Brainstorm

UI wait indicator

Posted on 2009-09-23 02:18 UTC by alan bruce. Status: Under consideration, Categories: Desktop, User Experience, System.

Currently, when the system (CPU) is under high load, the UI can become choppy and unresponsive. This can be irritating and confusing to users, who don't understand why the UI isn't responding as expected. On a desktop environment, an hourglass or clock appears on the mouse pointer to indicate that the system is "busy". Some other mobile OSes don't have to worry about this because they don't allow multi-tasking, but Maemo does, and there needs to be some way to indicate to the user that the UI is not able to repond normally.

Discussion thread: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?p=358148

Solutions for this brainstorm

Solution #1: big throbber

Posted on 2009-09-23 02:26 UTC by alan bruce.

When the CPU is under high load or some other similar situation, a full-screen, semi-transparent "throbber" (like the busy indicator in the browser, Modest, and elsewhere) appears over the full screen. This behaves like the hourglass animation on the mouse pointer on desktop UIs; the UI can still be used to some extent, but it is very clear to the user that the device is "busy" and won't be responding normally.

Solution #2: Disable user actions until process is complete...

Posted on 2009-09-25 16:58 UTC by Tim Samoff.

Another solution would be to disable user actions until the current process is complete. This could be done only to the current app and to everything within that app except for the multitask button. This way, the current app/process could be minimized while waiting for the process to complete.

Solution #3: Use the programmable LED

Posted on 2009-10-26 18:42 UTC by Stephen Gadsby.

Rather than obsure all or part of the LCD screen with a throbber, meanwhile adding additional processor load for that animation, display a distinct "busy" color & blink pattern via the LED. While a pattern on the LED may not be as immediately recognizable to new users as, say, an on-screen animated hourglass, users would likely come to recognize the particular LED light show as "busy" without too much trouble. Additionally, once the proper NJoy string is read in and pushed across I2C to the LED controller, there should be no additional processing load placed upon the CPU.

Solution #5: Dim the display background light

Posted on 2009-10-30 06:54 UTC by Antti Pajula.

When the CPU/GPU is under heavy load, dim the display background light. Not totally off, but noticeably dimmer. This would also save power while processing. When the device is responsive again, the background light returns to normal.

Solution #5: "Big throbber" with display backlight

Posted on 2009-10-30 10:27 UTC by Antti Pajula.

Don't just fade the backlight, but make it throb. I.e. to differentiate from normal background light fade due inactivity.

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