Menoku 0.1.1

Menoku is an innovative new menu system that combines the best features of several common application launching schemes. Menoku project lets you graphicaly search through neatly organized icons and choose any icon quickly with a short sequence of keys. It supports hierarchical submenus and is easy to configure and organize with drag and drop interface. It works on Windows and Linux with the Qt4 library. You have nine groups of nine icons, each of which can either launch an application or load a new menu of up to 81 icons. Because of Menokus unique layout, any icon on the screen can be selected with at most two keypresses, expressing the position of the program you want to launch. You can memorize these key sequences, or hunt through a large full-color icons to find the program you want. The idea behind Menoku is to make an application menu laid out like a Sudoku board. A single window is divided into nine groups of nine icons, making an array of nine by nine. Each icon can either load a new menu of up to 81 icons or can launch an application. To select an icon, you can either click on it or use your numberpad to select which group of nine icons to choose from and then which of the nine icons to activate. (See the Screenshots page if this isnt clear) Why is this a good idea? Well, the purpose of Menoku is to try to make a more effecient menu system, and it does so by combining the best elements from several common application launching methods: The Messy Desktop Using the desktop to start applications is nice because it lets you browse through a large number of applications graphically using large icons. Unfortunately, keeping a desktop full of icons organized is a pain! Also, having launch icons on the desktop is really pretty inconvenient because you have to minimize windows to see all your icons. You shouldnt have to disrupt what youre doing to start a new program. Menoku lets you graphically search through a large number of icons, just like a desktop, but its unique grouping layout enforces some level of organization, so you always know where to look. Also, Menoku is not a desktop, its more like a popup menu. It comes onto the screen when you ask for it (on top of any other windows) and when you select an application to start, it disappears. Keyboard Shortcuts Sequences Many power users like to use the keyboard to start their favorite programs. This means they dont have to move their hands to the mouse to start a new program, and its also much faster to just type out a memorized combination than to browse through a menu. Of course, the problem with this is that you have to memorize all your key combinations! You can make yourself a cheat sheet, but having to lookup a key combo before you type it defeats the purpose. In Menoku, any icon you see on the screen is uniquely accessible through typing at most two keys: one to select which group of nine you want, and another to select one of those nine icons. This means that every application you want to start with Menoku has its own short key sequence. You can quickly memorize the sequences for your favorite programs, but if you forget you always have the icon display to remind you. Hierarchical Menus The standard way to start programs in a WIMP interface (such as Windows or X11) is to open up a menu. You click a button and get a long list of names and small icons, some of which represent programs and others more menus. The reason menus are so ubiquitous is that they work! You can store any number of programs that way and organize them into groups. Unfortunately, menus are very slow. You have to browse through text, which is inefficient, and you also have to wait for new menus to pop up beneath your mouse. Menoku is in large part modeled after a standard hierarchical menu. Although you can only have 81 icons in any given menu, you can have any number of submenus which can also have 81 icons. You can easily group your programs together either by putting them into the same group of nine or by putting them in the same submenu. However, browsing in Menoku is much faster. You can search for large icons instead of text, and you can use your keyboard instead of following a winding path with your mouse..

Requirements:	No special requirements
Platforms:	Linux
Keyword:	Application,  Common Application,  Group Of Nine,  Have To,  Icons,  Instead Of,  Menoku,  Menu,  Menu System,  New,  New Menu,  Nine,  Tools,  You Want To
Users rating:	0/10