User Interface Remixed

Although used by systems engineers and many computer experts, the command line has been a dying art. When the debate of Linux vs. Windows is brought up, one of the most common points is that in Linux, you get a much greater degree of control due to the still powerful command line. Windows users can respond to this that it is harder to use and slower to do basic functions we can do every day.

But what if these two ideas where combined. Using existing point and click interfaces, yet enhancing them with command line like abilities. This is the idea behind Ubiquity. They have taken the idea of user interaction to a whole new level through their innovative method of graphically issuing commands. Lets say you are reading the tabs for Blackbird by the Beatles on the guitar. Its great to read the notes, but it would be so much better if you can hear the music, so you simply activate ubiquity, and start typing youtube blackbird and it will give you options as you type. When you select one, it will automatically move you to a new tab with your music.



This is just a snap of one of the search functions Ubiquity can do, however it can do a lot more. Lets say you have a section of text that is in Russian. I cannot read Russian at all, so I would just highlight it, and issue the translate command. Ubiquity automatically picks up the selected text and knows my default language. It can also create emails on the fly, update your facebook status, and more.

And the best part of this, is the core design is made so that it allows people to make additions easily. You can write simple scripts in javascript and add it locally, or you can load it online and it will automatically add to the herd. A collection of commands that the community can share to make the application even better.

It is so easy to make a fully functional command, that I was able to make a simple command myself in less than five minutes. The page for the command is avalible here in case you are interested.

Although I will admit, Ubiquity is still in beta with the version checking in at .2 just recently, I can easily see this plugin as where the web as a whole will move. More powerfull interfaces that allow us to exert an amazing amount of control over our web expirence. These interfaces will let us interact and alter our view of pages on the fly. We will be able to take links to youtube videos, highlight them, and play them on the same page where the link used to be. We will be able to reformat data on a page into graphs on the fly, and email data forms easily.

I encourage anyone and everyone to watch this tool, I can easily see it becoming integrated into the next version of firefox, maybe even integrated into the uni-bar at the top itself.

If you have any questions or would like to make your opinion known, feel free to make a comment.