My system design is based in a completely custom operating environment with all custom graphics and animation. It was designed for ease of use and to have a high WAF rating. (That’s Wife Appreciation Factor!) It can operate on either device or action based depending on the user’s preference.

Device based operation is accessible by simply touching the device banner at the top of the screen and selecting the desired device from the list. Action based operation, including system power, is accessed by pressing the home button. The lower left hard action buttons are direct access to a surround mode and a multi zone page. All page navigation within each device can be accessed with either the side toggle or the 4 screen hard buttons, which have selection feedback to identify each page. All page transitions use a simple morphing animation. I believe that the design’s best feature is that my wife actually uses it to control my bedroom system without my help and with very little explanation of how it works.

SECOND PLACE WINNER! Chloe is a device oriented PCF for TV, DVD, VCR, AMP and LIGHTING. The file has a unique colorful 3D interface with transitional animations. Each device has a single page and makes use of the “firm” buttons, which are labelled on the LCD screen. Included is a template page for other devices or to flesh out included devices. All buttons have “delay” placeholders. Try it in the simulator to see the animations!

With this file I wanted to demonstrate the usage of animations. The theme that is chosen is based on the seashore. Four types of shells are used to represent the four devices TV, VCR, DVD and Amp. They are presented right away on the home page.

All devices have their own sea shore background. The buttons on each device are small versions of the shells to get a uniform look and feel. The top bar shows the other devices for quick selection.

The animations are implemented as macros (in hidden devices) with a series of page jumps. The following animations are included:
- When a shell is selected on the home page this one becomes enlarged on the background. The others move to their place in the top bar.
- In a device page press the Home hardkey and the same animation is played backwards.
- In a device page select another device from the top bar and this one becomes the center. This is not a separate animation. Instead it just executes the Home macro and then the device selection macro from the home page.
- There is a fifth animation, but that one you have to find for yourself!

Background bitmaps are created from photographic material found on the internet and are all... (more)

This ProntoPro NG layout is named 'blasenkammer' after an inspiring picture of bubble chamber experiments I found some times ago in the net. (Blasenkammer = bubble chamber auf deutch.) Parts of that picture, heavily edited, are used as background in this layout.

The usability model of my layout is action or mode based and it originates from my ProntoNEO layout that I have found practical among users of different ages (5 - 77). Use of the hard keys at the bottom of the screen (Firm1-Firm4) differs from almost all of the layouts that I have seen. The middle ones are used in all modes to power up, configure and switch down the whole system. I call these buttons green and red buttons (in fact I painted the hard buttons on my ProntoNEO green and red accordingly). Leftmost hard button is used to accees menu functions for main device in current mode. Righmost is used to go back to home page and to re-select the mode.

To start up the system select first from the home (mode) page what you want to do: watch TV (actually DVB or Digi TV), watch DVD, watch VCR or listen to CD. The selected button takes you to mode pages. Note that the system is not automatically turned on. In order to do... (more)

This layout is an evolution of my TSU3000 layout. It is activity-based and makes heavy use of macros to control my two zones of equipment and home automation. The layout of hard and soft buttons for each device follows a pattern, making it fairly simple to learn to use. It also contains a fairly extensive help system. This look is the result of me playing around with transparent buttons.

This PCF has all original graphics that make use of the transparency and colors available. Each device has a uniquely colored background for all of its related pages as well as a help screen to identify the functions of the cursor and its surrounding buttons. The layout is quite intuitive to use. The soft buttons are well sized and spaced to help avoid pressing the incorrect one.

My PCF is a device based design split into parts for two rooms of the house. It is set up to keep all devices in sync regardless of whether discrete codes are available.

Each device maintains a theme of stylized rounded buttons using a conistent layout to make it easy to find controls which are common between devices. Each page has a 'Master Off' button which will turn off all equipment related to the device and take you back to the main home page.

I have demonstrated the use of the ProntoPro's translucent capability by using see-through menus for selecting audio, device, D-pad, and lighting settings.

For the cable box device, the menus slide out from the bottom or sides showing simple animation techniques. It works great on the remote, but the simulator causes the screen to flash when changing pages, making the animation less smooth. Delays were added to slow it down in the simulator. These delays are not necessary on the actual remote. I hope you enjoy the graphics and layout design. It was a lot of fun to work on.

I like chrome so most of the layouts are that. For the CD I used a copper layout. For the Tuner and DV Cam I used transparency. From the Home page, short transaction animations are used.

On the Devices page you will find more stuff including the VCR and the DV Cam. I like my 5.1 speaker balance page which you can get to from most devices by pressing the 4-speaker button. You just select the speaker you want to adjust and use the left or right arrow keys. If you click the "RECEIVER SETTINGS" button you'll get to a page where I was experimenting with nature buttons. Looks like it could use some cloud buttons!

If you're looking for animations and wild colors, then this PCF is not for you. It was designed with the older generation in mind, with nice big buttons, large text and a simple but effective layout. All buttons have a pressed and released state image. As on all of my PCFs, I have included the cursor buttons on the screen as well as the hard buttons. XaraX was used entirely for the design.

This layout is an evolution of my TSU3000 layout. It is activity-based and makes heavy use of macros to control my two zones of equipment and home automation. The layout of hard and soft buttons for each device follows a pattern, making it fairly simple to learn to use. It contains a fairly extensive help system. The look borrows from the plastic look of some of the Max OS X widgets.