A couple of years ago, by way of Brian (who seems to always be reading some great books), I read the phenomenal, The Humane Interface by the late, great Jef Raskin, one of the creators of the Apple Macintosh. It is a absolutely wonderful book, and for anyone meddling with user interface design it is a must read.
One of the things the book dealt with, which I at first had a bit of trouble getting my head around, was a suggested method of operating the computer through quickly written commands. One of the examples from the book was, say you’re writing something and you need to do a quick calculation on a few numbers. On most normal OS’s today you need to switch out of the application you’re working in (unless of course you do most of your work in a calculator application, in which case this does not apply to your… you loon!). But with the system Raskin suggested, you would hit a ‘command key’, write for instance CAL and then the calculation and finally press enter. Voila, the calculation would be inserted right where you need it. A small example of course; wait for it.
Now what I only learned this morning through Chris, was that Jef Raskin’s idea is in the process of becoming reality through a company co-founded by Aza Raskin, who, as the name implies, is a son of Jef. The company is Humanized, and their product is called Enso.
Now it is unfortunately a Windows-only product as far as I can tell. But seeing as how I suffer each day at work for not having Quicksilver at my fingertips, perhaps it is time for Windows to get its comeuppance? After all, many of the thoughts Jef Raskin presented in his book, like for instance modeless user interfaces are advocated by the HIG for OS X, but surprisingly few of them are present in Windows.
–Now I’ve yet to try the trial, being on my Mac, as I am. But I’m wondering if this won’t soon become a need-to-have on Windows, for me at least.- I’m currently running the trial here at work.
PS: How long before someone does an Enso interface for Quicksilver?
Update: First impressions have me wishing you didn’t have to hold down Caps Lock to perform a command. Rather I would like for it to work like Quicksilver, in that the window stays open until you press enter. I’m currently not entirely sure what happens if I’ve typed in a command and then want to cancel. In Quicksilver I would hit Escape. Figured out how to cancel
Actually, this example you mention is something my friends use Activewords for: http://www.activewords.com/
This looks a lot smoother though.
First of all, thanks.
Second of all, you have slightly misunderstood the command method.
What you would rather do, is write the command directly in the text you were writing, select it and hit the calculator key, and then your selection would be replaced with the result.
This would also be the same with running other commands that did not have a designated key: write something, select it, hold down the command mode key (caps lock in your example), write the command and hit enter to execute it.
This also highlights one of the core tenets of The Humane Interface that you (considering your wish for having it more like quicksilver) must have forgotten:
No modes in the interface. Only quasi-modes.
Holding down a qualifier to change modes while you are holding it down is a quasi-mode.
If you are annoyed with the caps lock approach, I think it’s a matter of habit. I believe Raskin is right when he claims that having no modes will make you form more solid habits. If the caps lock is not ideal for the task, consider that ideally the keyboard should be redesigned and have a key that might be better placed :)
Also, regret the lack of LEAP keys :)
Well not so much misunderstood as forgotten :)
As for Quicksilver, I don’t consider it a mode, but rather another application which opens. I know where you’re getting at, but I nonetheless feel stunted, trying to write with my pinky on the Caps Lock key.
On Windows, you can hit WIN+R to bring up the “Run…” dialog. You can enter program names in there, and as long as the program is in the $PATH, it will do command completion for you as well. So the calculator is a quick WIN+R,calc,enter away.
The same trick works on path names, by the way, so you can start typing “\pro” and it will suggest “\Program Files”.
Not that I’m a Windows fanboy, not by a long shot, but that’s been around for, like, forever.
Even if you don’t consider quicksilver a mode, it still is :)
I understand what you mean with the pinky, but I’d still prefer it to a mode.
I think the ideal is that it would be accesible with the thumb, since you mostly use your thumbs for space only, and you have two thumbs.
Max, you’re absolutely right, and I personally use it quite often. but as you also note yourself, it is restricted to the $PATH. And that said, Enso does quite a bit more than open apps within the $PATH.
For a Quicksilver for Windows, google for Launchy (colleagues here like it since it’s customizable).
Although I really prefer the look and feel of AppRocket.
I must admit I really disliked approcket, and while people are advocating launchy to me, I prefer Colibri.
Nothing beats Quicksilver though.
… except maybe Enso :)
Well, I’ll say that as easy as Enso is to use, it’s just as limited, at least in its current iteration, in comparison to Quicksilver.
But then, Quicksilver can almost do too much, and it is the king of hidden functionality.
Something along the lines of the Google desktop search interface would work for me I think, double-tap CTRL to bring up a box, type in a command and then either display a result or execute the command. As you say, I’m not too keen on having to hold down a key even if this is designed to allow me to launch apps without loading a launcher (therefore being more inline).
The number of people I know how use Windows+R to bring up run then type in notepad or calc or whatever to launch things suggests this would be quite acceptable.
