GUI is limited.LUI is powerful and is coming.@eig1stComKUCamp 2009 28/6/2009

GUI - Graphical User Interface

GUI is great!2+ dimensionperception

GUI is great!Specify position

…But it is far from perfect

GUI == point-and-click IU

LUI – linguistic USER Interface

When LUI is (much far) better

#1 Lots of choices to command

MS WORD PHOTOSHOP start up menu

GUI10+ objects (commands) – not easily pointLUIUncountable objects (commands) - directly recognize and type

#2Define higher-level command

“Hey Firefox? Select this page, translate it to Spanish, encrypt it with my mom’s public key, email it to her, hit send, and oh yeah save this chain of commands as a new command so I can use it later. Let’s call the new command ‘garblify’.”http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/26/why-verbs

Proof of power of LUIBASHAlthough it has extremely high learning curve (for user).

GOOD LUIJonoDiCarlo said… http://jonoscript.wordpress.com/2008/07/21/language-based-interfaces-part-1-the-problem/easy to learn.efficient.expressive.abstract away details that user doesn’t care about.

ease of learningvery close to the human languageCluesavailable commandsWhat to type next.What will do if executed.Suggest other commands might be looking forarguments what ranges are validwhat they mean.Propose commands appropriate to my working context or to the type of data I have selected.

efficiencyAllow the user to start with the noun or to start with the verb.Let me autocomplete a partial word with a keystroke.Recognize words even if they’re super-abbreviated.Remember what suggestions I’ve chosen in the past and pop them up next time I give the same input.Let me partially enter something, see the suggestions, choose one as mostly-right, and edit that one some more before executing it.Guess, from my context and my selection, what I want, and fill most of it in for me, while letting me easily override it if it’s wrong.

expressivenessHandle commands with multiple arguments, including optional arguments, that can take various data types.If I have data selected, let me use that selection as an input for any of the multiple arguments — or for none of them.Let me chain commands together, with the output of one going to the input of the next, like Unix pipes.If my input could mean more than one thing, give me a sensible way to resolve the ambiguity.Let me compose a complex command out of small parts, in the flexible way that natural language does.Let me save a complex command that I’ve created and give it a simple name so I can re-use it in the future.Give me an easy way to create my own commands — and to share them with others.

abstract away details that user doesn’t care about.

UbiquityFirefox awesome barQuicksilverGoogle Desktopgnome-do