Theory about Live Folders. Interactive Live Tiles?

[bilzkh]

So let me start by saying that the Live Folders function is by far one of the best features added by Microsoft to date. The idea, the animation, the rationale, it all makes sense and it looks good. I haven't said this for a while, but, good stuff, Microsoft!

Now onto my theory. I think the Live Folders might be the result of Microsoft's work in developing interactive tiles for Windows and Windows Phone. To me (as just a consumer), the underlying function when tapping onto a folder looks like "expansion", i.e. a tile expanding and opening up additional functions.

Imagine taking this approach to one's mail tiles by having the user tap the tile to expand it, and then scroll through unread mail.

Perhaps tap on the Music tile and be able to pause, play or change tracks.

Perhaps to the FB tile and posting a status update, liking a friend's post, scrolling through one's feed, etc.

If developed and delivered alongside an SDK, the potential in 'smart tiles' is immense.

 

[Ma Rio]

I could see this working out preety well. I'll try to put out a concept later. This could be awesome, however it kinda builds on things Android already has.

 

[bilzkh]

I could see this working out preety well. I'll try to put out a concept later. This could be awesome, however it kinda builds on things Android already has.

Well I liked the added power Android's widgets offered, but I wasn't impressed by the execution.

Widgets on Android looked as though they were tacked on like stickers as opposed to built into the UI. Nokia's App Folders on WP also looked like they were tacked on, but the Live Folders were clearly designed to conform with the WP UI, i.e. they don't look out of place.

I would be happy if we could get 'smart tiles' that maintain this conformity but give us the power of Android's widgets. In fact, 'smart tiles' could even work to Cortana's advantage by allowing the user to scroll through their daily brief (i.e. weather, calendar, news, etc) from the Start Screen.

 

[Zulfigar]

Something like this?



App used was Quick Controls (you don't have to buy it, the $1.29 is just a donation ).

 

[Ma Rio]

Looks like my Illustrator just uncracked itself, so now I have to deal with that. If I get it working, I'll do the concept. I don't feel like doing it in paint

 

[Zulfigar]

Looks like my Illustrator just uncracked itself, so now I have to deal with that. If I get it working, I'll do the concept. I don't feel like doing it in paint

Good luck sir! This seems like it might be a very interesting concept!

 

[CJ Thunder]

This is all probably a hint at what that 3d touch and explosion of tiles was/is supposed to be.

I also think it looks more like Zune now though. Folders with lots of tiles in them rotate around more and at different sizes. Makes my start much more dynamic.

 

[bilzkh]

This is all probably a hint at what that 3d touch and explosion of tiles was/is supposed to be.

Looks like that to me as well...the Live Folder stuff could very well be a by-product.

Something like this?

View attachment 75376

App used was Quick Controls (you don't have to buy it, the $1.29 is just a donation ).

Very close except the one tile showing just the headphones should expand and show the playback controls, i.e. become a bigger tile with controls. But good illustration.

 

[Ma Rio]

This is one side of the idea.
It's just like a pop-up that happens when you hover a tile or something like that, we'll figure it out later

Note: OFC, it changes according to your accent color, mine is Nokia blue, but I just used Cyan for this concept.

However, I'll try to put out another concept later that would go with how I imagined 3D tiles would be. I think it will look better.

 

[CJ Thunder]

I like your concept but I think the back should vanish more as well as the pop up. Otherwise awesome

 

[ScottGeek]

That sounds like a reasonable enhancement to Live Folders... Depending on the "Functional" Tiles you group together you can simulate this already with the current Live Folders...

Meaning, you build this Live Folder with a group of Live Tiles that do the functions you want with a tap. Like Play, Mute, etc. As for the 2nd level of tapping a Live Tile and having this expand into more tap-able tiles.... ummmm, yeah that one definitely a good bit more complex to pull off even for a developer. I can't image it being impossible.

The Hover tile? Well, the OS would have to add some additional focus control... i.e. when you tap something on the home screen... it gets focus or control... the hover tile might cause unpleasant side effects... it would definitively be interesting to figure out in regards to the various device screen sizes.... :amaze:

~ScottGeek.

 

[bilzkh]

This is one side of the idea.
It's just like a pop-up that happens when you hover a tile or something like that, we'll figure it out later

Cool, but I was thinking of the actual Music tile expanding into showing the playback controls. Invoking the expansion could happen through a long-tap, Microsoft could layer the tap: immediate = open the tile; 2 sec = expand tile controls; 3-4 sec = modify/move tile.

The alternative approach could be to configure 'power tiles' such that they function identically to the Live Folders. So the tile itself would be like the Live Folder in that tapping it will result in an expanded tile as opposed to opening the tile, you'd need to tap the core icon (e.g. the headphones icon in Music) to open the app.

 

[Ma Rio]

Cool, but I was thinking of the actual Music tile expanding into showing the playback controls. Invoking the expansion could happen through a long-tap, Microsoft could layer the tap: immediate = open the tile; 2 sec = expand tile controls; 3-4 sec = modify/move tile.

The alternative approach could be to configure 'power tiles' such that they function identically to the Live Folders. So the tile itself would be like the Live Folder in that tapping it will result in an expanded tile as opposed to opening the tile, you'd need to tap the core icon (e.g. the headphones icon in Music) to open the app.

So you mean the expansion would actually be like in this video, where the new options would happen on the tile itself, not on a pop-up or anything like that?

Time 0:39

 

[bilzkh]

So you mean the expansion would actually be like in this video, where the new options would happen on the tile itself, not on a pop-up or anything like that?

Time 0:39

Windows Phone 8.1 / 9.0 Concept UI - YouTube

Yep.

 

[anon(5445874)]

What's up with all these people who come up with concepts that are just ugly and not useful?

 

[Xpider_MX]

Yep.

Sorry but I don't like it... What about people with big fingers? The music controls are too small.

 

[JmesD]

I saw this thread today and it remind me about a concept I posted at the verge a few months back.

This tiles would act as normal tiles, giving you information and accessing the app once you click on them but if you flick them downwards after holding them for a split second, as was used to select tiles in windows 8, they would bring up a selection of secondary tiles that would either deep link to a section of the app or perform a specific action of the app without even needing to enter it.

They would mostly be used for quick tasks and to help declutter start screens. Here's an example of how it would be to send a text using a contact action tile.


And here are two other of deep linking and executing an action without leaving the start screen.








after the using the live folders I would change that concept to expand the tile with one click and to open it by clicking in the initial tile again.

 

[colinkiama]

I think live folders arw actually 'exploding tiles' you can male a folder called facebook and pin facebook features in the folder like, create a new message, look at your friends, show the news feed, best friend feed etc. but interactive live tiles are something completely different. Imagine an tile for weather. if you tap on the arrow you will see more detail about the weather, look at what happens at specific dates and times, without even checking the app. Its basically a widget that is only activated on a button once at a time. On windows you can have many interactive tiles expanded as long as your computer is capable. That is how it should be like.