Writing a New Front-End

**sean335** · 03-04-2007, 08:34 PM

I've looked through the various front-ends that were available, and I wasn't really happy with appearance of any of them. I'd also like one that is written in something other than visual basic to allow it to potentially be ported to linux. I made these screens up to give myself an idea of what I want out of a front-end. They're pretty rough and have some big issues (mainly cluttered and too much blue), but that will all be taken care of as development progresses. I have a few copy-pasted images in there to save time in the draft process. I'm thinking I'll write it in c++ with opengl graphics. The biggest problem is going to be reverse engineering the map data from mappoint so I can do my own routing and rendering of maps.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-04-2007, 08:49 PM

So you just want alot of GPS data with the stuff over it? I think that could prove very confusing in the car.

**sean335** · 03-04-2007, 09:00 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

So you just want alot of GPS data with the stuff over it? I think that could prove very confusing in the car.

?
The first image is a regular map. The other two are menu pages. I just want something that looks good and is fully integrated.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-04-2007, 09:08 PM

On the second page you still have the map data in the back, just opaque

**sebberry** · 03-04-2007, 09:11 PM

I wish I could build my own front-end... hell.. I can't even make a skin for RR.

**sean335** · 03-04-2007, 09:38 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

On the second page you still have the map data in the back, just opaque

Yah, I like the look. We'll see how it goes. It'll be easy enough to configure the transparency.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-04-2007, 09:49 PM

Yes it will be easy to make it like that but have you thought about how hard that is going to be to see in the day time? 2 really light colours overtop of a crazy background making it hard for eyes to get already. Now through it on a 7" screen while you are trying to drive and the sun is glaring off your screen, you are going to want a bit more contrast.

**sean335** · 03-04-2007, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Yes it will be easy to make it like that but have you thought about how hard that is going to be to see in the day time? 2 really light colours overtop of a crazy background making it hard for eyes to get already. Now through it on a 7" screen while you are trying to drive and the sun is glaring off your screen, you are going to want a bit more contrast.

good points. this is why we do drafts

still looks okay. there are still other low contrast areas I need to fix, but this was a 2 second change.

**2k1Toaster** · 03-04-2007, 10:05 PM

Just so you know, if the latest picture is close to what you are going for, you might want to spend your talent making a nice skin for one of the already developed front ends.

And I know you want to port to linux, but in the car environment there is no advantage of XP, OSX, or linux over one antoher. A frontend is all you will be interfacing with for the most part, so it doesn't matter what is behind it. I know RoadRunner running on XP, will do just what you posted.

And my critizism is just friendly opinion btw.

**sean335** · 03-04-2007, 10:14 PM

Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Just so you know, if the latest picture is close to what you are going for, you might want to spend your talent making a nice skin for one of the already developed front ends.

And I know you want to port to linux, but in the car environment there is no advantage of XP, OSX, or linux over one antoher. A frontend is all you will be interfacing with for the most part, so it doesn't matter what is behind it. I know RoadRunner running on XP, will do just what you posted.

And my critizism is just friendly opinion btw.

Yah, I just like programming. I'm going to render everything in opengl so I can do nice graphics motion effects. You'll also notice a severe lack of buttons in the mock-ups. Pretty much everything will be done with finger gestures (i think i'll use i-pod scroll wheel type motions a lot). We'll see how it goes. It may end up requiring more graphics and cpu processing power than I can get out of a car pc. It'll be fun finding out though.