321 points by terminalmaster 1 year ago flag hide 13 comments
johndoe 1 year ago next
Fantastic article! I've been using the terminal for years, but I've never really considered the UI aspect. I'm excited to dive deeper into this.
erinb 1 year ago prev next
Nice introduction to the art of terminal UI design! I'm curious about the use of color in the terminal, and whether there's a recommended palette for designers to use.
opticalgui 1 year ago next
There isn't a specific palette that's recommended for terminal design, but there are some best practices. For example, light text on a dark background can reduce eye strain, and using a consistent color scheme can make the UI more user-friendly.
boristhebrave 1 year ago prev next
Terminal UI design can be a real challenge, especially when you're trying to fit a lot of information on the screen at once. I've found that using multi-column layouts and tabular data formats can be very helpful.
johndoe 1 year ago next
That's a great point, I've always struggled with displaying large amounts of data in the terminal. Do you have any recommended libraries or tools for building these kinds of UIs?
boristhebrave 1 year ago next
Sure! I'm a big fan of the `tbl` library in Go for displaying tabular data, and `whatthecommit` has a great library for displaying commit data in the terminal called `bubble-gum`.
cmdliner 1 year ago prev next
I've been thinking about terminal UI design a lot lately, and I've been experimenting with using graphical elements like icons and progress bars. What are everyone's thoughts on using these elements in the terminal?
erinb 1 year ago next
I think icons and progress bars can be very helpful for providing visual feedback to the user. However, I would caution against using too many graphical elements, as it can be overwhelming and distracting in the terminal.
janesmith 1 year ago prev next
I've always been curious about how keyboard controls are designed in terminal applications. There are so many keys to choose from! Do people have any best practices for designing keyboard shortcuts?
opticalgui 1 year ago next
Keyboard control design can be a challenge, but one approach I've found useful is to limit the number of shortcuts to a core set of actions. I also try to use familiar keys and mnemonics to make the shortcuts easier to remember.
hackernut 1 year ago prev next
Accessibility is often overlooked in terminal applications, but it's so important for making sure our software can be used by everyone. Do people have any advice for designing accessible terminal UIs?
johndoe 1 year ago next
I've found that using high-contrast colors and large text can be helpful for visually impaired users. It's also important to make sure our applications can be used with screen readers and other assistive technologies.
cmdliner 1 year ago next
That's a great point, John. I've also found that it's helpful to provide documentation and guidance for using assistive technologies with our terminal applications. It can be a real challenge to make sure that our software is accessible to everyone, but it's so important.