

Don't Mode Me In - uros643
http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?DontModeMeIn

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aidos
Sounds an awful lot like the teachings of Jef Raskin. I read The Humane
Interface years ago and I seem to remember him talking about modeless
interfaces. Definitely worth a read
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humane_Interface>

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Qz
<http://www.c2.com/cgi/wiki?NoApplication> is also a good read, especially
when the Rise of the App seems to be the big new thing. I'm not convinced
about Apps -- I think NoApplication is where we will get to in not so long.

~~~
quanticle
I agree. However, I disagree with the C2 page regarding the form that
"NoApplication" will take. Most of the writing on the C2 page seems to talk
about integrating applications into a file manager-like UI. I, on the other
hand, think most applications will be integrated into a web browser style
interface.

We already have tabbed window managers, and tabs are becoming increasingly
prominent in other applications (e.g. text editors, IDEs, etc.). What we'd
need to see is the OS integrating all of that into a master set of tabs.

Want to view a web page? Open an "internet" tab. Want to work on a document?
Open a "Word" tab, and so on. We already have this interface (in a limited
sense) with Google's Chrome OS. However, Chrome OS goes too far - it forces
everything to run within the browser executable. What I'd like to see is a
Window manager concept that brought the web metaphor to the desktop without
shoehorning everything into an actual web browser.

~~~
Qz
Yes, I don't think the everything-as-a-file-manager concept is where it will
go. The same subject is discussed on the ObjectBrowser page, and that concept
is very much in line with what I came up with separately. The basic idea being
that the user interacts directly with (mostly data) objects, and new
functionality is added by adding commands that do something involving one or
more objects. Basically along the lines of unix piping, but not restricted to
working on plaintext only. Tabs are really a bit of a kludge, I think a proper
Zoomable Interface with automatic layout is the best choice as far as the UI
goes.

