HTML5 is here.  WebGL is here.  These are mature technologies and they are being adopted.  It is now possible to create high quality applications for the web.  We are about to reach a point of inflection.

The most significant feature of HTML5 for user interface design and development is the <canvas> tag.  The addition of a canvas to HTML provides a place to draw arbitrary two dimensional graphics within a web page.  Using the JavaScript API, shapes can be drawn to the canvas, images loaded and manipulated and entire applications built.

WebGL is the Khronos Group’s GPU accelerated 3D programming standard for the web.  Based on OpenGL/ES 2.0, which is used in accelerated embedded systems, WebGL opens up the way to create GPU accelerated 3D graphics within web pages, in addition to what is available under the two dimensional API.  The result is that HTML5 plus WebGL blurs the line between native and non-native applications.

Performance has always been considered one of the main benefits of native applications, the others being security and access to local services and data.  When people say performance, they generally mean graphical performance.  Once the graphics and 3D, is hardware accelerated, performance of the non-native application will equal the native application, and in some cases may surpass it.

The launch of Google’s Body Browser last week highlighted one way that 3D in web pages can be used.  So now some users are getting their first exposure to 3D applications on the web, and that means a whole lot of developers are going to be interested in developing with WebGL.

The OpenGL API, along with the associated shader language, is low level.  It requires the developer to write a lot of code to achieve a result on screen.  And unless the developer is familiar with the OpenGL rendering pipeline and has knowledge of hardware, it will be difficult to acquire an in depth undersanding of OpenGL and its graphics drawing process as a whole.

To help the process of creating graphical applications more easily with OpenGL, frameworks are often used.  Frameworks come with different emphases and the one best suited depends on the application being developed.  For example the game engine GLQuake was developed to power 1996′s Quake.  A game engine, however, would not be suitable to develop a WebGL accounting system or a video download service.

If developing for the Apple platform you would use Apple’s CoreAnimation framework.  From the Mac OSX Reference Library: “Using Core Animation, developers can create dynamic user interfaces for their applications without having to use low-level graphics APIs such as OpenGL to get respectable animation performance.”

Apple’s choice to pass on Flash in favour of HTML5 makes a lot of sense once WebGL has been brought into the equation.  In fact it would be not at all surprising if Apple brought the CoreAnimation API to WebGL, allowing their developers to leverage the same framework to create applications that will work across all the Apple platforms, iPhone, iPad, Mac and Web as well.

So what about developers on non-Apple platforms?  Ideally they would be able to use a framework that was cross platform, covering the major systems and WebGL as well.  For development of graphically rich 3D applications it would have to cover the main framework requirements being:

• Scalable from small screens (low end mobile phone) to big screens (1080p TV)
• High level, powerful API, to make developement easier
• Flexible, to be able to fit into different technology environments easily
• Provide consistency across application components, applications and platforms

These frameworks  aren’t here yet, but it won’t be too long.  The opportunity for framework guys, like us, is to empower the developers with just such a framework.  Its an inflection point for graphics and user interface.  For the developers, its an easy downhill ride from here.

The lines of code in an operating system or virtualised environment is in the multi millions (Linux is around 6 million lines of code).  The lines of code in a set of base services on top of that, say email, SMS, MMS, or VOD services is equally significant.

These are complex, demanding and expensive systems.  And you know what?  Users care more about the way their device looks, feels, presents and handles.

Its the stuff that the consumer interacts with that is important.  To the user that is.

That is not to say that the stuff under the hood is unimportant.  Quite the contrary, it is vital.  The consumer doesn’t see it though.  It is difficult to understand and impossible for the consumer to value.

The user interface is the single most important factor driving sales of devices and services.  Just look at the iPhone if you don’t believe me.  The user interface is critical, cannot be taken for granted, cannot be side stepped and cannot be skimped over.

One of the main applications required was an email client.  Now in 2001, the choice of good graphical-based Linux email clients was thin on the ground.  Bonus points were awarded for calendar and contact management.

We chose Evolution 0.9 for a number of reasons.  We were already headed down a GTK path and didn’t want to start with KDE applications as well, and it did a lot of what we wanted.

It was also attractive to the customer because  it bore a striking resemblance to Microsoft Outlook.  This was also what killed it, you see it the customer didn’t want it to look too much like Outlook!

