Text-based user interface: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:34, 7 September 2023

Revision as of 11:34, 7 September 2023

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Another kind of TUI is the primary interface of the [[Oberon operating system]], first released in 1988 and still maintained. Unlike most other text-based user interfaces, Oberon does not use a text-mode console or terminal, but requires a large bit-mapped display, on which text is the primary target for mouse clicks. Commands in the format <code>Module.Procedure ''parameters''&nbsp;~</code> can be activated with a middle-click, like [[hyperlinks]]. Text displayed anywhere on the screen can be edited, and if formatted with the required command syntax, can be middle-clicked and executed. Any text file containing suitably-formatted commands can be used as a so-called '''tool text''', thus serving as a user-configurable menu. Even the output of a previous command can be edited and used as a new command. This approach is radically different from both conventional dialogue-oriented console menus or [[command line interface]]s.

Since it does not use graphical [[WidgetGraphical (GUI)widget|widgets]], only plain text, but offers comparable functionality to a [[GUI]] with a [[tiling window manager]], it is referred to as a Text User Interface or TUI. For a short introduction, see the 2nd paragraph on page four of the first published ''Report on the Oberon System''.<ref>{{cite tech report |author1-link=Niklaus Wirth |first1=Niklaus |last1=Wirth |first2=Jürg |last2=Gutknecht |date=1988 |title=The Oberon System |url=http://e-collection.library.ethz.ch/eserv/eth:3180/eth-3180-01.pdf |volume=88 |series=ETH Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich, Institut für Informatik |doi=10.3929/ethz-a-000487176 }}</ref>

Oberon's [[User Interface|UI]] influenced the design of the [[Acme (text editor)|Acme text editor and email client]] for the [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs]] operating system.