3D Interface Design for Newbie
For quite some time now, we have been coming across claims of introducing a ground breaking 3D application by company of the reputation of Microsoft. It is believed that the introduction of 3D interface will completely change the way we use applications. Perhaps, we are once again passing through the same phase as we did at the time of launching the web.
What’s so great about 3D that prompts us to keep trying, despite failures?
Technical innovations and achievements of the last century are prompting us to think as if we were Superman! We are beginning to believe that we can undertake multitasking and data handling in one go and perhaps look for data with an X-ray like vision. We imagine that we can be more productive if we can see more data. Let’s accept the fact that we are not Supermen or Superwomen, with most of us occupied with simple tasks as also that 3D can’t revolutionize the input needed for execution of any job nor it is likely to boost the out or data interpretation.
Many people imagine that humans can think better if things were in three dimensions. Their logic is that all the while we are handling three dimensional things. Then, there are others who theorize that data navigation will be faster due superior spatial memory. Well, I don’t accept that, fearing my files to be getting lost more frequently with a 3D facility than in the present 2D system!
True to expectations, Hollywood describes revolutionary 3D interfaces as sensational, which could be used with amazing ease. The touch screen in case of Minority Report and the interface as in Lawnmower Man give a perfect demonstration. You see none of the genuine issues concerning interfaces, dialogue boxes or even the essential tasks like editing or saving of document and moving or copying of data in between the applications.
When is 3D helpful?
3D interface is likely to make the concept unnatural. For instance, it could be very normal to present census data using a 3D map. That will be a very natural way of using 3D as the data here symbolizes a 3D space. On the contrary, having data or files in 3D makes it more difficult to locate, read and interpret the same. The very idea of using computers is to have data and files in an organized way. How does their dispersal in 3D help?
Anybody thinking on lines of having 3D should question them if the same thing can be done in 2 D without giving it a new element. In most cases the answer would be yes as in fact there are very limited few occasions when opting for 3D in an application really helps as in case of:
- A data that’s physically in three dimensions like Architecture, CAD, Maps and Medical Scanning etc.
- You are making some kind of a first person game.
- Aesthetics necessitate having 3D rather than reasons of interfacing. Interactions are indeed carried on a 2D plane, but portrayed in 3D to make them interesting.
- It’s the last one that could be exploited for developing interfaces of the future. We may add another dimension to improve the looks of the interface but to have easy to use software the interface interactions will need to be two or perhaps one dimensional.
One dimensional UI or linear UI
Many of the latest applications and devices like IPod, TiVo and certain models of the cell phones use one dimensional interface or linear interface. One vertical list presents application tasks. On choosing one task, you get a new list of options and tasks. You can go further deep with each linear screen to another new list or go back to the earlier list. This kind of interface is more convenient to use as you are required to make only one option on each screen.
By including 3D due its aesthetic appeal, we would, in many fields reduce the number of interface dimension, making use of software easier.