FFWD -> 2009

There is a lot of familiar-but-different stuff going on.  Two new products that stand out are:

Toshiba’s new TG01:
http://tinyurl.com/bq4w9x
http://tinyurl.com/dalppk

And HTC’s Touchflow Windows Mobile:
http://tinyurl.com/6z7nsm

As you can see, there is an emphasis on taking the standard Windows Mobile offering and customising it with the Toshiba and HTC look and brand.

The same thing is true for Google Android.  When / if companies like Toshiba do make an Android mobile, they will want to create a unique GUI for the same reasons.

Differentiation of product is mandatory, its branding, familiarity and its important.

The key features of a good UI are:

1. Familiarity
2. Ease of use

You see, the customer wants it to be familiar, but not too familiar.  They don’t want a copy of their competitions application, but they want their application to be easily understood.

Its a fine line.

At FST we have found that separation of the GUI from the code is vital.  It lets the customer change the look and feel at will and is what gives our customers their uniqueness.

We have gone to great lengths to create a system that allows the customer to very easily change all aspects of the user interface without having to plunge into the code.

This means small tweaks and big GUI changes alike are easy to execute and don’t require code change.

I visited new customers and old ones and the message is the same.  They want to look different, they want to be in control of their own products, they want to have something better.

I have been hearing this for a long time now.  One of our oldest customers is Toshiba (9 years now) and Toshiba is a major licensee of Microsoft Windows for laptop PCs.  The main gripe that Toshiba has with Microsoft Windows is that it is impossible for them to differentiate themselves from their competitors such as HP and Dell.

With the coming of Android, the story is set to repeat itself.  Dozens of Android phones will come onto the market and they will look very similar to one another.

This is one of the main selling points of FancyPants.  It can be used to create a unique look and feel and layout.  It can be integrated with existing platforms such as Moblin, LiMo and Android (email me to ask how).

We like to say it gives products that “Wow Factor”, but then, you will have to decide for yourself.

The thing is, though, I’m not quite sure what the long term Nokia-Symbian-Trolltech love triangle is all about.

One twisted theory I’ve heard (ok, I admit its mine) is that Nokia will prop Symbian up as a crippled option for its competitors, never quite good enough for a real modern day smartphone and never quite supported properly.  Slowly Nokia will use Symbian less and less for its own purposes while it rolls out more and more Linux phones.

In other words, maybe Nokia is trying to kill competition through poor alternatives and sheer frustration.  Far fetched?  Perhaps.

Another theory is that Linux will become the vehicle for Nokia’s higher end, more general purpose computing devices and Symbian for the lower end, soon-to-be-at-the-end-of-lifetime devices.

Either way I’m not buying any Symbian shares.

FST announced support for Intel’s new Atom processor last night:

http://www.fst.net/resources/press/pr.20080820.0.html

As the only UI Innovator (their term,  but I don’t mind) in the MID ecosystem we enjoy the attention of the companies really wanting to create something different.

The MID stands to be a new way of working with our surroundings and each other.  I’m sure you have all seen the video:

http://moblin.org/ItsYourMoveNext_video.php

There is still a lot of stuff to work out, much of it infrastructure – by which I mean connectivity, services, fees, awareness and education, just to name a few, but its a step in the right direction.  A far cry from the first Ericsson seminar I went to where they talked about “Always On”, the marketing term for GPRS.

The user interface, of course, is one of the most crucial aspects.  Its not about looking good, although that always helps, but its about being easy to use, providing visual cues, and being responsive.

For us this is the start of an exciting time.  With Intel getting more and more into the traditional embedded space, there will be a lot of competition, but also a lot of opening up of what has traditionally been closed markets for software vendors.  Intel is like the proverbial Bull in the China Shop and will eventually level out the field somewhat.

As long as people are paying attention to the user interface on these kinds of devices we at FST are happy.  Thanks Intel.

Some more photos of the new Intel Menlow based Toshiba UMPC with FancyPants GUI.

Cool colors, stylish backing. We could make a GUI theme to match you know.

However…..

Its pretty bulky for binary data blobs.

I’m checking in a media library of albums and album covers for a project, and the 2.5G source took about 1 hour to push to the origin and git added another 2.5G to the repository, bringing it to 5G.

Since we won’t be changing the data very often, a single checkout should be enough.