A Flash-based GUI as a Windows Interface --- has anyone EVER heard of this or tried this?
Sunday, May 18, 2003 by Big Doug | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
After visiting some of the new movie sites such as the X-Men 2 and Terminator 3 sites,and seeing how both have a VERY high-powered Flash-based interface going on, the inevitible question springs to mind:
Does ANYONE know of any project going on ANYWHERE to create a Flash-Based Shell Replacement for the ENTIRE Windows or OSX (or better yet, Linux
) Interface?
If not, I think as a member of the Customization community, we should explore this.
Man...think of the possibilities that could lead to. And it doesnt have to be a shell replacement either, but something like what Object Desktop does --- ENHANCING whats already there and hiding what isnt needed.
I would be willing to fork over MY OWN MONEY to get a project like that going. And I CAN'T be the first person who has thought of this.
So to the coding lords at Stardock, what is the TECHNICAL feasability of a Flash-based GUI and all the shell hooks and stuff actually working ?
And Frog, I KNOW you could sell it... I'd pay whatever it took to have what essentially would be the ULTIMATE interface...
PLEASE get back to me on this. I'm BEYOND interested.
Does ANYONE know of any project going on ANYWHERE to create a Flash-Based Shell Replacement for the ENTIRE Windows or OSX (or better yet, Linux
) Interface?If not, I think as a member of the Customization community, we should explore this.
Man...think of the possibilities that could lead to. And it doesnt have to be a shell replacement either, but something like what Object Desktop does --- ENHANCING whats already there and hiding what isnt needed.
I would be willing to fork over MY OWN MONEY to get a project like that going. And I CAN'T be the first person who has thought of this.
So to the coding lords at Stardock, what is the TECHNICAL feasability of a Flash-based GUI and all the shell hooks and stuff actually working ?
And Frog, I KNOW you could sell it...
I'd pay whatever it took to have what essentially would be the ULTIMATE interface...PLEASE get back to me on this. I'm BEYOND interested.
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Jafo
Reply #4 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:00 PM
Reply #4 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:00 PM
http://www.shellcity.net [I forgot]...[damn this html stuff]....
Jafo
Reply #6 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:12 PM
Reply #6 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:12 PM
Do a search for 'shells'....you should find one or three...
Styl-X Design
Reply #8 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:20 PM
Reply #8 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:20 PM
Big doub, I don't know if its posible, but before I came into skinning, I was creating all kinds of stuff in flash, I had a idea about skinning, so I selected a active desktop with a flash file as background. It was nice, cause I could link to sites and play little animations over there, just not sure if there is a java code to hide your taskbar and open a startmenu...
Big Doug
Reply #9 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:21 PM
Reply #9 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:21 PM
Well, I found all the shell replacements THEY have...and I'm still not clear on which particular one does what I'm looking for.
If only Active Desktop weren't so....limited...then I could just do it through THAT.
Ah, forget it.
If only Active Desktop weren't so....limited...then I could just do it through THAT.
Ah, forget it.
Styl-X Design
Reply #10 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:28 PM
Reply #10 Sunday, May 18, 2003 10:28 PM
Its not really limited, if you hide your taskbar and stuff... but why flash actually? You DO can make a skin animated...
Big Doug
Reply #11 Monday, May 19, 2003 12:40 AM
Reply #11 Monday, May 19, 2003 12:40 AM
well, If you take a look at the whole interface and navigation system on the Terminator 3 official site,I'm talking about all the stuff going on --- from the transitions and effects when an item is clicked on up to the whole structure of the interface and all the automated animation and fx. While I'm sure that it would take a hell of a LOT of work to get a windows GUI to do everything that's going on in that example, I still think that it's possible to do it somehow on more than an active desktop level.
I'm not a programmer (although I own Visual Studio, I'm really CRAP when it comes to programming), and my skills at Flash are equally inept; so maybe I'm just barking up a tree that really hasn't been planted yet. But down the road I see a Flash-enabled WindowBlinds that could REALLY spark up the next level in customization. That would be a cool feature for WB to debut on Longhorn with. Certainly the GUI in Longhorn will be able to take it...assuming microsoft still takes that road.
Heh. Well it was an idea and I guess its just not time for it yet.
I'm not a programmer (although I own Visual Studio, I'm really CRAP when it comes to programming), and my skills at Flash are equally inept; so maybe I'm just barking up a tree that really hasn't been planted yet. But down the road I see a Flash-enabled WindowBlinds that could REALLY spark up the next level in customization. That would be a cool feature for WB to debut on Longhorn with. Certainly the GUI in Longhorn will be able to take it...assuming microsoft still takes that road.
