On Jun 4, 2009, at 2:51 AM, Joe Ranieri wrote:


On Jun 4, 2009, at 03:44, Ben wrote:

Hi list,

I've been sketching out an application and could do with a little advice on which cocoa-direction to take. It's a full-screen (kiosk) type app, running in a very controlled environment (not for wide release) but which would run on an external touchscreen monitor.

While I can make buttons and labels big enough for fingers to poke, I'm concerned about controls like table headers and scrollers being large enough to make finger-size targets. I'm asking sooner rather than after testing the usability in case there are special considerations I should take before writing the first lines of code.

The only options I can think of are:

1. Make a normal app and use quartz debug to scale *everything* up
2. Subclass and/or redraw any controls too small for finger taps
3. Shut up and try it out first

I don't think option 1 will work well. Apple hasn't done too much to make anything resolution independent. Try running stuff on a non-1.0 scale factor to see. We ended up going with option 2, partially for usability, and partially because we wanted an entirely themed kiosk environment anyways.


For a kiosk, you should definitely consider your own UI. That's what I have done. You'll also find that if your app will be exclusively used in touch environments, some of the Aqua controls may not fit well at all (since they were designed primarily for point-and-click). (Same thing goes for iPhone OS UI; totally different set of controls and behaviors).

In terms of resolution independence, note that while Apple's own Cocoa controls may not yet be RI-ready, the underlying frameworks are basically all there. I actually submitted an app for the design awards back in Tiger days that was RI-savvy. It not only worked with integral scale factors, but the fractional values as well.

___________________________________________________________
Ricky A. Sharp         mailto:rsh...@instantinteractive.com
Instant Interactive(tm)   http://www.instantinteractive.com



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