We’ve had a couple ideas when it comes to switching between Dashboards. We’re incorporating the swipe method, gallery view and the dashboard dock. Each has it’s benefits to the user experience and feels natural.
Dashboard Dock
At the bottom of each screen you’ll have a doc. You’ll be able to name each dashboard and select an icon that best represents it. This will allow you to quickly toggle between dashboards. In the gallery screen we will allow you to reorder the order of the icons in the dock.
Gallery View
Similar to how you switch between tabs in Safari, you’ll be able to zoom out and view all of you dashboard organized into rows and columns. This too will be configurable by taping and holding until you can move the Dashboard around and put them into the order that you prefer. The rearrangement will define the order of the icons in the dashboard dock.
Swipe Method
Just like pages in a book or the home scree, you’ll be able to swipe left to right to view a different dashboard. The color changes of the title bars and background colors will provide a visual contrast and may be unpleasant. We’ll unify certain application user interface elements to insure that the visual experience is smooth and natural.
I recently had the opportunity to watch Iron Man 2 which had tons of three dimensional holographic computer interfaces. While I am not going to be able to make your dashboard float out of the screen there is no reason it can’t seem like the technology Tony Stark has. All of the data he has, we have. The iPad is touch screen and capable of smooth high tech imagery and animation. The only reason these interfaces haven’t been commercialized is that they have been impractical for applications up until we decide that 3D semi-trasparent wireframes are cooler than the more iPhone-esk look of bevels and buttons. I am a big Iron Man fan so I’m going to invest some more time into this type of theme. Something that would make you feel as if you were Tony Stark and you could grab your iPad and talk to get an update from Jarvis. I don’t know about you but that sounds really interesting.
In previous executions of informational dashboards they have all suffered from allowing people to add too much information or functionality that is non-relevant to a single display. We’ve also seen the impact of designs that compete for our attention. Ultimately these products seem to get ignored and become useless to you.
It is my dashboard, shouldn’t I be able to make it display whatever I want?
No, I don’t think so. You’ve already experienced that.
We’re going to make the number of data points you can add to single display finite. At least at first. While you can have multiple Dashboards and you can have different data points organized differently. I believe by making the number limited it will force the user to pick the more important information to display by priority. We’ll have ti get creative when it comes to delivering powerful information succinctly in a limited space.
What’s the magic number of data points?
I don’t know yet. Maybe more than 3, less Than 12 per display.
The limitation will benefit the user by providing both simplicity and clarity that will make getting a real-time update both quick and dependable. We want to make a dashboard for everyday life that will really works. Not just another pile of widgets and feeds that just don’t matter at this moment. You’ll have to prioritize.
What’s the problem with competitive design of different data points?
Visual clutter.
While these things look super cool. I believe we need the data to stand out more than a brand or container does. I am all for having Dashboard themes that help the user quickly see difference when switching contexts but the data points need to adhere to that theme not compete with it. Branding might be okay if it is done in a tasteful way and it doesn’t compete with information.
These are just a few of the principals that are shaping our direction for DashReady. If you have something that you think breaks the norm of what dashboards have notoriously been Tweet us.
Car of the Future Could Include Personalized Dashboards -
This is just more validation that the unification of a Dashboard platform is eminent and required for a number of different applications in daily life. We’re excited to see this idea blossom. It means DashReady has some huge opportunities when it comes to delivering information to you.
Apple patents a lot of different things. I expect them to provide some sort of widget-like platform for delivering information to the iPhone or iPad. I suspect they will allow iPhone developers to write to the widget API so people can get an overview of a “Folder”, “App” or “Group” by manipulating a three-dimentional object.
MacRumors.com mentions:
The patent application, entitled “Multidimensional Widgets”, demonstrates Apple’s research into offering Dashboard widgets with multiple sides, allowing users to rotate them in virtual three dimensions to present different data or functionality and reduce visual clutter.
As an example, Apple describes a stock ticker widget where a user can define each side of a three-dimensional widget to contain detailed financial information on a single stock. The widget could adapt in shape to the number of entries made by the user, expanding or contracting based on additions or subtractions.
For example, a three-dimensional widget with four or fewer functions can be of the form of a tetrahedron; a three-dimensional widget with five or six functions can be of the form of a hexahedron; a three-dimensional widget with seven or eight functions can be of the form of a octahedron; and a three-dimensional widget with nine functions can be of the form of a dodecahedron. Thus, if a user specifies ten stock tickers for quotes and technicals, the widget 420 can expand from a hexahedron to a dodecahedron.
Apple also describes a “widget receptacle”, where multiple 3D widgets could be grouped together based on certain criteria and represented on a single larger 3D surface. Upon activation of one of the faces of the receptacle, the corresponding widget would be instantiated on its own.
Original Article: http://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/06/apple-patent-applications-heartbeat-biometrics-multidimensional-dashboard-widgets/
While this sounds really useful and interesting it doesn’t discourage us from developing the DashReady platform any more than other dashboards do. At the end of the day there are lots of different “Dashboard” products out there. Some have been successful and some not. I believe our goal is to create a single platform that could be available from any device — from your phone, to your desktop and ultimately your television that will work in unison. Users will need multiple contexts and need to check-in a couple times a day to get analytics that are relevant to your everyday life.
I am not discounting the 3D Widget dashboard idea. It sounds very futuristic. Instead, I just believe that isn’t really what people want. They just want a quick snapshot of right now that is simple and clear. Think about what people are logging into Twitter and Facebook for. The configuration process needs to be effortless and it needs to be available wherever you are and whatever you are using.
The Presidential Dashboard - More fiction than reality. This is an example of the real-time dashboard The President should have access to every morning. While this is primitive compared to the level of detail that is truly required it does however give you an idea of the value such a solution could provide.
I have followed the Box.net story for a few years now and I have to say they seriously impress me their ability to extend into virtually every platform, create strong partnerships, attract enterprise customers well as remain cool with the consumer.
If I had to pick a good example of the business we want to build we would want to follow in their footsteps. They have been successful in making the concept of sharing files using a web app into full blown cloud computing. Now they’re picking fights with Microsoft over Sharepoint usefulness and expense.
If you’re a starter you are going you can appreciate the execution of this service. We could all learn a thing or two on how to position and grow are businesses by watching how they build theirs. For someone who lives and breathes this stuff, I am blown away with what they have been able to accomplish.
iGoogle to replace your Google Apps (I thought I’d logged into Yahoo by accident) -
I though this was funny. Google is making iGoogle your default page when using Google Apps starting in July and this poor blogger was put off by the idea. I would have to agree with him. That is not the way to do it.
We’ve added a feedback link to the blog and we’ll be incorporating them into the product and our marketing site (just one page for now) shortly. Now you can send us your ideas, feedback and communicate problems you have when using our service.
http://getsatisfaction.com/dashready
After our initial post a couple of people have mentioned how cool it would be to have a flat panel in the office running Mac OS X with DashReady formatted to fit the screen. That lead us to conversations about the Panic Status board that they created to help provide the team with benchmarking insight to the health of the company.
http://www.panic.com/blog/2010/03/the-panic-status-board/
A very cool idea and a remarkable post. Check it out.