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Well, if you already know the icons... For example, Android tablets have three or four icons at the bottom, by default. (Minor wars have broken out over the or

by dsr_ 8y ago

Well, if you already know the icons... For example, Android tablets have three or four icons at the bottom, by default. (Minor wars have broken out over the order in which they are displayed.) Back, Home, Menu, Recents. For a few years now I've been installing LMT https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150 https://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1330150 on all my Android devices. LMT implements a radial menu that your finger can slide in from any (selectable) side of the device screen. And, of course, you can customize how many slices, what each slice does, color, translucency, highlight color, and a myriad of other small choices which can make the thing feel exactly right for you. It frequently confuses other people, and why not? It's not like I'm going to let other people use my phone.

shkkmo 8y ago
Which makes radial menus a good customizable feature but not a great default feature unless you are in a context where you expect users to achieve mastery with your UI (such as in a video game).
- dsr_ 8y ago
  People master their phones pretty quickly. If the setup feature on the iPhone 11 started by teaching you how to use a radial or pie menu system, people would swear it was the best thing Apple ever invented, that it's completely intuitive and toddlers can learn it. (Part of this is because they say that about every Apple feature except fragile keyboards.)
  - toast0 8y ago
    > (Part of this is because they say that about every Apple feature except fragile keyboards.) I'm pretty sure they say that about the keyboards too -- i've seen comments like "the j and k keys are stuck, but i love it so much"
DonHopkins 8y ago
I knew someone who enjoyed configuring the X11 "piewm" window manager so it didn't have any frames or borders at all, and popped up pie menus with one of the modifier keys. They enjoyed watching other people suffer when trying to mess around with their computer! https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=1&topic=piewm https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=1&topic=piewm

by dsr_ 8y ago

shkkmo 8y ago

Which makes radial menus a good customizable feature but not a great default feature unless you are in a context where you expect users to achieve mastery with your UI (such as in a video game).

dsr_ 8y ago
People master their phones pretty quickly. If the setup feature on the iPhone 11 started by teaching you how to use a radial or pie menu system, people would swear it was the best thing Apple ever invented, that it's completely intuitive and toddlers can learn it. (Part of this is because they say that about every Apple feature except fragile keyboards.)
- toast0 8y ago
  > (Part of this is because they say that about every Apple feature except fragile keyboards.) I'm pretty sure they say that about the keyboards too -- i've seen comments like "the j and k keys are stuck, but i love it so much"

DonHopkins 8y ago

I knew someone who enjoyed configuring the X11 "piewm" window manager so it didn't have any frames or borders at all, and popped up pie menus with one of the modifier keys. They enjoyed watching other people suffer when trying to mess around with their computer! https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=1&topic=piewm https://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=1&topic=piewm