Ubuntu 12.04 HUD Supports Voice-Based Menu Commands
The new HUD will be included in the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS release scheduled for April.
Canonical's Mark Shuttleworth reports that a new Head-Up Display, or HUD computer menu system, will be implemented into the Ubuntu 12.04 LTS release scheduled to go live in April. The new HUD feature will replace current menus in Unity applications, providing a faster way to access menus in applications. Instead of clicking through menus, users simply type the command they require in a search box.
According to Shuttleworth, the new HUD can actually learn the actions a user most often requests and prioritize options for commands based on past use. HUD also covers system functionality, meaning users can play and pause music, or even change their IM status or go offline without having to access Skype directly, as an example.
"It’s a way for you to express your intent and have the application respond appropriately," he writes. "We think of it as 'beyond interface,' it’s the 'intenterface.' This concept of 'intent-driven interface' has been a primary theme of our work in the Unity shell, with dash search as a first class experience pioneered in Unity. Now we are bringing the same vision to the application, in a way which is completely compatible with existing applications and menus."
Shuttleworth indicates that voice input will be added, but not at its full potential when the HUD arrives in April. "The full integration of voice into applications will take some time," he writes. "We can start by mapping voice onto the existing menu structures of your apps. And it will only get better from there."
Given it's the end of January, there’s still a lot of design and code still to do in regards to getting HUD ready for an April release. The team, which includes individuals who understand Gtk and Qt such as Ted Gould, Ryan Lortie, Gord Allott and Aurelien Gateau, as well as designers Xi Zhu, Otto Greenslade, Oren Horev and John Lea, still hasn't addressed the secondary aspect of the menu, as a visible map of the functionality in an app.
"We’ll make sure it’s easy for developers working in any toolkit to take advantage of this and give their users a better experience," Shuttleworth writes. "And we’ll promote the apps which do it best – it makes apps easier to use, it saves time and screen real-estate for users, and it creates a better impression of the free software platform when it’s done well."
To read the full blog, head here.
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Kevin Parrish has over a decade of experience as a writer, editor, and product tester. His work focused on computer hardware, networking equipment, smartphones, tablets, gaming consoles, and other internet-connected devices. His work has appeared in Tom's Hardware, Tom's Guide, Maximum PC, Digital Trends, Android Authority, How-To Geek, Lifewire, and others.
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ajay_vishvanathan wow.. someone is actually competing windows!!! that is awesome people.. i loved ubuntu.. i love ubuntu.. and i will continue to love ubuntu.. ^_^Reply -
alidan ajay_vishvanathanwow.. someone is actually competing windows!!! that is awesome people.. i loved ubuntu.. i love ubuntu.. and i will continue to love ubuntu.. ^_^how are they competing?Reply -
ajay_vishvanathan alidanhow are they competing?in terms of UI.. now they added what windows has.. voice recognition.. and the search is better as compared to windows.. its faster in booting, tries to pack the drivers like windows, what not? and they are free on top of that.. the difference?? it wont support .exe, .msi files. but we got wine hq, run on linux etc there..Reply -
indian-art Very futuristic.Reply
Now we can get the productivity of a fighter pilot with the 'intenterface' HUD! :) -
mobrocket ubuntu is great, however i left cus of unity.. but with gnome 3 being pretty much the same... and windows 8 going to something similar, might as well make the switchReply -
doorspawn As a 10.04 user who refuses to downgrade to 11.x, I want to know if I'm going to be able to avoid any UI changes that Canonical decides are better but really aren't, for me. (eg, the immovable Unity launcher that groups tasks, sure it's good for some, but not me).Reply
IE, has Canonical dropped the "we know how to best set up your desktop, and everyone's needs are the same" attitude and gone back to letting us customise everything the way we like it?
There are many who jumped ship with 11.04, but there are still probably many others waiting to see whether Ubuntu might yet fix things. -
Make this release a more faster, leaner, stable and reliable distro. Common Ubuntu/Canonical you can deliver this kind of distro as what you did with version 8.04LTS and 10.04LTS...Reply
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doorspawn mobrocketubuntu is great, however i left cus of unity.. but with gnome 3 being pretty much the same... and windows 8 going to something similar, might as well make the switchReply
Since there are plenty of alternatives, why move to something you don't like?
There are enormous numbers of anti-unity users who jumped to mint, enough to keep things current and working fine. I'm probably headed to mint if 12.x doesn't let me keep the features that I find most efficient.