Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Non-Menu of the Future? A Different Approach to UI

Most of you know that I'm a fan of Ubuntu Linux, especially on the ThinkPad platform.  You may not know, however, that Ubuntu is getting ready to take a pretty big step in UI design.  It's called the "HUD" (Heads-Up Display, a term undoubtedly borrowed from the Air Force lexicon), and it has become known as an "intenterface" instead of an "interface."

The basic concept is that the HUD will replace the traditional menu system, that it will do fuzzy matching as the user types what they want to do, and that it will remember your most frequent commands and prioritize its display based upon your past actions.  In short, it's close to DWIM - Do What I Mean.

I'm not a UI developer, but I know people who are - so I thought I'd throw this out there for general perusal/comment.

Mark Shuttleworth » Blog Archive » Introducing the HUD. Say hello to the future of the menu.

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