unity-design team mailing list archive

[Andrew Starr-Bochicchio <a.starr.b@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 4:48 PM, supernova <supernova.it@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Dear Mailing List, I'm testing HUD with libreoffice.
>
> I think that this app has a limit: it speeds up the work of a person
> that previously has known menus as they are now.
> Imagine a child that is born a few ours ago. In 5 years he will use
> Ubuntu of course. He will have to insert Schroedinger equation in a
> paper; so he will push the ALT key and write "equation". HUD now (not
> in five years) will answer  TOOLS>LANGUAGE>HYPHENATION, instead of
> INSERT>OBJECT>FORMULA...
>
> If he didn't use a standard menù, he will be in trouble. Imagine the
> same child at 8 yo, using Anjuta...
>
> Where am I wrong, if I am?

You're wrong in your assumption that HUD is meant to replace
traditional menus. If it aims to replace anything, it is short cuts,
it seems to me. Currently, in most programs, you can only access the
most basic features via shortcuts: copy, cut, paste, save, etc... Once
you get beyond those, the short cuts become arcane and hard to
memorize, if they even exist. In LibreOffice, there is no shortcut to
get to Insert>Object>Formula.

The first time that you need to insert an equation, you'll most likely
do so with the traditional menus. The next time, you're likely to
remember that the menu option was titled "Formula," but was that under
"Edit" or "Tools" or "Insert?" With HUD, you just type the first few
letters and there you go.

-- Andrew Starr-Bochicchio

   Ubuntu Developer <https://launchpad.net/~andrewsomething>
   Debian Maintainer
<http://qa.debian.org/developer.php?login=a.starr.b%40gmail.com>
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