ref: d33a256d6eae5fa0a6ff296bd8099974ce1ba31f
dir: /touchuichal.txt/
[[[ms .FP lucidasans . \" no header .ds CH " . .HTML "Designing for Touch: Bringing the Plan 9 User Experience to Modern Devices" .TL Designing for Touch: Bringing the Plan 9 User Experience to Modern Devices .AU Joel Fridolin Meyer joel@sirjofri.de .AI .AB The Plan 9 operating system has a specific idea for user interaction and user interfaces. In general, many aspects are well thought out and provide a mostly consistent look and feel throughout the whole operating system. However, all user interaction components are designed for a standard computer system: A computer screen paired with keyboard and mouse for interaction. In this paper we will explore different challenges we encounter when designing a specialized touch user interface for Plan 9 systems. .AE ]]] # Why do we need a touch user interface? The world is changing. Especially in the last decades computer systems changed from expensive pieces of hardware to much smaller systems that embed everything into one device. While most computing expensive tasks are moved to the cloud, a full computer system is often not bigger than what can comfortable fit in your hand. [[[ms .\" quote of some dude stating that, if I can find it. ]]] While older computer systems are designed with specific devices for human interaction—for example computer screen, keyboard and mouse—modern computer systems often embed many of those devices into one—a single touchscreen. Actual contents: - Many modern computer systems come with touch screens only, without traditional input methods. # Why do we need a Plan 9-specific user interface? - Plan 9 OS is much different than other OSes. - It has very specific idea of IPC, user interaction and what a computer is. # Challenges ## Well-known user interface challenges - Different screen sizes (phone, tablet, much bigger differences than on PC). - Touch challenges (thumb size, multi touch, ...). - Probably nothing new, refer to existing documents. ## Three pillars of user interfaces on Plan 9 ### Text interface - shell interface - rio/window ### Graphics - devdraw ### Mouse interaction - mouse chording - rio/window integration ## Integrated system components ### Plumber - How plumber is important for Plan 9 UI - It should be natively integrated and feel natural to use it. ### Namespaces - How to visualize and manage namespaces on Plan 9, using touch UI. - Dynamic, per-process namespaces are an integral part of Plan 9.