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On Mac OS X, I use a UI hack called Quicksilver. It allows me to open applications, go to URLs, and even initiate a blank email to a contact, with a few keystrokes. It's a revelation. It took me a couple of days to re-train myself to use it by default, and it's been an incredible convenience ever since. It's just a small application that starts up at boot, and it's initiated when I type a specific key combo. A little menu pops up, and when I start to type the name of the application I want to launch, the menu displays my ever-narrowing choices. When I type "SA," Quicksilver knows that I mean Safari, the OSX web browser. When I type "OSN," it brings up a small menu of OSNews-related web bookmarks, which I can select with the arrow keys. I think that this is the direction that user interfaces should move in. It's totally non-intuitive at the start (because you have to know that keyboard combo launches it. But once you know that, it's both intuitive and efficient.

The standard Mac OS X interface with its screen-hogging dock, is a perfect example of an OS being too easy to use for a power user. That's why most experienced Mac users I know have to customize their experience with Quicksilver, Tinkertool, and other hacks. I guess it's an okay work-around, but I'd like to see OS developers taking a little more interest in their best customers' needs.


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