I generally agree but it depends on the application and the computer purpose / input you will most use.
Like… it doesn’t make much sense to have a CLI/TUI for an image editor… if you start using things like sixel you are essentially building a GUI that runs in a terminal, not a TUI. The same happens with videogames, video players and related entertainment applications.
But like I said, I do generally agree. I’d even argue that when possible, GUIs should just be frontends that ultimately just call the corresponding CLI programs with the appropriate parameters, avoiding duplication.
Exactly. I’m on the exact same boat, the blog post is the proof! :D
CLI designers: “Here are the commands and arguments in a txt file, they’ll only change when absolutely necessary and we’ll be sure to inform you both in the docs and as a warning in the CLI itself.”
GUI designers: “go fuck yourself and re-learn where we hid all the buttons this time, after waiting for our two second fly-in animation for every submenu of course. Don’t worry though, here’s a condescending popup tour that only shows you the most basic features you could already see with your eyes. If you’re still confused, here’s an AI chatbot that will just repeat the contents of the popup tour and then act like you’re an idiot. Hey, HEY! STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING THIS INSTANT AND READ ABOUT OUR NEW BUZZWORD FEATURE YOU NEVER ASKED FOR! TRY IT RIGHT NOW OR ELSE! Also we’re keylogging you and recording your mouse movements as “analytics” for “”“improving””" our UI (even though it’s only getting worse with each new version), you understand. "
That’s an excellent description of Microsoft Office after 2007.
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well, actually nobody gives a shit, use whatever you fit best for the task.
For me to be able to use whatever I want, it needs to exist. Therefore it is a relevant discussion to have, since it might influence a developer to consider TUI instead of just going for GUI as the default.
Waiting for others to do something for you is the wrong approach. Get off your ass and be the developer. Creating an interface for a tool is no rocket science.
And they say we are no longer toxic
Ironic coming from someone that is using a computer with OS and programs written by someone else and hardware constructed by other people, using electricity produced by others, et.c. :)
Entirely unrelated to your point (with which I fully agree) but wouldn’t it make more sense to replace the first period in “et.c.” with just a space (if you’re not going to forego the period)?
etisn’t short for anything so the period doesn’t quite make sense (and you wouldn’t be using any more letters than you already are).No worries, either way (obviously); I was just thinking.
You are completely missing the point of “Oh, mister developer sir, please, you absolutely must make me a button here so I can rename a file. I insist! I’ll even draw you a little spider in return.”
I am a developer and I find others perspective on usability interesting. Each to his own I guess.
It’s significantly easier to make a third party GUI for a command line tool than to make a third party CLI for a GUI only tool because you’ll be working with an opaque binary that doesn’t have any public APIs.
“That’s why I always have 10GB of free ram on my laptop with 16GB of ram” lol, good job sport I wonder if they browse the web on command line? lynx and curl can be rough. I take the position that sometimes gui is good, sometimes tui, sometimes cli. ncurses is a headache to write for.
Yeah browsers are the main GUI I use. w3m is great for reading blogs and those types of things but like you say, not the best experience for most things. And we can’t really blame it on them, the modern web is horribly written most of the time.
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I would totally love to browse a simpler “layer” of the Internet that could be navigated with Lynx! The biggest downside would be lack of images. (Maybe Lynx can do images?)
But I could see an indie web of little blogs and human created artifacts that would be surfed kinda like logging into a MUD. :D
For sure, Cli browser is just not the way to go.
Thumb rule: whichever I feel comfortable with in a given situation, I use.
Totally agreed!
What is a TUI? I haven’t heard that term before.
TUI:
TerminalText User Interface, something like htop in example. CLI: Command Line Interface, something like grep in example.Edit: “Text” is probably the correct word, not “Terminal”.
Isn’t the T for “text”? (ie. “Text User Interface”)
I mean, in the context of Unix systems it’s most likely gonna be within a terminal emulator, but in theory you can have a TUI inside an SDL window rendering the text there (specially when they are ports from other systems where they might be using different character sets than whats available in terminals… or if they want to force a specific font).
The only example that comes to my head right now is ZZT, but I believe there are many games on Steam that use a TUI rendered within their own program, not a terminal.
Text makes sense. I mostly read it as “Terminal” and do not know what the original meaning is with a certainty. Looking at Wikipedia, the source of truth, it’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text-based_user_interface . You probably right about it.
thanks. I was going to ask but figured someone else might and thanks @thingsiplay@lemmy.ml as the top example makes it I think clear I think. if im right then vi would be tui as well.
ncurses and similar. Think 1980s word processor, emacs, vi, Slackware installer, etc.
Emacs is actually a real GUI application. It has font sizes, variable width fonts, image display, etc. and with the pGTK backend even native wayland support. It also has a rendering backend for the terminal, and some people have their reasons for using it, but the default and general advice is to use Emacs in GUI mode.
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Slackware was my first linux back in the day. :)
I use
BTWPff, you’re using one of those newfangled CRTs? I use a mechanical teletype that makes my computing sound like hammering nails.
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First off, I’m really glad to see posts from personal websites and blogs! Way to keep the indie web alive!
Sadly I got a Cloudflare error trying to open the page. But, I think on this subject, GUIs can be great tools, but they’re the most commonly designed with exploitative dark patterns and “our users are drooling simpletons” in mind.
Terminals are also super cool. It’s definitely easier to automate terminal programs than GUIs!
Also TUI? Man, opening BTOP is always a treat .
It just kinda depends on the tool for the job, right? Blender is a great example of a streamlined necessary graphical interface that asks for a terminal-like familiarity from the user. (And GUI-only folks kinda rage at it at first hehe)
Running as much as possible in terminal is definitely easier on the resources though, and I want to get a lot better at that. (As sexy as KDE is!)
Thank you! Sorry for the cloud error, the server’s origin website is hosted in my country Iran, which is currently in a semi-blackout and very bad internet distruptions. Very sad.
You might see the blog if you try a couple times more, I can see it with most VPNs.
I completely agree with your points. I’m stating the same sentiment in the blog.
I prefer GUIs for two things:
- Things that are inherently graphical (gimp, blender, etc)
- Things that I don’t use very often, and the GUI is too simple to be bothered with a cli.
I’ve seen your tool box. I’ve shared some that may be good additions to your shop ;)
Ooh thanks! I was really looking to forward to such additions!
Glad you found something interesting :)
