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So do you think a terminal that works more along the way of thinking of non-technical people, or maybe similar to other text-based applications, could provide a

by 9dev 3y ago

So do you think a terminal that works more along the way of thinking of non-technical people, or maybe similar to other text-based applications, could provide an entry point to non-technical power users? I have been thinking a lot about providing a shell-like experience as a quick way to make advanced functionality available in an app, without having to build fully fledged GUIs for them, but I’m not sure whether that would work. Clearly, discoverability and text input are the key issues, but I don’t know if alleviating those is sufficient to make the interface actually interesting and useful.

deleted 3y ago
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jonfw 3y ago
VSCode's command palette is a great example of this- 1. fuzzy search through different options 2. Show lots of suggestions as soon as you focus in the text box 3. have a ? or other "learn more" option available I still think it leans very technical though, users would greatly prefer buttons. There's a good reason that powerpoint doesn't have one of these
swozey 3y ago
When I make terminal apps I make both a TUI and CLI option if the app is big enough to benefit from it. Here's an example: https://i.imgur.com/dxXwRzD.gifv https://i.imgur.com/dxXwRzD.gifv This allows the less familiar or technical staff to do things with the app and also allows for veterans or CLI afficiandos to alias/run what they want directly from the cli.
atoav 3y ago
I think using text to interface with computers is a genius idea and if it didn't exist someone would have ro invent it. But the way text interfaces on computers look nowadays are mostly shaped the way they are for historical reasons. It doesn't need much. First the text should be editable like other text on the OS, the cursor needs to be reactive ro mouse input. Second expected shortcuts should work, that means things like Ctrl+A to select all, Home to go to start of line, Ctrl+C for copy, Escape to cancel things, etc. I know there are reasons to everything and I am used to terminal shortcuts as well, but there is literally no reasons why we can't ensure they are the same there as everywhere else. Next thing would be the startup experience. If you start a terminal the first time, it should offer you some introduction. Sure, a seasoned user like me would be annoyed by that, but if you make it so it can be ignored by the likes of us or people that set the right environment variable, cool. Lastly, maybe it also a bit about the colors and fonts. I like bright on dark, but I can see how people who see this for the first time get flashbackanof every hacker scene they ever saw in any movie. And the subtext there always was: "You only understand this if you sacrifice all your social life". Imagine how a terminal would look like if it was made for kids and how that would make people judge their own ability to get this instead. I think a lot of the reason why terminals still look the way the do (apart from the fact it just works), is gatekeeping. Some nerds like that this is arcane, secret knowledge that looks as if it is hard to aquire. They don't like others to understand unless those others are also nerds.
- 082349872349872 3y ago
  If you can make a friendly terminal, go for it! (if you can make an unfriendly but more consistent terminal, that'd also be a worthwhile improvement, just not for your target audience) If you're willing to lead the horse to water, we'd be able to see if it drinks.
  - 9dev 3y ago
    Seriously though, i would be able to spend development time on this. If anyone is considering too, send me a message.

by 9dev 3y ago

deleted 3y ago

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jonfw 3y ago

VSCode's command palette is a great example of this- 1. fuzzy search through different options 2. Show lots of suggestions as soon as you focus in the text box 3. have a ? or other "learn more" option available I still think it leans very technical though, users would greatly prefer buttons. There's a good reason that powerpoint doesn't have one of these

swozey 3y ago

When I make terminal apps I make both a TUI and CLI option if the app is big enough to benefit from it. Here's an example: https://i.imgur.com/dxXwRzD.gifv https://i.imgur.com/dxXwRzD.gifv This allows the less familiar or technical staff to do things with the app and also allows for veterans or CLI afficiandos to alias/run what they want directly from the cli.

atoav 3y ago

I think using text to interface with computers is a genius idea and if it didn't exist someone would have ro invent it. But the way text interfaces on computers look nowadays are mostly shaped the way they are for historical reasons. It doesn't need much. First the text should be editable like other text on the OS, the cursor needs to be reactive ro mouse input. Second expected shortcuts should work, that means things like Ctrl+A to select all, Home to go to start of line, Ctrl+C for copy, Escape to cancel things, etc. I know there are reasons to everything and I am used to terminal shortcuts as well, but there is literally no reasons why we can't ensure they are the same there as everywhere else. Next thing would be the startup experience. If you start a terminal the first time, it should offer you some introduction. Sure, a seasoned user like me would be annoyed by that, but if you make it so it can be ignored by the likes of us or people that set the right environment variable, cool. Lastly, maybe it also a bit about the colors and fonts. I like bright on dark, but I can see how people who see this for the first time get flashbackanof every hacker scene they ever saw in any movie. And the subtext there always was: "You only understand this if you sacrifice all your social life". Imagine how a terminal would look like if it was made for kids and how that would make people judge their own ability to get this instead. I think a lot of the reason why terminals still look the way the do (apart from the fact it just works), is gatekeeping. Some nerds like that this is arcane, secret knowledge that looks as if it is hard to aquire. They don't like others to understand unless those others are also nerds.

082349872349872 3y ago
If you can make a friendly terminal, go for it! (if you can make an unfriendly but more consistent terminal, that'd also be a worthwhile improvement, just not for your target audience) If you're willing to lead the horse to water, we'd be able to see if it drinks.
- 9dev 3y ago
  Seriously though, i would be able to spend development time on this. If anyone is considering too, send me a message.