unity-design team mailing list archive

[Jo-Erlend Schinstad <joerlend.schinstad@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 21. feb. 2012 14:24, C. Cooke wrote:
> On Mon, Feb 20, 2012 at 11:52:32PM +0100, supernova wrote:
> > > At a very basic level, what the HUD does, is to enable the computer to adapt
> > > to the human, instead of forcing the human to adapt to the computer. Explain
> > > to me how that's not different from the computers of the 80s.
> > +1
> ... Okay.
>
> Now, to prevent misunderstanding: I really love the idea of the HUD.
> It is one of the best things to be announced for Precise, I think -
> not least because it makes things better for both normal *and* power
> users (I use focus follows mouse. The global menu makes that an issue
> with non-maximised windows, although the f10 shortcut helps a lot. The
> HUD is a *better* solution to it all, and it means I don't need to
> take my hands off the keyboard. And it's better for everyone else, too.
> That's lovely).
Focus follows is a different problem, I think. But since it provides an 
alternative to moving the mouse to the menus in the first place, it does 
help. There was an article about "Locally integrated menus". I don't 
know what happened to it. As a solution to the focus follows-problem, I 
think that's a more direct solution. 
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/02/ubuntu-12-04-to-ditch-global-menu/

I don't know if that's just an idea, or if it's something we'll see in 
Precise though.

> So, how does the HUD make the computer adapt? All I've seen of it so far
> is providing a new (and much better) interface to menu commands than
> we've had before. Evolutionary not revolutionary, in other words. So...
> what have I missed? How does the HUD make the computer *progressively*
> change what it's doing to make the user's life easier.

I'll use Firefox' downloads window as an example again. Why is the 
shortcut ctrl+shift+Y? It makes absolutely no sense to me. If you want 
to use it, you just have to memorize. That means you have to adapt. Now, 
I'll tell you exactly what happens with HUD. I tap the Alt-key and the 
HUD appears.

"D"
* View > Zoom > Zoom in <--- Huh? HUD's obviously not perfect.
* Tools > Web Developer <-- Ok.
* Tools > Add ons <-- Alright.

"Do"
* View > Page style > No Style <--- It makes no sense.
* Bookmarks > GTK Docs <-- Ok

"Dow"
* File > New window <-- Coming along
* Tools > Downloads <-- Yes, that's what I want.
* History > How to theme GTK3 windows <-- Not bad.

"Down"
* Tools > Downloads <-- First hit! Now I can just press enter
* Tools > DownloadHelper <-- That's also very useful.

This is in English. If another user uses another language, then the HUD 
will adapt to that. So instead of you having to memorize nonsensical 
shortcuts, the HUD will try to understand what it is you want to 
accomplish. That's one way the HUD enables the computer to adapt.

But let's imagine that whenever I type "D", I more frequently want to 
open the downloads window than Zoom in. So, the HUD should remember what 
I typed and what I chose. After some time, Tools > Downloads will get a 
higher priority than all the other things that contain the character D. 
So I should eventually be able to use Alt D.

I'm sure you will agree that Alt D is more reasonable when the goal is 
to open the Downloads window than ctrl+shift+Y is. But English is not my 
language. Norwegian is. In Norwegian, we call it "Nedlastinger". The 
same principle would apply, except that I'll be able to use Alt N. So, 
computer adapts to my intentions and to my native language. Of course, I 
don't have to limit myself to Alt N. I can still express myself in more 
details if I don't want to open the downloads window, but open a new 
page, for instance. In Norwegian, that's called "Ny fane". Since I also 
use that very often, it should eventually look like this:

"N"
* Fil > Ny fane
* Verktøy > Nedlastinger
* other things.

"Ne"
* Verktøy > Nedlastinger
* other things.

The point is that, for the very most frequently used tools, I should 
eventually be able to do things pretty much the same way as I'm doing it 
now. Simple shortcut. However, the shortcut is dynamically assigned to 
fit my intention and language. In other words; the computer memorizes my 
actions rather than me memorizing the computers shortcuts.

But as I wrote before, consider what happens when EEG becomes 
widespread. And I'm dead certain it will. It is extremely likely that 
it'll be extremely more efficient with words than shortcuts, simply 
because your brain has spent a lifetime making patters for words. The 
same is not true for shortcuts such as ctrl+shift+Y. The same benefit 
will work for speech recognition.

Another thing is that many different applications has the concept of 
downloads in some way or other. Thunderbird has a saved files window, 
for instance. That is indeed downloads. The shortcut for it is ctrl+J, 
which is slightly better than Firefox' ctrl+shift+Y, but still complete 
nonsense. I should be able to use Alt D, just like I do in Firefox. Or 
in Transmission, or any other programs that has downloads, like the 
Dash. With new input devices, like speech recognition or EEG, this means 
I can train my system to react to my intentions, and then that training 
will be usable to any application. Because it's just words.

Because the HUD is not built into single applications. It is a global 
one. Combine the actions I select after searches I perform in the Dash 
and HUD, and you start to get a picture of what my intentions are. Now, 
let's say I switch to Chromium. It's not going to happen anytime soon, 
but it might someday. My intentions haven't changed. Only the tools I 
use to accomplish my tasks. I'll still use _my_ shortcuts, and not the 
defined shortcuts in each program.

Because the computer now adapts to me, and not vice versa.

--
Jo-Erlend Schinstad