Bummer, it seems there's no way of attaching documents in this forum. What a PITA. ('The extension ??? is not allowed' - tried converting to all sorts of formats, no luck.)
So now having to post full texts here. Here goes then with a detailed description of the concept. The legend will go into a separate post.
An Introduction To The ‘Warped Bar’ Concept
At heart, the ‘Warped Bar’ is a super-sexified, super-sexed up, turbo charged NeXus on steroids and offers a lot to those concerned with productivity while also leaving plenty of scope for the skinner and plenty for those whose primary interest is eye candy.
Essentially, with the bar the user can have all his most esssential apps, utilities and information in one neat and tidy package that can take up a minimum of screen space. Moreover, it can invoke any of the other Winstep Xtreme components as and when they should be needed, should they be hidden.
All three main Winstep Xtreme components – NextSTART, Workshelf and NeXus – already handle all types of objects, shortcuts, folders, files, internal commands, modules, and more. The ‘Warped Bar’ would not be a completely new, revolutionary application, but rather an evolutionary step from the NeXus dock.
The ‘Warped Bar’ concept itself is a kind of dock, but with a difference. The main, most immediately obvious one is that while NeXus and Workshelf display objects in the form of icons of a predetermined (by the user) size, the ‘Warped Bar’ would display each type of object in a (predetermined) different way appropriate to that type of object. Thus, for example, a meter type of module like the CPU meter would not be shown as an iconified form in the ‘Warped Bar’ but as a separate, specially ‘skinned’ mini version of that module (this would of course be dependent on the planned multiple module option). A menu type item would be displayed as a – yes, exactly, a menu-like button (with or without mini icons at the user’s choice), and so on. The current very rough and ready no frills mock-up of a vertical and a horizontal bar illustrates these points more clearly.
However, a further difference is that due to the nature of different objects being displayed in a different form, the skinner has to determine the fixed width of a vertical bar and the fixed height of a horizontal one. Furthermore, the sizes of any icons within various types of object are subject to a maximum size in order to keep the bar from getting too large – if the user wants lots of big icons, that is what NeXus is for. So while I could imagine an object container for Workshelf and NeXus shortcut icons up to a maximum size of 48 pixels (in e.g. the present mock-up bar), depending on the constraints of the bar’s fixed width or height, and indeed I have shown one in the vertical bar mock-up, I could not envisage too many of these being practical or desirable so a limit to the number of icons there would have to be imposed by the programme, or a limit to the degree of expansion of the container.
On the other hand, certain other objects, such as the tasklist, quicklaunch area or system tray could expand as needed, but again would be subject to limitations to the size of icons and, in the case of the tasklist, would be dependent on the size of task buttons provided by the individual skinner.
Thus, over all, while the width of a vertical and the height of a horizontal bar are fixed by the theme, the respective height and width of individual objects or rather object containers within the bar is flexible and variable. But again, these dimensions are mostly determined by the theme.
The ‘Warped Bar’ would accept any type of object available within the Winstep Xtreme suite, including some that are planned for the future and others that are perhaps not planned yet, subject to the type of object having been properly skinned within a given theme. Thus, a bar can have as diverse objects as e.g., a special ‘Start Menu’ button that opens up a pre-configured default menu (vertically, at the position of the button) that would be based on the old ‘Classic Windows’ Start Menu (i.e., pre-XP) but with a better organisation, though the whole menu could be re-configured, added to, subtracted from, replaced or even completely removed – like all other objects in the bar – by the user; a tasklist, quickstart area, system tray, mini modules (though some seem unsuited for use in a bar or anything other than as a desktop module, such as the Moon Phase and Calendar ones), hotspot buttons, in-bar docks, NextSTART docks, NextSTART menus, internal commands, Workshelf and NeXus shortcut icons, etc.
Another class of objects that can be accommodated in the bar are e.g., network drives, remote hosts, internet/web locations (i.e., bookmarks), remote desktops, links to messaging apps/services, and more.
One type of object shown in the ‘Warped Bar’ mock-up is two virtual desktops. This would be a (multi-) module that ‘captures’ Windows, Dexpot or other virtual desktops depending on which the user uses, and each could be displayed as a mini snapshot of the individual desktop’s wallpaper or where/if feasible, its current desktop.
In actual use, the ‘Warped Bar’ would behave much like the Workshelf and NeXus. The user can add and remove objects by drag and drop and in like way also change the position of objects within the bar. Similar to NeXus, the bar has a control button with similar functionality.
