Changes between Initial Version and Version 1 of AndroidGuiDiscuss

Timestamp:

Jun 17, 2014, 11:55:05 AM (11 years ago)

Author:

davea

Comment:

--

AndroidGuiDiscuss

@@ +1 @@
+= Android GUI discussion =
+
+(note from June 17 2014 conf call)
+
+== Goals ==
+
+We'd like the GUI to
+
+ * convey the feeling that the device is actively making a contribution;
+   i.e. it should show change in some way.
+ * convey the feeling of community and power in numbers;
+   this device is part of a large set of device,
+   and the volunteer is part of a large group of people.
+ * encourage the user to run BOINC more on this device
+   (i.e. leave it plugged in more).
+ * encourage the user to run BOINC on their PCs as well.
+
+And
+
+ * we should show information graphically rather than textually
+   as much as possible.
+ * when we show numbers,
+   they should be in units that are easily understandable to the volunteer,
+   e.g. hours of computing rather than credits.
+
+== GUI structure ==
+
+The GUI currently has a set of pages, or "tabs":
+projects, tasks, prefs, notices.
+The projects and tasks tabs show lists;
+each list item can be expanded into a page showing its details.
+
+Currently there's no top-level page,
+so there's no place to show info for this device as a whole.
+Maybe we need to add this.
+
+I think the Tasks tab is good more or less as is,
+except that it should always show a progress bar for each task.
+
+Most of the following idea apply to the Projects tab
+and the project detail page.
+
+== Ideas ==
+
+=== Computing time ===
+
+(By "computing time" I mean the time that BOINC is allowed to compute;
+this is not the same as CPU time).
+
+We could show
+
+ * Computing time in last 24 hours
+ * Computing time in last week
+
+We could show these graphically as pie charts or bars.
+We could also show them as "time lines" showing the
+specific times when computing happened.
+This would show, e.g., if computing was toggled because of
+battery charge or heat.
+
+We could show total computing time,
+either textually or as a graph showing its increase
+over long time scales (weeks, months, or since the beginning).
+
+=== Task completion ===
+
+We could show the # of tasks completed
+ * per project, or summed over projects
+ * in the last week, or since the beginning
+ * textually, or as a graph
+
+We could show a time line with horizontal lines
+(color coded by project)
+showing the lifetime of each task.
+
+=== Contribution as fraction of whole ===
+
+For the various quantities (computing time, credit, tasks)
+we could show the device's contribution relative to the project as a whole.
+E.g. "Einstein@home processed 1,234,567 jobs this week,
+and your device did 2 of them".
+
+It's not clear whether volunteers would find this discouraging.
+
+=== Contribution relative to average volunteer ===
+
+For the various quantities (time, credit, tasks)
+we could show the device's contribution relative to the Android average.
+E.g. "Your device computed 7.4 hours per day, and the average is 6.9".
+Or we could show the distribution of the quantity,
+and where this device lies on the distribution.
+
+=== Badges ===
+
+Projects can grant "badges" for any kind of achievement:
+ * total credit
+ * average credit percentile (i.e. top 1% or 5% of volunteers)
+ * number of message-board posts
+Badges have corresponding images and textual descriptions.
+
+The GUI should show badges,
+and it should notify the volunteer when a new badge has been earned.
+
+=== PC suggestion ===
+
+We could say, somewhere in the GUI, something like
+"Want to help more?  You can also run Einstein@home (and ...) on your
+desktop or laptop computer. Click for more info.".
+
+We should probably make the GUI aware of whether the volunteer
+is in fact already running BOINC on other computers,
+and if so not show this message.