csant/log

Elsewhere I already have declared my love for the CLI - as I said back then, interaction via the command line is all about dialog. When interacting through a keyboard, your two choices are either to remember the exact binding for a specific action, or to start a dialog, telling your application the actions in plain English. Well, almost…

I have never really understood why CLI and GUI should be antonyms, why you should either enjoy graphics and be forced to point-click-drag-and-drop interaction, or dwell in the terminal, uttering your commands in lonely dialogs with the machine. It's really not that I don't like terminals - but for a few tasks graphical approaches are simply better. And browsing is one such task.

There is no reason not to have the power a command line offers, available also in GUIs. I am not currently aware of any major GUI application that spouses the two interfaces - the closest you get are some TUIs, Emacs or (I am told - no gamer myself) some games, such as Quake. Well - until a few days ago Rune came to my office…

tab 0 > go http://opera.com/
Loading http://opera.com/
tab 0 > newtab
Created tab number 1
tab 0 > showtab 1
Switched to tab number 1

Imagine your focus moving only between the document and one mini-buffer to issue commands with, or to get some feedback from the active page:

tab 1 > go javascript:alert('hi');
Window got an alert:
"hi"
tab 1 > answer ok
Dismissed alert
tab 1 >

I could go on forever telling you how much more sense it makes to have the login dynamics of a terminal in the case of HTTP authentication, to be able to query document information from a prompt and not to have either move my focus to a panel or to get intrusive dialogs, etc… This approach is just the most fabulous interaction - made possible by… our WebUI. Yessir, a UI for Opera, created using only standard Web technologies, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript and DOM. Let me note one thing: the console UI is not the default WebUI the SDK is shipped with - it is just another possible UI, one of infinite possibilities open there to Web developers: unleash the powers, be creative!

tab 0 > version
Web UI console rev. 2080

(And a very personal thank you to Rune for dreaming up this UI)

N.B. The WebUI is a feature of the opera 9 SDK for devices.
P.S. The screenshot shows one of the possible console UIs, à la Quake - there is a binding to toggle the mini-buffer overlay on or off.