The Semantic Line Interface 123
First time accepted submitter yuriyg_ua writes "[The] semantic line interface may combine features of both command line and graphical interface, which would allow even more complex applications than we have seen before."
The idea is that the layer underlying user interfaces should define the semantic relations between data enabling the UI to provide better contextual information. Kind of a modern version of the CLIM presentation system.
How did this shit get on the front page? (Score:5, Insightful)
So a guy submits an link to his own blog page featuring a long and dreary essay containing some half-baked ill-defined vague handwavey idea about some kind of "semantic" interface which seems to have no new basis beyond what google's autocomplete or win7's search functions already do, and it gets posted to the front page? If you're going to allow self-publicity like this, it should at least be for good articles rather than shit ones.
On the other hand (Score:4, Insightful)
In the server case, MS is embracing CLI with more and more Powershell instrumentation. In the *nix world we've had it since the inception of the platform, but MS admins are getting very enthusiastic about a CLI now that they are given it.
For the desktop end-user, the traditional CLI may not usually apply, but in many ways all the search dialogs in various places end up serving the role of a CLI,
Re:Command line (Score:2, Insightful)
Reality check: it never went away.
And I'm not just talking about the fact that power users have continued to prefer it consistently, or even the way Mac power users gravitated towards CLI when OS X introduced it to their world. I'm talking about the stuff my grandparents use. Does that Google search box remind you of anything? Hint: it doesn't involve much clicking on buttons or menus! What about the total redesign of the start menu in Windows 7 to put the emphasis on typing commands rather than dragging the mouse round a menu? Right.
So, children, can we remember what the biggest, most hyped tech story of the last year was? I think it began with an "s". And then there was an "i". Yes, that's right, Siri! You know ... the command-line interface for iPhone?
Seriously, that's what Siri is. So it has more natural syntax than the likes of bash, and it's based on speech rather than characters, but it's still a return to the CLI-type design as opposed to the temporarily-fashionable point-and-click mouse/touch interfaces.
Like it or not, CLI is back, and this time it's for everyone, not just nerds. Guess you're totally wrong! Better luck next time.
Real problem. Bad solution. (Score:5, Insightful)
The article cited offers a crap solution, but there is a problem. It's the "What menu is that in?" problem. This is a real issue with some programs, especially the ones with modal and/or context sensitive toolbars and menus. It's really annoying when you read the manual, it tells you to use the "join" menu item, you can't find the "join" menu item, and the manual doesn't tell you under what circumstances the "join" menu item will be available.
The original Macintosh Human Interface Guidelines insisted that menu items should be greyed out when inapplicable, but they shouldn't disappear. Many GUIs today either make them disappear, or leave them looking normal but inoperative. The right solution today is probably to grey them out, but bring up a tooltip that explains what's needed to make that function usable.
(My current hatred in user interface design is invisible buttons, ones that only appear when moused over. Facebook is notorious for this. Many users don't know that if you hover over an ad, you get the option to make that advertiser go away.)