Concept: Ubuntu’s HUD

Say hello to the Head-Up Display, or HUD, which will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications. Here’s what we hope you’ll see in 12.04 when you invoke the HUD from any standard Ubuntu app that supports the global menu.

To me, this seems:

  • good to keyboarders like me (I’m a fan of QuickSilver/Alfred, shortcuts, etc.)
  • unusable to all other users

Problem is that you have to know the name of the action you want to invoke. Sometimes — especially when you’re new in a program — you’ll want to skim through the menu/options to get to know the app or to get to the action you want.

However, it does seem like a quick jump to voice control: instead of typing, just say what you want. An ideal situation would be to keep the menu as we know it, and provide the mechanics/features of the HUD via voice control.

Introducing the HUD. Say hello to the future of the menu. →

Published by Bramus!

Bramus is a frontend web developer from Belgium, working as a Chrome Developer Relations Engineer at Google. From the moment he discovered view-source at the age of 14 (way back in 1997), he fell in love with the web and has been tinkering with it ever since (more …)

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