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I’d suggest that the proliferation of software with many possible interactions adding features that let you invoke actions via a command-line like interface (se
by danpalmer 4y ago
I’d suggest that the proliferation of software with many possible interactions adding features that let you invoke actions via a command-line like interface (see Ctrl+P command palettes etc) prove that there is a place for these sorts of interfaces. Using a mouse is inefficient, and there are only so many hot keys one can assign and learn.
I agree that terminals are fetishised a bit, and I personally find a mix of GUIs and terminals to be the most effective combination, but I think there’s something valuable in the interaction pattern.
- BaculumMeumEst 4y agonothing is stopping gui programs from using keyboard shortcuts though. vs code and emacs use them to great effect. and there’s no quirks with the alt key.
- danpalmer 4y agoAs I said though, there are only so many keys on a keyboard, and only so many combinations one can learn, which is why command palette style interfaces have become so popular. In VSCode there are probably ~1000 actions I can perform, and maybe ~50 keyboard shortcuts that I use, but I can still access all those actions quickly and fairly efficiently. This shows the value of command line interfaces.
- indymike 4y agoOS integration is critical when it comes to keyboard shortcuts, especially for non-Web where there's expectations set by the shell (TUI) or the GUI.
- BaculumMeumEst 4y agoBut if you’re building an interactive tool and choosing between a gui and a tui, you could just build a gui with a command palette.
- danpalmer 4y agoMy point is not that terminals themselves are good, but that there's clearly value in a terminal-style interface where commands are input instead of buttons clicked. The original comment was suggesting that the value was outdated, but I think command palettes are a good counter-example.