Control of Item Arrangement in a User Interface

A method of causing intuitive rearrangement of items in a user interface of a computing device, the method comprising:

• determining a priority ordering of items, one to another, that is specified for display of the items in a first layout in a user interface of the computing device, the items assigned into respective ones of a plurality of groups that together compose one or more linear arrangements of the groups, wherein at least one of the plurality of groups comprises rows and columns, wherein the priority ordering defines in the first layout an ordered list of items within the ones of the plurality of groups, which orders items within the respective ones of the plurality of groups starting with items placed at the closest position to the top of the user interface and continuing with items placed at a position further from the top of the user interface, the top of the user interface being the top side of the user interface in the view of a user;
• and
• responsive to the user changing an orientation of the computing device from a portrait to a landscape view, controlling arrangement of the items by the computing device for display in a second layout in the user interface that is different from the first layout by an amount of display area available in the user interface along one or more dimensions, the controlling including following the priority ordering of the items to select positions of the items within respective groups near the top of the user interface, based on availability of an open area that is available to fit a display of a respective said item within the group and by minimizing a display area consumed by the group in the user interface, wherein each item has a known display size.

A computing device comprising:

• a processing system configured to execute one or more instructions;
• and
• computer-readable storage media comprising one or more instructions that cause execution of the processing system to implement an operating system that includes an application launcher, the application launcher having a plurality of representations of applications or content that are selectable to navigate to a user interface corresponding with a respective said application or content, the operating system configured to perform operations comprising:
• determining a priority ordering of the representations, one to another, that is specified for display of the representations in a first layout of the application launcher, the representations assigned into respective ones of a plurality of groups that together compose one or more linear arrangements of the groups, wherein at least one of the plurality of groups comprises rows and columns, wherein the priority ordering defines in the first layout an ordered list of representations within the ones of the plurality of groups, which orders representations within the respective ones of the plurality of groups starting with representations placed at the closest position to the top of the user interface and continuing with representations placed at a position further from the top of the user interface, the top of the user interface being the top side of the user interface in the view of a user;
• and
• responsive to the user changing an orientation of the computing device from a portrait to a landscape view, controlling arrangement of the representations by the computing device for display in a second layout in the application launcher that is different from the first layout by an amount of display area available in the application launcher along one or more dimensions, the controlling including following the priority ordering of the representations to select positions of the representations within respective groups near the top of the user interface based on availability of an open area in the application launcher that is available to fit a display of a respective said representation and by minimizing a display area consumed by the representations within the application launcher, wherein each representation has a known display size.

A computer-readable storage media storing computer-readable instructions that when executed cause a computing device to:

• determine a priority ordering of items, one to another, that is specified for display of the items in a first layout in a user interface of the computing device, the items assigned into respective ones of a plurality of groups that together compose one or more linear arrangements of the groups, wherein at least one of the plurality of groups comprises rows and columns, wherein the priority ordering defines in the first layout an ordered list of items within the ones of the plurality of groups, which orders items within the respective ones of the plurality of groups starting with items placed at the closest position to the top of the user interface and continuing with items placed at a position further from the top of the user interface, the top of the user interface being the top side of the user interface in the view of a user;
• and
• responsive to the user changing an orientation of the computing device from a portrait to a landscape view, control arrangement of the items by the computing device for display in a second layout in the user interface that is different from the first layout by an amount of display area available in the user interface along one or more dimensions, the control including following the priority ordering of the items to select positions of the items within respective groups near the top of the user interface, based on availability of an open area that is available to fit a display of a respective said item within the group and by minimizing a display area consumed by the group in the user interface, wherein each item has a known display size.