jam sessions for May 1-3:

1. on the Invocation Framework: "The Invocation Framework in the BlackBerry� 10 platform is designed to allow one app to integrate with another, while also keeping the flow absolutely seamless and natural to the user. See how you can invoke an app with your content and carry out an action while also including an embeddable view of another app inside yours."

2. on Foreign Windows: "... the more advanced controls and features of the Cascades framework. You'll learn how to use WebView, ForeignWindow and other advanced features."

We've already seen something like this in any of the apps which use the QNXStageWebView component (which is the native browser widget) inside an AIR app (e.g. Blaq, or BlackBerry News). Sounds like they may be adding support for doing this in a more general fashion, maybe letting any two apps that are designed for it work with one appearing "embedded" inside the other, no doubt with the full RIM-standard security to ensure this is still safe.

One of the more obvious uses of this would be to allow one app to embed viewing of a PDF via the Adobe Reader app (hopefully a much improved version of it). Another would be something where you could chose which map app you'd like to use inside another app which needs some map capability. That app doesn't have to provide mapping itself, or maybe provides it only in a limited form, but lets you substitute something more advanced if you have it installed.

[Yoox_II]

Yes I agree with this thread. I think it would simplify it just to say...instead of an animation playing when you initiate a certain gesture, it should be in sync with how fast your finger is moving. That's what I've been thinking for a while, glad someone agrees. Also, more than one animation playing at a time would be nice...like swiping down to hide the apps while tapping on an opened app to make it full screen at the same time. You can't do that though, cause the animation of the apps being hidden is still playing games. It would make it much more fluent

[greatwiseone]

Just browsing through the session catalogue at BB10 Jam, and it really looks like RIM's about to launch Cascades then. There are a ton of sessions on developing with Cascades and Qt. The most interesting session is this:

How We Built BBM Using the BlackBerry 10 platform and Cascades
This session shows how RIM� internal teams are building Cascades apps for the BlackBerry� 10 platform. We�ll use a sample BlackBerry� Messenger (BBM�) app to introduce developers to the process we followed and the steps we took along the way. You�ll come away with UI screens and sample code to help with your own development efforts.

Hopefully we'll see BBM on the PB soon!

[FuzzyFish]

I agree with the OP, the process of bring up or hiding the app dock hopefully will become more refined as they improve the OS. It should feel exactly like it does in OS7 where the user controls how fast and how far I want to open the dock.

I do like that in OS2.0 RIM did implement a swipe up to bring up the dock and swiping down to hide it, now let's go one step further and copy Liquid Graphics from OS7 into QNX.