[kleneway]

Good idea for those with some extra time during the holiday break. Here's one I like that I've been saving for my blog (http://www.astartupaday.com) but I'll go ahead and post it here.

I'm predicting that over the next 1-3 years, we're going to start to see a major shift as users move from mouse+keyboard to touch as the primary input to their computing devices. However, today every mainstream website is optimized for the mouse+keyboard.

My idea is to get ahead of the curve and create user experiences for all the major mainstream web verticals (such as Email, social networking, news, search, etc..) that are designed primarily for use with touch. For verticals that have a high switching cost (such as mail and social networking), instead of trying to build from scratch, the focus should be on a front end that pulls from an existing service (i.e. pulls from gmail pop or Facebook connect). Users could choose the verticals that they use on a daily basis, and each service would be available from different tabs. The core UX elements would be consistent across all services, and would be optimized for use with a touch screen.

If anyone's interested in hearing more or maybe hacking out a prototype with me over break, feel free to contact me at kleneway@hotmail

[tstegart]

We need an entire gesture language! We have language we use to speak to each other, user interfaces, and conventions, and soon we'll need a gesture language. Can you imagine if every touch app had a different way to turn up the volume? But if there was a volume gesture, people would know how to do it no matter what application they were using.

[bokonist]

I'm a bit skeptical that we'll see touch screens or Minority Report type UI's replace the keyboard and mouse. The keyboard and mouse are under appreciated. It's really hard to match the following benefits:

1) keyboards are an incredibly fast way to input human language into a computer system.

2) keyboard/mouse operate on flat surface while your arm is at rest. This makes it easy to use for 8 hours a day.

3) A small movement of a mouse creates a much larger movement on the screen. Yet, because the mouse is flat and at rest, it is easy to control.

4) Mice are far more precise at pointing than touch screens. Although perhaps that's a secret disadvantage, since it encouraged the use of small widgets. A good touch screen would most certainly not be able to use anything like our current UI widgets.

[tstegart]

Picture this in your mind (or look at this sort of bad example: http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/17/taito-introduces-surface-...)

You move the monitor down, and make it very large. Build it into the desk at a slight angle. Your arms rest on the entire surface, so its very comfortable. The entire display and its interface is oversized, sort of like a media center interface. An iPhone like keyboard pops up when you need it, sized exactly like a regular keyboard. But quick keys on either side of the monitor's face can also input commands.