Heh. Well it was an idea and I guess its just not time for it yet.
Jafo
Reply #12 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:50 AM
Reply #12 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:50 AM
I've seen the flash on the T3 site...and a shell such as LiteSTEP could imitate its appearance quite well...but it WOULD take a fair bit of work to do....layercuts would be the module to 'make it happen' [not one I am used to, unfortunately.....yet]...
Jafo
Reply #13 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:51 AM
Reply #13 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:51 AM
Keep an eye on Shell City....I have seen items relating to 'flash shells' there in the past...
moshi
Reply #14 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:24 AM
Reply #14 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:24 AM
there is ProjectFlash: http://www.shellfront.org/shells/projectflash/
not really a need for DesktopX, Active Desktop will do just the same for embedding websites.
Flash on the desktop is a resource monster though. that Terminator site isn´t too spectacular, there are far more impressive Flash sites around. could be emulated in LiteStep using layercut and lsdynamic (not that much work if you´re familiar with it). of course you can embed websites on your desktop with LiteStep as well (using lsbrowser).
not really a need for DesktopX, Active Desktop will do just the same for embedding websites.
Flash on the desktop is a resource monster though. that Terminator site isn´t too spectacular, there are far more impressive Flash sites around. could be emulated in LiteStep using layercut and lsdynamic (not that much work if you´re familiar with it). of course you can embed websites on your desktop with LiteStep as well (using lsbrowser).
craeonics
Reply #15 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:29 AM
Reply #15 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:29 AM
ProjectFlash moshi pointed to is the only Flash based shell I know off.
And LiteStep can't even come close to what's possible in Flash. Flash is vector based, so you can rotate and scale at will. Ofcourse you can fake that in LiteStep, but that would be highy cumbersome.
And LiteStep can't even come close to what's possible in Flash. Flash is vector based, so you can rotate and scale at will. Ofcourse you can fake that in LiteStep, but that would be highy cumbersome.
moshi
Reply #16 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:39 AM
Reply #16 Monday, May 19, 2003 4:39 AM
was just speaking of emulating that Terminator site. not much scaling/rotating there. most effects could be done with moving an alphatransparent layercut shortcut with lsdynamic while blending it in at the same time (that´s possible, i have already done that when i was playing on emulating the Slicker program for KDE).
paxx
Reply #17 Monday, May 19, 2003 5:31 AM
Reply #17 Monday, May 19, 2003 5:31 AM
The biggest problem is that Flash is very very very very resource hungry. So, unless you got memory and processor speed to spare, it would just slow you down extremely. Definately not something I'd recommend. If you want to try it out, try it for yourself. Place the Matrix web page as a component, full screen, on your desktop.
Then, try to work. See how long it takes to open Photoshop, Word or Outlook. Try to get some work done. You'll see, you'll be turning off that Flash object on your desktop really quick.
moshi
Reply #18 Monday, May 19, 2003 5:35 AM
Reply #18 Monday, May 19, 2003 5:35 AM
it´s a little more than a simple zoomer (DesktopX) or layercut (LiteStep) as this object also gets moved and blended on the fly. it´s possible in LS and probably in DesktopX as well using something as the bouncing ball object.
one disadvantage of Flash is that it all one rectangle window, so either you have to set it to always on bottom or the whole window will get on top of other windows when focused. that means problems if you want it to be more than an animated wallpaper with some shortcuts and objects. think of a menu for example. the only way to work around this i can imagine would be a single instance for each submenu. as i said above: resource monster ...
one disadvantage of Flash is that it all one rectangle window, so either you have to set it to always on bottom or the whole window will get on top of other windows when focused. that means problems if you want it to be more than an animated wallpaper with some shortcuts and objects. think of a menu for example. the only way to work around this i can imagine would be a single instance for each submenu. as i said above: resource monster ...
kona0197
Reply #19 Monday, May 19, 2003 12:26 PM
Reply #19 Monday, May 19, 2003 12:26 PM
I don't know about a flash based windows, although that would be awesome but I have heard about a flash based GUI BIOS. Apparentlly intel and microsoft want to get rid of the BIOS chip and replace it with a self learning GUI that is flash based.
craeonics
Reply #20 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:20 PM
Reply #20 Monday, May 19, 2003 1:20 PM
Probably a different kind of Flash, kona. More the "flash your BIOS" kind of Flash.
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Reply #1 Sunday, May 18, 2003 9:54 PM