5 ms·

Overall I enjoyed (and agreed with) the points here, however I have three reservations: The first is that the big-filtered-list depends on jumping from the mou

Overall I enjoyed (and agreed with) the points here, however I have three reservations: The first is that the big-filtered-list depends on jumping from the mouse to the keyboard and back (if I'm mistaken, the means of using the keyboard exclusively are not obvious enough). This is an expensive jump and should be avoided in most common cases. The second is that you usually don't know what you are looking for (otherwise you wouldn't have to look, you would just "know" where it is). In this case, textural filtering doesn't help you (although the meta-description idea for searching programs addresses this in the application launching context). My third reservation has to do with the concept of "most recently used". This implies that the list's contents (or at least their order) is dynamic in nature and this is very destructive to the ability to memorize the location of commands. There is a temporary advantage to the unaccustomed user, but for most "desktop" applications this user is the minority (hopefully) and moving things around punishes the daily user. Again I want to re-state that I think there are allot of good ideas here and implemented as-is would result in a vastly improved user experience, but I believe with a few of these issues addressed it could improve the current state without introducing new problems.

jerf 17y ago
"The first is that the big-filtered-list depends on jumping from the mouse to the keyboard and back (if I'm mistaken, the means of using the keyboard exclusively are not obvious enough)." Well, the obvious one is to permit the cursor controls to work in the filtered list, which is trivial and reasonably intuitive. See also the Awesomebar, where left & right move around in the text box but up and down actually move the focus. There are other possibilities, but probably none that good. "This implies that the list's contents (or at least their order) is dynamic in nature and this is very destructive to the ability to memorize the location of commands." A valid point, but part of the idea here is to toss out the entire "memorize the location of commands" in the first place, I think. Build a system whereby users swiftly get taught keyboard shortcuts (even if they are "[command key], w, e, b, DOWN, DOWN, enter" in some cases) and the need to have locations memorized goes away. Personally, I'm unconvinced the "location memorization" is of such great value we need to contort the rest of the interface in order to not throw it away.
- jasongullickson 17y ago
  "Personally, I'm unconvinced the "location memorization" is of such great value we need to contort the rest of the interface in order to not throw it away." I might agree for general-purpose computing however professional operators with traditionally "workstation" tasks (CAD/CAM, video editing, forms processing, etc.) would strongly disagree. For these individuals, much time has been invested in the physical memorization of commands, allowing them to issue the commands as if they were any other trained function of the body (catching a ball, for example). Having to stop and think about operating the software causes a mental "page fault", removing their focus from the work and wasting time. I don't want to get off-topic, but many professionals have expressed dismay with the move from workstation computers to PC's for this reason.
  - jerf 17y ago
    There's probably an approach we can take based on this that retains the location-friendliness without reverting back to old menus. Then again, I'd say, for any existing system built for experts... just keep the current UI! There's no chance this is ever going to be _mandated_, after all.

jerf 17y ago

"The first is that the big-filtered-list depends on jumping from the mouse to the keyboard and back (if I'm mistaken, the means of using the keyboard exclusively are not obvious enough)." Well, the obvious one is to permit the cursor controls to work in the filtered list, which is trivial and reasonably intuitive. See also the Awesomebar, where left & right move around in the text box but up and down actually move the focus. There are other possibilities, but probably none that good. "This implies that the list's contents (or at least their order) is dynamic in nature and this is very destructive to the ability to memorize the location of commands." A valid point, but part of the idea here is to toss out the entire "memorize the location of commands" in the first place, I think. Build a system whereby users swiftly get taught keyboard shortcuts (even if they are "[command key], w, e, b, DOWN, DOWN, enter" in some cases) and the need to have locations memorized goes away. Personally, I'm unconvinced the "location memorization" is of such great value we need to contort the rest of the interface in order to not throw it away.

jasongullickson 17y ago
"Personally, I'm unconvinced the "location memorization" is of such great value we need to contort the rest of the interface in order to not throw it away." I might agree for general-purpose computing however professional operators with traditionally "workstation" tasks (CAD/CAM, video editing, forms processing, etc.) would strongly disagree. For these individuals, much time has been invested in the physical memorization of commands, allowing them to issue the commands as if they were any other trained function of the body (catching a ball, for example). Having to stop and think about operating the software causes a mental "page fault", removing their focus from the work and wasting time. I don't want to get off-topic, but many professionals have expressed dismay with the move from workstation computers to PC's for this reason.
- jerf 17y ago
  There's probably an approach we can take based on this that retains the location-friendliness without reverting back to old menus. Then again, I'd say, for any existing system built for experts... just keep the current UI! There's no chance this is ever going to be _mandated_, after all.