カバーフローに触発されたインターフェース
アップルのカバーフローに触発されてつくられたGWTフローとcoverflow for people。GWTフローはgoogleのグーグル・ウェブ・ツールキットgwtを使って写真をナビゲートするフォト・ビューアで、flickrからの写真を読み込むことができるほか、他のpicasa web albumのようなサービスをサポートすることも考えてつくられている。coverflow for peopleは人をブラウジングすることが主眼で、Mail.appやAdiumやiChatなどでのインターフェースとしての利用も視野においている。
GWTFlow's user interface is inspired by the .Mac Web Gallery, which was redesigned in August 2007 to make extensive use of the Prototype & Script.aclo.us frameworks. Apple's web gallery has three viewing modes: grid, mosaic, and carousel. Grid and mosaic modes are great examples of Ajax applications. Unfortunately, the Cover Flow-like carousel mode initially used Flash instead of Ajax*. This led to some criticism from Ajaxian readers, wishing that Apple had done the entire application in Ajax. GWTFlow, I'm proud to say, is 100% Flash-free. : )
http://www.adamhoughton.com/2007/10/announcing-gwtflow-ajax-cover-flow.html
Ever since Apple bought Coverflow, I thought that it would make an awesome interface for browsing people. In fact, I had previously designed "people in the browser" for Flock to look something like this in the early days[...] CoverFlow for people is something that I think could be a very powerful way of revealing "the ghosts in the machine" ― across Leopard ― or in interfaces generally. Imagine this kind of view showing up in Mail.app, Adium, iChat...where your friends, family and the rest get to update their own user pictures on a whim, and set their status and contact preferences in a way that visually makes sense.
