riddels often rely on subtle word meanings to throw off the puzzle solver, just as jokes often use puns or other word tricks to elicit laughter.
the way we think through a subject can be shaped quite a bit by the words that we use or that are used to describe the initial problem. it takes requires creative effort to overcome the prejudices words can silently put in our minds.
so when we started looking at a replacement for the kmenu, one of the first things i did was stop calling it a 'menu'. because if we ask "what should a new applications menu look like?" we carry over all those prejudices from past experiences with what a menu should be, how it should be presented and what it should contain.
instead i kept refering to this design challenge as the "application launcher interface", or ALI for short. (TLAs are all the rage, dontcha know? ;)
we now have a port of kde3's kickoff, originally developed by SUSE developers, and it doesn't look a whole lot like a menu. i do get questions why it doesn't get drawn more like a "real" menu; this is understandable given the biases we have all developed from using traditional desktop interfaces for so long. but kickoff is not a menu. it's something else. it, like other user interface elements, has things in common with menus, but strictly speaking it isn't one itself.
even more interesting to me, however, are projects like lancelot and raptor which deviate even more from traditional menu concepts than kickoff does.
i don't know how much of this experimenting is due to being free of the word "menu", but i do know that we really didn't see much of this kind of stuff when asking about replacements for the "k menu". i couldn't help but wonder idly today on my way home after lunch if we'd be in the same place had we stuck with traditional or known terminology.
we still have a traditional menu available in plasma, but the other options that are emerging are much more exciting, both visually and use wise.
the way we think through a subject can be shaped quite a bit by the words that we use or that are used to describe the initial problem. it takes requires creative effort to overcome the prejudices words can silently put in our minds.
so when we started looking at a replacement for the kmenu, one of the first things i did was stop calling it a 'menu'. because if we ask "what should a new applications menu look like?" we carry over all those prejudices from past experiences with what a menu should be, how it should be presented and what it should contain.
instead i kept refering to this design challenge as the "application launcher interface", or ALI for short. (TLAs are all the rage, dontcha know? ;)
we now have a port of kde3's kickoff, originally developed by SUSE developers, and it doesn't look a whole lot like a menu. i do get questions why it doesn't get drawn more like a "real" menu; this is understandable given the biases we have all developed from using traditional desktop interfaces for so long. but kickoff is not a menu. it's something else. it, like other user interface elements, has things in common with menus, but strictly speaking it isn't one itself.
even more interesting to me, however, are projects like lancelot and raptor which deviate even more from traditional menu concepts than kickoff does.
i don't know how much of this experimenting is due to being free of the word "menu", but i do know that we really didn't see much of this kind of stuff when asking about replacements for the "k menu". i couldn't help but wonder idly today on my way home after lunch if we'd be in the same place had we stuck with traditional or known terminology.
we still have a traditional menu available in plasma, but the other options that are emerging are much more exciting, both visually and use wise.
10 comments:
Aaron,
Since you mention the Application Launch Interface (ALI) I think it is only appropriate to say the whole phrase KDE Application Launch Interface (KALI).
Kali is a good patron for KALI. According to the infallible Wikipedia "[Kali] is also known and revered as Bhavatarini (meaning: redeemer of the universe)."
Can KALI redeem launching applications?
(This is all very tongue in cheek.)
@aaron: "we still have a traditional menu available in plasma, but the other options that are emerging are much more exciting, both visually and use wise."
indeed, i personally love raptor, visually and use wise, i can't wait for it =)
I'm waiting for Raptor as well. It seems like it'll be everything I need from an ALI as you would call them. Thinking back, I was still referring to Raptor as a menu, which as you mentioned, it isn't.
I just wanted to suggest Kali, but Steamedpenguin beat me to it ;)
Kali also means 'fierce', as in 'Mbwa Kali' (fierce dog), the sign you see outside many houses in Kenya.
some day i think i will rewrite my good old tasty menu for kde4, but i will have to continue to call it a menu, otherwise how can i continue that such bad quality pun? :P
In my opinion, there's no point in convincing the users (whether directly or indirectly) that KDE4's Kickoff is "better" in any way . We ,the users, can make opinions on our own. Some of us don't like Kickoff at all. Words cannot change that.
@mart: hehe.. yeah, "tasty menu" is a great name indeed .. always makes me giggle just a bit ;)
@Martin "mhb" Böhm: i was talking about people engaged in the creative process of making things, not users. so i think you may have missed the point of this blog entry, which is reflecting on how the choice of words can affect problem solving, innovation and creativity.
to respond directly to your comment: i really don't care about convincing anyone that they do or don't like kickoff or any other element in plasma; i do hope people take the time to actually try things with an open mind versus spout knee jerk responses, but that's about the extent of my expectations.
Good Blogger. You look like didn’t post my comment. And you require me to sign in again even though I’m signed in to Google.
Alright, with that out of my system:
Nice typo you have there in the first word — keeps making me read it as Riddells :)
I guess some people dislike Kickoff because they don't think of Kmenu as an ALI. And, perhaps for them, it isn't!
Kmenu is more than an Application Launch Interface. It is an Application Browser. Something Kickoff was not designed to be (at least efficiently).
One could argue that people rarely browse their applications list, but that would be a pretty strong assumption that requires data to back it up (no, "usability tests" and "requirements analysis" are two different subjects). And if you take all the whining into account, you might conclude that the assumption was incorrect. On public settings, like internet kiosks, or even livecds, the ability to discover what's installed and what's not is more important than the "favorites" - whose favorites?
"even more interesting to me, however, are projects like lancelot and raptor which deviate even more from traditional menu concepts than kickoff does."
Lancelot deviates more from Kmenu than Kickoff as a menu, but not as an application browser.
I don't know Raptor so I won't talk about it.
DISCLAIMER: I'm not complaining about anything! This comment is just a bunch of random thoughts! If, by chance, it makes any sense, it was purely a coincidence! :)
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