Metisse is awesome, build your own interface

Jza · Post by **Jza** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 1:15 am

So I guess Metisse is not so new anytime soon and now I have been impressed. This videos show the full potential of the Metisse power, of this is the design of interfaces and modifiying your applications in order to improve your experience.

Look how to 'fix' the gimp interface with Gimp:

http://www.youtube.com/share?v=Gp8GzKwBdsg

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:23 am

Amazing, isn't it?

As soon as other Linux distro makers wake up and start cluing in, I'm sure you'll see them start adding Metisse to their desktops.

Until then, for those interested in trying out a next-gen desktop, go and download Mandriva One 2007.1 and give it a try. It runs just great off of the live CD and I don't think you need a 3D graphics card to run it.

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 5:09 pm

I'm not really blown away by it. It looks kind of nice, I guess, but I don't really see any practical uses for it that actually improve usability or the way we interact with our computer. Same thing with Compiz/Beryl, it's just eye candy for an existing interface that dates back to the 1970's. And I'm still waiting for a replacement for this 19th century invention known as a keyboard.

Jza · Post by **Jza** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 7:32 pm

sound like you didn't even saw the video. Modifiying widgets on drag and drop and create your own UI is definetly what I will put as a practical use.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 8:42 pm

Without going in to too much detail, Metisse's two-mouse-click cut and paste certainly improves the cut and paste process.

Being able to angle application windows also increases my usable desktop surface.

Just a few observations I've made so far.

Vogateer · Post by **Vogateer** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 9:55 pm

Much as I find the cut and paste window-bending fantastic and a great idea, I can't say that I'm excited about changing the interface of any of the programs I use. It could be that I'm not clever, imaginative, or knowledgeable enough, but I can't think of a program that I use where I say to myself, "I could make this window and button layout much more efficient." Then again, I have absolutely no problem with the Gimp interface, either.

I'm sure it's great for people who want to do that sort of thing, but I was much more impressed by other aspects of Metisse such as that cut and paste and some of the features of virtual desktop management.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sat Apr 21, 2007 11:28 pm

Just for conversation sake, here's one way I utilize Metisse when using G.I.M.P....

Rotating GIMP's toolbar windows like that give me more screen space for the images I'm working on, yet I can still clearly see and use the tools without any difficulty.

As for the use of Metisse's Facades (which is what Jza is talking about), just image if you were a left-handed mouse user. You could duplicate your application's scroll bar in a Facade and move it to the left hand side of your desktop. Or combine your favourite/most used GIMP tools with NVU tools (if you happen to be doing something like building web pages) into one Facade interface. Instead of hunting and picking tools from the different toolbars for each app, they're all in one little window.

The possibilities are quite endless and can really give the user a lot of control over their desktop environment.

Here's a document ( http://insitu.lri.fr/~roussel/publicati ... acades.pdf ) describing some of the usability potential of Metisse, if you're interested in the topic.

Judland · Post by **Judland** » Sun Apr 22, 2007 12:08 am

Here's a neat little trick if you're someone like me who sometimes writes documents that contain numbers and you need to switch to the calculator from time to time.

Using Metisse, take the calculator display and copy it into a blank space in your OpenOffice toolbar. Now you can use the calculator within OpenOffice itself and not have to switch between apps.