Apple patent reveals scrollable menus, toolbars for OS X Lion
Apple has filed a patent featuring some concepts for scrollable menus and toolbars that could eventually be used in the next version of OS X, 10.7 Lion. The new patent covers all kinds of things, from extra UI elements in the OS X desktop to special iOS menus and features. But they all look like what you see above -- an almost Cover Flow-like scrollable interface that boils down a series of functions or menus into a set of icons.
I like it -- while the drawback seems to be that you'd have to really know what's available in the menu and where to find it (because you only see one icon at a time, you'll basically have to just get used to knowing what the other options are), the menu seems like a great way to put a lot of functionality easily reachable in a very small space. There are a few different "menu shapes" to help with this, too, from just one icon rotating to the foreground, to an entire wheel of icons all with different features or choices on them.
As with all Apple patents, we'll note that these are strictly concepts, and there's no guarantee that a feature like this will actually show up in OS X. But it's good to see that Apple is still playing around with even very traditional UI interfaces like menus. Always nice to see innovation even in the growing-ever-older desktop space.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Keith Morris said 7:43PM on 11-08-2010
It seems clear to me that features such as this and the full screen feature that has already been demoed are stop-gap developments leading up to OS support for the touch screen iMac that we've also seen in patent filings. It's easy to imagine the entire OS going into "full screen" mode when the iMac monitor gets lowered into a horizontal position for touch. When you look at the Lion features in this context, it seems obvious where Apple is headed.
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stuck said 8:10PM on 11-08-2010
"For Lion" is pure speculation, unsupported in fact, even only mentioned in the first line. Amateurish, just amateurish. Not to mention insulting.
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ngmo.jp said 8:18PM on 11-08-2010
Who said it would be horizontal? That would be a horrible design decision. Imagine a gigantic Dinner tray on your table and you having to Egor your way up over the cornea crippling glare. yuck!
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trayser said 8:20PM on 11-08-2010
Some of the scrollable toolbar concepts are very similar to an existing iPad app called tactilis.
Here is a video demoing the user interface with scrollable tool buttons.
http://www.tactilisapp.com/#6
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doodad said 8:56PM on 11-08-2010
Visually, this is pretty much the exact interface for the 2007 wii game Endless Ocean. This is the best image I could find:
http://cdn1.gamepro.com/screens/140121/161448-17-2.jpg
I guess I'd have to read the patent to see what's "unique" about it.
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trayser said 9:45PM on 11-08-2010
I think the unique part is that they have made a single toolbar item plural. Unlike the photo you have linked, here in apple's case the selected tool and the visible portion of the toolbar is almost the same. I believe the main motive behind this is to save space. Otherwise, scrolling toolbars are found in many places. For example the convertbot application has a scrolling toolbar.
Anthony said 12:45AM on 11-09-2010
And just in time for them to announce the MacBook Wheel, too!
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laurahelde said 7:49AM on 11-09-2010
Everything you need is just a few hundred clicks away.
admkenshin said 7:32AM on 11-09-2010
This looks like a circular version of Sony's XMB. Of course, patent judges don't actually bother to investigate patents that they pass, so unless it's challenged in court it will go through.
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ron bird said 7:37AM on 11-09-2010
Fascinating, they obviously took a long look at the Nokia selection method. Nothing against Apple but they will try to say 'We did it first'. Incidentally the Nokia selection method was based on a paper, I think shown at CHI, by Professor Bob Spence(Imperial College London) For this reason I do not believe Nokia patented the concept.
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Nick Bailey said 7:46AM on 11-09-2010
Maybe something like the app Trampoline?
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