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Splinter
dmd7978:
I get the impression from the above that one possible use of Splinter would be to have a rapid ability to switch between desktop environments. So instead of having everything you frequently use in one place, all the time, you could define a desktop for, I dunno, gaming, another for work, another for surfing... allow for all the crossover that happens between those things too. If I'm reading this stuff right, then an important marker of difference between the standard Windows desktop and Splinter could be that a "Splinter Desktop" isn't just a wallpaper, it's a wallpaper with embedded functionality. So if you can switch to a new desktop by choosing it off a pane of available desktops you can also be changing your working environment entirely, not just the way it looks.
Or am I still misunderstanding what this is supposed to be about?
-oblivion (May 05, 2012, 03:38 AM)
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Hi, oblivion, thanks for reply. Just about halfway done with the splinterface. 1024x768 okay?
and yes, your point is valid. I just REALLY, REALLY do not like it being said "splinter desktop". Almost all other desktop interface apps put some type of window that obstructs Explorer, or covers the standard Windows wallpaper, etc. Splinter doesn't do that. A page that is loaded in Splinter, if you go to personalize in 7 or properties, in XP, shows to be nothing but the actual desktop wallpaper background in Windows.
The way that I say it, sometimes, is that Splinter is Explorer's front end. It's herald, kinda. I don't want Splinter to be thought of as a separate app running over Windows. I want it to be seen for what it is, just an extension of Explorer. (The reason that Splinter does what it does, is just cause it looks at Explorer and Windows "obstacles" and laughs at them, and says, "no", you are wrong about yourself. That is it. Nothing new is being done. It is just telling Explorer to stop acting so stupidly)
But, the rest, yes, it COULD be that way. I am telling you, it is WAY too diverse to "label" it as "ANY ONE THING". It is whatever you want it to be, period.
But it isn't "Splinter" that is whatever it is. It is Spli-space. The infinitely thin layer between the desktop wallpaper and all other windows, yet the infinitely large "universe" that allows for anything to occur, within the dimensions of the screen, in any way, in real-time. "Spli-space" has always been part of the desktop environment, within Windows. It just took Splinter showing where it "was".
Just ONE splinterface, Arkham Edition, which has already been created, allows the following
Splinter
oblivion:
I get it. But MOST users don't want philosophical concepts or even to understand the difference between an application extension and an application, they want to know the answer to "what will this do for me" and they don't want an answer that's more complicated than the question.
I'm not sure anybody much even cares about Explorer -- the desktop itself is itself and you're providing a way to change how that works. Make the point, if you like, that if Explorer can do it then Splinter can too, and explain, if you want, that that's because Splinter just tells Explorer to do something on your behalf, it doesn't replace it. That'll reassure people that they're not risking breaking Windows. But you need a way to sell it to people and saying that it's NOT a desktop replacement when all your demonstrations show it being , er, a desktop replacement isn't going to wash. Forget the philosophy, that can come back when you're helping people who want to get it to make rice pudding and cycle up the curtains.
What you have, if I'm understanding everything right, is something you can simply describe as a way people can flip between working environments that themselves are almost infinitely customisable. Live with it. :)
dmd7978:
I get it. But MOST users don't want philosophical concepts or even to understand the difference between an application extension and an application, they want to know the answer to "what will this do for me" and they don't want an answer that's more complicated than the question.
I'm not sure anybody much even cares about Explorer -- the desktop itself is itself and you're providing a way to change how that works. Make the point, if you like, that if Explorer can do it then Splinter can too, and explain, if you want, that that's because Splinter just tells Explorer to do something on your behalf, it doesn't replace it. That'll reassure people that they're not risking breaking Windows. But you need a way to sell it to people and saying that it's NOT a desktop replacement when all your demonstrations show it being , er, a desktop replacement isn't going to wash. Forget the philosophy, that can come back when you're helping people who want to get it to make rice pudding and cycle up the curtains.
What you have, if I'm understanding everything right, is something you can simply describe as a way people can flip between working environments that themselves are almost infinitely customisable. Live with it. :)
-oblivion (May 05, 2012, 04:40 AM)
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Haha, okay, thank you, i guess I can live with it...if I must. When put that way, I sound petty in my "whatever it is" I have with Splinter..