Menus and other menu type items as well as docks of any kind pop up next to or above or below the bar (depending on its orientation) , parallel to their originating object. The bar can be docked to any screen edge and this can also be done with offsets from the screen edge just as with NeXus, or it can be free-floating. All objects can display further information in a mouse-over text field/bubble. When a bar extends too far to be accommodated within a single column or row, it starts up a second column or row, parallel to its base orientation. It can also be hidden until activated by a hotspot, screen edge or corner bump, etc., or ‘minimised’ into the control button until recalled by double-clicking the control button again.
From a skinning perspective, the bar cannot be tiled like NeXus due to the varying sizes of different objects placed in it. Instead, it has to use a continuous background which can be stretched, and a certain number of pixels on the periphery of the bitmap can be specified by the skinner not to be stretched and not to be occupied by objects. However, a simple discreet border of around 2-4 pixels is ideal and preserves screen estate, and a large background image does not make sense in the context of the bar as the irregular sized objects placed upon it will be placed directly adjacent to one another, not regularly spaced apart as in Workshelf or Nexus. However, additionally, a great number of other bitmaps is required, such as various and variously sized button bitmaps for objects like the tasklist, NextSTART internal commands, and so on, and complete bitmaps for the mini modules.
The current – as said, very rough and ready no frills – mock-up of a vertical and a horizontal bar was made for a higher resolution display, with the complete bitmap size (screen resolution) being 2134x1200 pixels. It is best viewed at full resolution as a wallpaper on a larger screen up to about 32" – which is how I tried it, though developing it on a 22” CRT (3x4 ratio) GFX monitor at 1600x1200 – as this gives a better idea of what it looks like in context/in situ and of the over all effect, or else at full resolution in a gfx programme and scrolled as necessary. For a full explanation of all the various objects in the bars see a separate post/article. For displays smaller than 1600x1200 pixels one would, in general, have used smaller bitmaps for many of the items shown in order to minimise the usage of screen space. On a 32” screen at a viewing distance of between 4 1/2 and 5 feet I can see even the smallest items in the bar comfortably, using special intermediate distance type reading glasses that are optimal for distances between 3 and about 7 ft., despite my very poor sight. (I use these glasses with the above-mentioned 22” screen at a distance of 3 to 4 ft. mostly.)
The ‘Warped Bar’ could be either an integral part of Winstep Xtreme or a separate, optional add-on. It could possibly also be developed into a stand-alone, but either with a heck of a lot of work (having to integrate most of the other Winstep code) or reduced functionality. But ultimately, its place should be within Winstep Xtreme, as much of the beauty and power of it comes through its being able to call on any of the other components of the suite.
Historically, something akin to a ‘Warped Bar’ was achieved by the (now old) Lotus SmartCentre - a component of Lotus SmartSuite - both for OS/2 and Windows (on which IBM based their WarpBar for OS/2 Warp 4, for which reason they bought up the ailing Lotus back in the day). The OS/2 Warp 4 WarpBar was a sensation compared to the Windows 95/NT4 Taskbar back in the day. It is apparently also something that NeXT, in the days before ‘St. Steve’ Jobs took over Apple, were already thinking about doing with the NeXT dock for a future OPENSTEP 5 or 6. (Instead of course it became the insipid Apple dock with cosmetic bells and whistles.) NeXT/Apple could have done so much more, but alas….
Finally, the inspiration for the concept of the ‘Warped Bar‘ came from various sources. First of all, an underlying desire to expand on the paradigm of a dock for even more improved productivity and easier over-sight of information (e.g., that from modules), in a unified whole that could utilise as little screen estate as possible, yet in a visually/aesthetically pleasing way, originally considered many years ago. Then most recently – triggered by the discovery that I still had most of my original install CDs for a number of old OSs – revived memories of the OS/2 WarpBar and the Lotus SmartCentre, as well as the similar dock-like Shelf in QNX, and BeOS's BeTracker. Last not least, the CDE window manager for a number of Unix Operating systems had something not too dissimilar, the CDE Bar IIRC, and it also included four VDs in the form of small windows that displayed the background/wallpaper in use on each VD. I remember well using this in the days when I was using Sun Solaris OS on Intel and, for a while, Irix on SGI Indigo2s (not owned by me, alas!).
Ultimately, the seemingly limitless capabilities and flexibility of Winstep Xtreme must be acknowledged as having played a part.
_________________ nexter - so, what's next?
Just a volunteer Moderator, not connected to or affiliated with Winstep Software Technologies, and not an official part of customer service though I do try to help when and where I can if my scarce time permits
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