Enso is neat, but the Caps Lock thing (and the price being more than $0) made it a no-deal for me. Calibri seems pretty cool, although I’ve been using Launchy for a while. Neither of them do things to selected text or have macro-like functionality. But I think it’s just a matter of time.
While I agree that it’s a bit pricey for what I can do, I do think it’s worth paying money for. How Quicksilver can remain free is a mystery to me.
Hm, now you people have me wondering whether something like QuickSilver is available for Linux, since that’s what I’m using at work.
(quick Google: yes, there is. gnome-launch-box, which isn’t in Debian Testing yet and won’t compile, and KDE’s Katapult — I might get back to those.)
I have to admit that I recently ditched QuickSilver in favor of Spotlight, though. Yes, QS is snappier and it remembers my own acronyms, but I find Spotlight’s speed to be acceptable, and it saves me the overhead of an extra app running in the background (and indexing stuff).
True, although Spotlight only does a fraction of the things QS is capable of.
Of course. OTOH, I found myself using all the extra functions less and less. Sure, they’re absolutely fabulous for showing off, but they didn’t help me coding, read RSS feeds or do the dishes. And it started crapping out on me more and more…
In the end, all I used it for was launching apps or opening often-used documents, stuff like that. Spotlight does that just fine.
Loved the UI, that’s for sure.
More on Katapult: I’ve been playing with it for a bit. Yes, it looks like the Bezel interface from QS, and it kinda works. Nowhere near as “complete” as QS, though.
Hello All,
Thanks for your thoughts on Enso. I thought I should let you know that we have capitulated: Too many people have asked for the ability to change Enso’s entry key and it’s quasimodal nature. Mind you, having used Enso for a year now, the Enso quasimode truly feels natural in a way that GDS or Spotlight never quiet did. The tactile feedback of the quasimode allows Enso’s use to be absolutely habitual, so that it doesn’t break your train of thought. I know it is a tad bit hard to believe — but from having sat and watched people — it really does reduce error rates.
That said, using Caps Lock is a concession to the current keyboards. What we would really like are Leap-like keys below the space bar. Perhaps one day we will be able to make those.
Finally, in the interest of doing a little market research, what do you guys think a fair price for Launcher (and Words) would be? Remember that we are a company with people to feed and pay, so free is not an option (however much we would like it to be so).
Hey Aza, and thank you for dropping by.
First of all, it should be noted that my immediate aversion to the use of Caps Lock as well as its function as a quasi-mode key is just that, an immediate reaction. I used it for the better part of yesterday, and it did grow slightly on me, even if I’m not entirely sold just yet ;)
I’ve been using Quicksilver for a few years now, so breaking the habit is going to take a little while. I’ll hold off my final verdict until then.
As for pricing, I think $20 is the magic mark for me. Mind you, I always think most software is just $5 too expensive, so maybe I’m just out of whack with the pricing of things…
PS: Good job on the aesthetics of your products, and good job on the idiotic simplicity of the Reader too.
Hey Aza,
I think 20 – 25$ is the upper end of what I’ll pay for utils like this, even if they are life alteringly cool.
On another note, I am glad to see that someone is doing something with Jefs ideas.
Let me know when you start selling US layout LEAP keyboards please :)
And hurry up and make a mac version.
Good luck with enso.
Hi Aza (aren’t we sort of hijacking Michaels’ blog here? :P)
I guess most of us here wouldn’t mind paying 25$, but I do think the price is the reason why most of us haven’t bought it just yet.
If you really want the world to adopt, you need a price that doesn’t make people think twice. Online products of 10 – 15$ that interest me, are most of the time instant buys. It doesn’t take much convincing to have people putting down that kind of money for good software.
Of course you have people to feed, but a product that sells a lot cheap earns you more than one that sells some expensive.
By the way, AppRocket (which does far less than your application) is charging 18$, which is the reason why I’m still using the trial version…
The Caps-Lock feature killed what would be the definitive productivity app on Windows for me — and yes, I tried. I went through several days of using it, disabling all my other launcher apps. I can’t live without my pinky while typing; I guess it’s just all those years of touch typing — are the key’s ‘q’, ‘a’ and ‘z’ just not important anymore?
$10 -$15 is reasonable, given that the keyboard shortcuts are more configurable. With a few more features, I’d maybe pay $20.
I would pay nothing for Words. I can get all it’s functionality for free using other tools that I have.
Why not allow an option for Alt-Space users to use that method, as well as maintaining the current functionality?
(Sorry for hijacking the thread a a feature-rant, Micheal).
Hi All,
Based on the feedback we’ve received, we dropped Enso’s price. Also, in around a week, we’ll be releasing an Enso update that will allow you to choose your own Enso entry key.
Thanks for everyone’s comments. (And also for using this blog as a forum :)
Use away.
Aza,
I commend you guys for being this forward and immediate in your response to user comments.