That is about some of the best advice I have, ever, gotten, right there, thanks.
TaoPhoenix:
I get the impression from the above that one possible use of Splinter would be to have a rapid ability to switch between desktop environments. So instead of having everything you frequently use in one place, all the time, you could define a desktop for, I dunno, gaming, another for work, another for surfing... allow for all the crossover that happens between those things too. If I'm reading this stuff right, then an important marker of difference between the standard Windows desktop and Splinter could be that a "Splinter Desktop" isn't just a wallpaper, it's a wallpaper with embedded functionality. So if you can switch to a new desktop by choosing it off a pane of available desktops you can also be changing your working environment entirely, not just the way it looks.
Or am I still misunderstanding what this is supposed to be about?
-oblivion (May 05, 2012, 03:38 AM)
--- End quote ---
You're definitely on a good track there, I'll reverse it a little and say that it is a "dynamic desktop" so for example while I don't have the energy to do it right now/never, You could program the splinter with my current layout of icons/(Triggers?) and be able to play "Jack in the box" with it all, for days it's too much noise, "put it all away". Wallpaper not even required.
However another new idea occurred to me this morning. Dmd it struck me that a current downside is that it all seems to be coded by hand. What if there were a master-scripting logic that resides in a master file, that the program reads/imports and then it spins out all these linked nodes?
Going on from there, I think it would be fun if it made a desktop chess game viewer. How? Because on one side chess notation is standard, maybe a middleware connector to slightly expand the assumptions behind the notation, that's relative cake for you hotshot dev types, then Splinter starts from a stock layout of pieces and reads in the notation and moves the pieces by using the notation moves as triggers! It's like BattleChess for 2012! ;D
dmd7978:
I get the impression from the above that one possible use of Splinter would be to have a rapid ability to switch between desktop environments. So instead of having everything you frequently use in one place, all the time, you could define a desktop for, I dunno, gaming, another for work, another for surfing... allow for all the crossover that happens between those things too. If I'm reading this stuff right, then an important marker of difference between the standard Windows desktop and Splinter could be that a "Splinter Desktop" isn't just a wallpaper, it's a wallpaper with embedded functionality. So if you can switch to a new desktop by choosing it off a pane of available desktops you can also be changing your working environment entirely, not just the way it looks.
Or am I still misunderstanding what this is supposed to be about?
-oblivion (May 05, 2012, 03:38 AM)
--- End quote ---
You're definitely on a good track there, I'll reverse it a little and say that it is a "dynamic desktop" so for example while I don't have the energy to do it right now/never, You could program the splinter with my current layout of icons/(Triggers?) and be able to play "Jack in the box" with it all, for days it's too much noise, "put it all away". Wallpaper not even required.
However another new idea occurred to me this morning. Dmd it struck me that a current downside is that it all seems to be coded by hand. What if there were a master-scripting logic that resides in a master file, that the program reads/imports and then it spins out all these linked nodes?
Going on from there, I think it would be fun if it made a desktop chess game viewer. How? Because on one side chess notation is standard, maybe a middleware connector to slightly expand the assumptions behind the notation, that's relative cake for you hotshot dev types, then Splinter starts from a stock layout of pieces and reads in the notation and moves the pieces by using the notation moves as triggers! It's like BattleChess for 2012! ;D
-TaoPhoenix (May 05, 2012, 06:24 AM)
--- End quote ---
However another new idea occurred to me this morning. Dmd it struck me that a current downside is that it all seems to be coded by hand. What if there were a master-scripting logic that resides in a master file, that the program reads/imports and then it spins out all these linked nodes?
Well, couple things. If you mean triggers, not nodes, and you mean a template set of triggers, yes, that is in the works. And the "coding" by hand is what allows complex splinterfaces to be created by average end users. A detailed splinterface is every bit as complex as "any" randomly selected software application. However, so much simpler because regular end users are able to create them due to the ease of dragging images around to set the splanimations
Oh, oh, now i get the last paragraph, yes, good thinking. It is a bit of a twist on my plan to create a plugin for CAD apps, that will create an xml file which Splinter will read and auto place splicons on various pages, for automatic 3d environment creation. Yes, good thinking, that is using your head, all right.
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