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Labs/Site 2.0/Existing site replacement/Site content/Ubiquity: Difference between revisions
Labs/Site 2.0/Existing site replacement/Site content/Ubiquity (view source)
Revision as of 03:48, 4 July 2009
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== Initial blog post == | == Initial blog post == | ||
'''Re-Introducing Ubiquity''' | |||
As a Labs project, Ubiquity is an investigation into two areas. The first is '''linguistic interfaces''' -- interfaces where you type what you want to do. Can such an interface be made practical as a part of everyday internet use? Can it be made close enough to natural language that people can discover how to use it without special training? Does it have significant speed advantages over a mouse-based interface? Can it be made good enough at understanding the user's intentions that it is just as usable as a point-and-click interface? Can it do all this for more languages than just English? | |||
The second area of investigation is what we call '''verbifying the Web'''. More and more websites are ''things that you do'' rather than ''places that you go to''. We Digg things, Tweet things, Google for things, blog things, map things, and so on. But in most cases, using one of these services requires copying some text, going to the appropriate website, and pasting it into a form. How about if the interface to the Web treated these services as tools that you can pick up and take with you, to use anywhere, instead of treating them as destinations? | |||
Ubiquity commands are small chunks of javascript which can interface with web services. Any website can offer Ubiquity commands; any Ubiquity user who visits the site can see the commands and choose whether to subscribe to them. Once subscribed to, those commands can be used anywhere. | |||
== Project blurb + tagline == | == Project blurb + tagline == | ||
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=== Write Commands === | === Write Commands === | ||
Ubiquity commands are written in Javascript. You can open the built-in command editor by running the "open command editor" command. This is the fastest and easiest way to prototype new commands, as you won't have to restart Firefox or reload anything to see the changes in your commands. The command editor even has a button to import a template so you can | |||
[https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Ubiquity/Ubiquity_0.5_Author_Tutorial The Command Author Tutorial] explains everything you need to know about the API for writing commands and the many features and options that are available to you as a command developer. | |||
If you wish to share your command with others, the above tutorial explains how to do that, too. | |||
You should also read the brief guide to [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Ubiquity/Secure_Coding_Practices secure coding practices] for Ubiquity commands, which includes making the decision about whether to share your command using the more powerful but less secure Standard Feed, or the more restricted but more secure Locked-Down Feed. | |||
Finally, there is also a [https://wiki.mozilla.org/Labs/Ubiquity/Skins_v0.5 skinning tutorial] that explains how to customize the skin of the Ubiquity interface. | |||
=== Improve Ubiquity === | === Improve Ubiquity === | ||