Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Re: Linux GUI

Author:Daniel Bushman
Posted:3/4/1999; 12:21:33 PM
Topic:DHTML MTTF!
Msg #:3567 (In response to 3530)
Prev/Next:3566 / 3568

What a great time this would be to break out of all the previous molds of a GUI. A full Anti-Mac interface as Dona Gentner and Jakob Nielsen speak of:

By exploring alternative interfaces that transcend the principles behind conventional graphical interfaces, a human-computer interface emerges that is based on language, a richer representation of objects, expert users, and shared control.

Of course someone would actually have to do it. It's more of a romantic idea than anything else. I would love to work on a team headed for this goal.

I imagine a UI where files, folders, applications and such don't exist, or at least are irrelevant to the user. Replaced by small chunks of data, data organized and retrieved by more contextual means, and small tools that do specific tasks. Where data is inherently scaleable; XML probably. The data knows what itself is. Where you retrieve a data chunk by how it relates to the project you are working on, or by how it is associated to the content of your writing. Where one tool knows how to grab data off of the internet, another knows how to display it visually, another knows how to assist you in your writing, and yet another knows how to send what you wrote back to the server and you have your choice of each.

A browser would look like this:

And you would have your choice of each. "I like Microsoft's HTTP client, Netscape's HTML parser, and Randy's Handy Dandy bookmark organizer. And I'll definitely use UserLand's outliner to edit text."

Can't we all just get along.

Oh how I ramble. I'm working on a website about all this. It will be a lot more organized. I just haven't decided whether it will be a fantasy website, or a research and development website. Maybe a touch of both.

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:48:22 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.