Introducing the Command Bar • Hacker News Board

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#31

Post by mrgreenfur » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:04 PM UTC

garand wrote: post #6

mrgreenfur wrote: post #3

I like github for their sweet hosting and easy collaboration. I have no idea who would use this command bar. Do people really want to move the mouse to click on a cli and then guess/remember the syntax? I don't really get why they built this... Anyone?

As someone who uses GitHub's web interface multiple times a day, the ability to dig down into specific actions and pages for a repo will save a lot of time clicking around. The big one for me, adding issues.

Ah, this makes a lot more sense to me now. Pretty cool!

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#32

Post by magnusgraviti » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:05 PM UTC

endianswap wrote: post #26

magnusgraviti wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd like to search for repos, create new repos, create initial files, edit existing, star/unstar, watch/ignore, work with messages etc.

I agree that a keyboard is orders of magnitude more conducive to productivity, but I'm surprised that you do some of these frequently enough to make learning the commands a worthwhile endeavor, if one of these consoles were available. Even starring/unstarring is something that I do frequently, but I don't think I'd get any boost out of typing 'star' instead of just clicking on the star when my brain is already saying…

My point of view is based on personal experience. I explain it:

Git was initially a set of commands from terminal. A lot of programmers use terminal everyday. Even now I have terminal opened for doing different stuff. This terminal-nature of git itself and of github audience makes it obvious it would be used.

The other interesting question is how it would be implemented. With my repos on github (as opened as private) I think it would be great to have an opportunity to do some set of things from the site CLI.

P.S. I understand there are a lot of those who prefer GUI over CLI but I believe I am not the only one who wants to have CLI also available.

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#33

Post by conradev » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:09 PM UTC

This is similar to a plugin I have been using in Alfred for quick access to Github (but not nearly as feature complete):

https://github.com/KevinSjoberg/github.alfredextension

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#34

Post by jjcm » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:16 PM UTC

tarr11 wrote: post #2

Playing with this for a few minutes: * I wish it had vim keybindings (ie, hit esc, then use hjkl to navigate) * It gives me the option to follow myself. (Bug?) * I like how I can learn commands via the autocomplete bar (issue, branch, graph, etc) * I like how the autocomplete bar refreshes after I have control-tabbed away and back. Too many autocompletes lose this behavior * Searching in a repository username/repo do…

It'd also be nice if it had focus on page load.

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#35

Post by evanmoran » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

To remind everyone how awesome xkcd's commandline is:

http://uni.xkcd.com/

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#36

Post by evanmoran » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:18 PM UTC

To remind everyone how awesome xkcd's commandline is:

http://uni.xkcd.com/

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#37

Post by matthiasv » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:19 PM UTC

jjcm wrote: post #34

tarr11 wrote: post #2

Playing with this for a few minutes: * I wish it had vim keybindings (ie, hit esc, then use hjkl to navigate) * It gives me the option to follow myself. (Bug?) * I like how I can learn commands via the autocomplete bar (issue, branch, graph, etc) * I like how the autocomplete bar refreshes after I have control-tabbed away and back. Too many autocompletes lose this behavior * Searching in a repository username/repo do…

It'd also be nice if it had focus on page load.

I can type 's' rather quickly.

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#38

Post by jswanson » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:25 PM UTC

burke wrote: post #5

mrgreenfur wrote: post #3

I like github for their sweet hosting and easy collaboration. I have no idea who would use this command bar. Do people really want to move the mouse to click on a cli and then guess/remember the syntax? I don't really get why they built this... Anyone?

hitting 's' anywhere on the page activates the command bar. I will use this a lot.

Thanks for the 's' tip.

Too bad they didn't also use '/', like gmail and atlassian products.

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#39

Post by flyhighplato » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:28 PM UTC

Giving the type of people who like command lines a command line -- not a bad idea!

The down side is that, I think, this is really only useful for the github power user. The upside is: I'm a github power user!

Seriously, though, I hope they don't use this command line as a sort of cop-out for continuously improving their UI.

Re: Introducing the Command Bar

#40

Post by jamespitts » Mon, Sep 17, 2012, 9:28 PM UTC

It is fantastic that a command interface is now a part of a very public system like github.

These things really speed up work for power-users and let maintainers add functionality without adding more complexity to the user experience than is appropriate.