4 ms·

Interestingly, I've seen this video--3 years ago and yet this technology has yet to gain any significant traction. Sorry, but this is not the "near" future of c

Interestingly, I've seen this video--3 years ago and yet this technology has yet to gain any significant traction. Sorry, but this is not the "near" future of computing. The primary reason being that "gesture" based interaction is too complicated. You can't expect the user to remember the gestures and be able to operate the device no matter how intuitive you make it. Primarily, because gestures are not universal. They are cultural, and even geographical. For example, think of the "come here" gesture. Comparing "come here" between the Japanese and English version and you have to very different motions. Even if you compare the gesture between two different people of the same culture, you're going to get varied emphasis on parts of the motion.

gambler 15y ago
Funny thing is, people invest so much time and effort into clunky "natural" UIs, yet don't want to expand the quality of good old keyboard and mouse interfaces. There are so many things possible that aren't being done! Heck, even some useful things that are being done aren't very wide-spread. Here is one simple example. Most apps today have tons of keyboard shortcuts. How about showing a list of possible shortcuts when I press Ctrl? I press Ctrl, the list appears. If I press Ctrl + A, the window is filtered down to show only shortcuts starting with A. When a shortcut is completed or when Ctr is released, the window disappears. Simple, yet it would enable people to learn shortcuts without disrupting their workflow. The list can contain a shortcut for permanently disabling this functionality, so anyone who doesn't like it could instantly get rid of it. Isn't this "natural"?
- calebmpeterson 15y ago
  more examples/ideas please...I'm a UI dev and am always looking for fresh ideas. Your Ctrl key idea is going in my list for sure!
  - gambler 15y ago
    If you're interested in PC interfaces, computer games can be pretty inspiring because of their UI diversity. Some have really good ideas, others have obvious issues one can learn from. It's difficult to discuss things like this without more context. Hm... Draggable checkboxes. Let's say you have several checkboxes arranged in one column. The user points cursor at the first one, presses left mouse button and then drags the cursor across other checkboxes. When the pointer crosses a checkbox, the latter acquires the same state as the first checkbox clicked. The benefits over the typical solution (extra 'select them all' box) is that the user can skip one or several options by swaying the pointer, while maintaining the ability to easily select multiple things in a row.

gambler 15y ago

Funny thing is, people invest so much time and effort into clunky "natural" UIs, yet don't want to expand the quality of good old keyboard and mouse interfaces. There are so many things possible that aren't being done! Heck, even some useful things that are being done aren't very wide-spread. Here is one simple example. Most apps today have tons of keyboard shortcuts. How about showing a list of possible shortcuts when I press Ctrl? I press Ctrl, the list appears. If I press Ctrl + A, the window is filtered down to show only shortcuts starting with A. When a shortcut is completed or when Ctr is released, the window disappears. Simple, yet it would enable people to learn shortcuts without disrupting their workflow. The list can contain a shortcut for permanently disabling this functionality, so anyone who doesn't like it could instantly get rid of it. Isn't this "natural"?

calebmpeterson 15y ago
more examples/ideas please...I'm a UI dev and am always looking for fresh ideas. Your Ctrl key idea is going in my list for sure!
- gambler 15y ago
  If you're interested in PC interfaces, computer games can be pretty inspiring because of their UI diversity. Some have really good ideas, others have obvious issues one can learn from. It's difficult to discuss things like this without more context. Hm... Draggable checkboxes. Let's say you have several checkboxes arranged in one column. The user points cursor at the first one, presses left mouse button and then drags the cursor across other checkboxes. When the pointer crosses a checkbox, the latter acquires the same state as the first checkbox clicked. The benefits over the typical solution (extra 'select them all' box) is that the user can skip one or several options by swaying the pointer, while maintaining the ability to easily select multiple things in a row.