Patrick Cozzi,
I would like some inputs from your side.
Thanks,
Ravi.
Hi Ravi,
This is an area that Ed knows pretty well so let’s defer to him for feedback on your Navigation Widget ideas. As for issue #628, I appreciate you wanting to jump in, but the fix for that is deep in the 3D code. Given your interest in the Navigation Widget, it would be more beneficial for you to look at issues related to the UI. Ed and Matt Amato can advise. Perhaps #605, #515, or #581. There’s also ideas on the Sandcastle roadmap.
Regards,
Patrick
Hi Ravi,
Your list of suggested features is right in line with our own thinking, with one exception: Item 6, the dual transparency. Mobile devices are an important target for Cesium, and they don’t offer a mouse, so they can’t depend on mouseover transparency like that. It’s possible we could attempt to detect a non-emulated mouse and enable lighter transparency for devices that offer true mouseover without clicking, but, the widget needs to work on devices that don’t do mouseover. The new widget can still react to mouseovers, lighting up buttons etc like the animation widget does.
For item 1, we’ve embraced a KnockoutJS / ViewModel approach under Matt’s leadership. The key behaviors of the widget are all implemented separately from the UI. The Animation widget is our first and I think still our best example of this. This allows users to implement their own custom UI utilizing the existing widget logic.
--Ed.Thanks Ed!
I was thinking maybe we could implement a minimalistic UI since it looks more clean and natural. I wanted to know if there are any potential restrictions or hurdles in this approach.
Hi Ravi,
Your list of suggested features is right in line with our own thinking,
This could mean two things:
-
Its good that you are thinking like us!
-
We already thought about this… tell us something new!
I would like to know which one do you intend so that I can channelize my thoughts in the proper direction… 
with one exception: Item 6, the dual transparency. Mobile devices are an important target for Cesium, and they don’t offer a mouse, so they can’t depend on mouseover transparency like that. It’s possible we could attempt to detect a non-emulated mouse and enable lighter transparency for devices that offer true mouseover without clicking, but, the widget needs to work on devices that don’t do mouseover. The new widget can still react to mouseovers, lighting up buttons etc like the animation widget does.
I didn’t give much thought to the mobile devices earlier but now as you say I know this could be a problem.
For the mobile devices,
I can suggest a circular widget which appears on “tap and hold”. The widget will appear at the tap location and will layout the icons in a circular fashion which can then be selected by either tapping on the icon or sliding upto the icon and releasing.
The reason I’m suggesting this is that the space is already limited on a mobile device especially a smart phone and this could help us save the prestigious space and provide better experience to the user.
For item 1, we’ve embraced a KnockoutJS / ViewModel approach under Matt’s leadership. The key behaviors of the widget are all implemented separately from the UI. The Animation widget is our first and I think still our best example of this. This allows users to implement their own custom UI utilizing the existing widget logic.
--Ed.
Maybe we could try providing some higher level configurability for the default UI so that a new developer can also easily manipulate the widget according to his needs.
Regards,
Ravi.