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This is based on a stupid idea that keyboard shortcuts are fast only because they are done on a keyboard. But this is simply false -- they are fast because they
by mbq 15y ago
This is based on a stupid idea that keyboard shortcuts are fast only because they are done on a keyboard. But this is simply false -- they are fast because they are simple gestures I can train and perform without thinking about it. Same applies to mouse -- in a well designed GUI, one can easily train to select an option or go through a dialog box with a blink of an eye.
Now, typing anything is just a complex procedure involving quite a lot of attention; what's worse, it cannot be trained since this HUD's response for a certain input will be mostly unpredictable depending of the state of its fuzzy AI. Not to mention that it additionally makes one constantly waste time on reading HUD window to check what action it is planning to execute.
Finally, when drawing or using any heavy mouse-dependent application one usually can fire keyboard shortcuts with one hand while the second is constantly holding mouse -- typing requires two hands, so it makes one waste additional time to grab the mouse back and re-adjust hand.
- macco 15y agoHave you ever used things like QuickSilver, Gnome-Do, etc. The work great and complemnt Shortcuts and Menus. I think this is very clever. Think you are using a complex software like OpenOffice - you know some feature you want to use, but don't recall the shortcut, just type in the name and to can use it. No movement away from the keyboard neccessary - very powerful idea.
- mbq 15y agoI'm not saying that it is a bad idea on its own -- the terrible idea is that they will most likely remove menus and shortcuts because "HUD is better". Not always.
- agumonkey 15y agoFunny cause HUD reminds me of Maya who has one hell fast mouse based UI/Widgets. Unfortunately, almost nobody in the software industry (I mean beside some 2d/3d progrmas) knows or follows this kind of design. You make me wanna design a keyboardless system, or maybe a two thumb only input system.
- chrisdroukas 15y agoI think I may have a better idea for the HUD. I'm on OS X right now, and I use Spotlight for absolutely everything. The help menu has a feature to Spotlight within menus, but it's not great if you don't know the literal name of the command (like save or open). Things can get complex quickly in robust applications. What about appending alternative names to menu commands as metadata, so when a user searches for 'paint bucket' in Photoshop, they're driven to 'fill'. I'd imagine that's the easiest way to map intent to action. Further still, make menus public data-driven — learn common intent by what users search for and end up clicking on. The use cases for this might be small, but the benefit of keyboard shortcuts is in discovery. Users should be able to articulate to applications what they intend to do. Edit: If this exists already, we're living in the future.
- Schlaefer 15y ago> Edit: If this exists already, we're living in the future. Try the OS X System Preferences search field. It's there since 10.4ish?
- chrisdroukas 15y agoThat globally would be amazing.
- aaimnr 15y agoI don't remember any example right now, but lot of system utilities in Windows 7 has such an alternate description in metadata discoverable through Windows start search input. I've found similar behaviour in IOS - I've typed 'pocket' into IOS spotlight to launch PocketCasts app forgetting that it changed name to Casts. The app has been found nevertheless.