Two things:
1. OS X already does this in the 'Search' option of the Help menu.
2. Menus are a useful way to discover the main features of a program. That is, the user can be in 'browsing' mode, not just 'searching' mode.
Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
11–20 of 69 posts
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#12"Instead of hunting through drop-down menus to find application commands, Ubuntu’s Head-Up Display lets users type what they want to do into a search box." Do I detect a touch of Jef Raskin's idea of typeable commands here as well? I'll have to re-vist his The Humane Interface Bring it on I say
Yup, immediately reminded me of Jef's son Aza's work on the Enso and Ubiquity projects.
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#13Assuming this is what is in the latest Ubuntu 11 The thing I found the worst about this interface was how slow it was in operation. I don't know if it's iterating a directory of softlinks or an SQLite database but it was slowww on two computers I use that run Windows 7 well. And before in case you question my love of Linux.. my solution was to boot into Fluxbox.
This feature will be new for Ubuntu 12.04 (it is not in 11.10).
It's not the same as their unity dock? oh.
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#14Menus, shortcuts, and command search each have their place.
One of the goals should be reducing the frequency of keyboard mouse switches. If I'm using Paint, it would be annoying to type to search for commands; it would be the only time I had to let go of the mouse. It works the other way, too, and such "keyboard-centric" applications will benefit from a fast and easy command search.
And no matter what, as many commands as possible should have a keyboard shortcut, which should be listed next to the command when you search for it (this doesn't look to be the case). When we already know which command we want, we don't need to search for it.
I understand the need to force a shift to new/better features, but that doesn't mean removing features for existing and continuing use cases.
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#15I'm not in love with the design, or how big and out of place it feels just appearing in the top left corner, but it's a great start and I hope they keep pushing it forward.
I hope developers of Alfred for OS X look at this and try to apply some of those ideas going forward. App-specific, contextual Alfred would be great.
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#16//"Instead of hunting through drop-down menus to find application commands, Ubuntu’s Head-Up Display lets users type what they want to do into a search box."//
One of the reason why I loved Launchy[1] so much. That little program drastically reduced the need to use the mouse and launch/find any application with just a few keystrokes.
Even, Ubuntu 11 has similar functionality with Unity. But,it's searching capability is little disappointing, though.
[1] - http://www.launchy.net/
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#17So without a browsable menu, how do I discover what features a program has? Normally that's done by browsing through the menus.
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#18Two things: 1. OS X already does this in the 'Search' option of the Help menu. 2. Menus are a useful way to discover the main features of a program. That is, the user can be in 'browsing' mode, not just 'searching' mode.
It should also be noted, for those unfamiliar, that this is conveniently available via the ⇧⌘/ (i.e., ⌘?) shortcut http://cl.ly/DaUU
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#19Random question -- does any operating system or application, having noticed you did something the hard way, say, "hey, next time, hit Ctrl-% when you want to do that?"
Re: Ubuntu rips up drop-down menus
#20Random question -- does any operating system or application, having noticed you did something the hard way, say, "hey, next time, hit Ctrl-% when you want to do that?"
The only application I've ever seen that does this is Emacs. I wish it were in more programs.