[HN Gopher] Show HN: Pie Menu - a radial menu for macOS
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Show HN: Pie Menu - a radial menu for macOS
Hi everyone! I'm Marius Hauken, an indie developer, and I'm excited
to share my app: Pie Menu. It offers a fresh way to access your
favorite menu bar commands and keyboard shortcuts on macOS. By
simply pressing a hotkey you choose during setup, a radial menu
appears around your cursor, customized to the current active
application. This allows you to quickly select commands without
having to remember complex shortcuts across different applications.
Pie Menu comes with a library of preprogrammed commands for popular
apps, but you can easily add any app on your computer. We've also
created an extensive database at https://www.pie-menu.com/shortcuts
where you can quickly add shortcuts for different programs. If a
command lacks a keyboard shortcut, you can always create one
through System Preferences > Keyboard > Application Shortcuts. For
now, you can use Apple's SF Symbols to label your commands, but we
plan to include custom symbol sets in the future. You can see and
vote on our roadmap at https://www.pie-menu.com/help/roadmap. I
hope you give Pie Menu a try and find it as useful as I intended!
Author : hauken
Score : 157 points
Date : 2024-08-05 11:38 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.pie-menu.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.pie-menu.com)
| warrenm wrote:
| Happy to see someone implementing something along the lines of
| what I wrote an essay on years back -
| https://ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id=1086454
| hauken wrote:
| Thanks for sharing! The ideas are still relevant today! In fact
| the first documented radial menu is attributed to a system
| called PIXIE in 1969 - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pie_menu
| warrenm wrote:
| My first CS prof (~2000) talked about a circular interface he
| used on some navy gear back in the early/mid 70s (complete
| with round screens)
| j45 wrote:
| Interesting, I wonder how there are so many radial menu
| patents when this clearly invalidates them.
|
| https://patents.google.com/?q=(radial+menu)&oq=radial+menu
| hauken wrote:
| Didn't know! I've just thought that this was a common
| pattern along with tab bars and other menu items.
| ndespres wrote:
| Don Hopkins, who also posts here, has an interesting essay on
| the design and implementations of pie menus from 1991:
| https://donhopkins.medium.com/the-design-and-implementation-...
| saagarjha wrote:
| (Disclaimer: I'm on mobile and definitely haven't used this yet.)
| I feel like the problem of "I don't know the shortcut to do this"
| is solved for my by hitting [?]? And searching the menus for a
| keyword, then hitting enter. How do you see this as improving
| upon that? Is this something you have to set up per app? Because
| if it doesn't automatically populate its options with actions I
| use a lot but don't use the shortcut for that seems like a miss
| :)
| hauken wrote:
| You set up the frequent shortcuts you want for each app: This
| way you can quickly switch between different modes or tools in
| your different apps by only remembering one shortcut.
| MarcScott wrote:
| Like me, you seem to like to drive your computer with the
| keyboard and use the mouse when necessary.
|
| I use the Windows key to open applications on Windows,
| Cmd+Space on MacOS, and Mod+d on my i3 nixOS machine.
|
| Some people like their mouse/trackpad though, and this seems
| like a useful tool for those that do.
| pazimzadeh wrote:
| it would be cool to have an options to show the shortcut
| under the icon in the radial menu so that over time you learn
| it, and over time can replace items on the menu to ones you
| still don't have memorized
| ilyagr wrote:
| A cross-platform pie menu: https://github.com/kando-menu/kando
|
| I haven't used it, but the readme seems very nice. It might be
| more focused on app launching.
| Fnoord wrote:
| See also: Opie addon in World of Warcraft.
|
| Does not feel intuitive with mouse (too slow) but keybinds /
| touch, sure.
| wonger_ wrote:
| Agreed, I've been trying a pie menu launcher for mobile, and
| it's nifty:
| https://f-droid.org/en/packages/de.markusfisch.android.piela...
|
| I like how I can swipe to open apps without looking.
|
| For desktop, I've already customized a keyboard-driven workflow
| that's hard to beat. So a pie menu doesn't make much sense
| there for me.
| pomdtr wrote:
| Another alternative is the "Search Menu Items" command from
| raycast: https://www.raycast.com/changelog/1-20-0
| nsonha wrote:
| Why do you need Raycast for this, isn't there a built-in
| shortcut Cmd+? or something?
| pomdtr wrote:
| `cmd+?` works, but it's visually quite hard to follow. The
| raycast version looks much more like an universal command
| palette, and supports fuzzy matching.
|
| You can also pin menu items for each apps.
| lancesells wrote:
| One of the best things I've ever used in a program is Autodesk
| Maya's Hotbox. I even went so far as designing a Flash website
| where the user interface was a riff on that. I'm going to have to
| check this out.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q06HN5dXzI
| fragmede wrote:
| Fusion 360 also features pie menus for certain functions. quite
| handy and I wish more places used them. especially the
| homescreen on my phone - just go home then put a finger down
| then go up then right to open whatever preconfigured app is
| there.
| layer8 wrote:
| That looks more usable than pie menus to me.
|
| Somehow I'm an orthogonal-grid person and perceive radial
| movements as too finicky to perform accurately.
| NaOH wrote:
| I can't try this because my OS version is too old. I'm confident
| the app marketing, specifically the idea "Your favorite shortcuts
| at your mousetip!," is appropriate for how most would use it,
| though my case would be different.
|
| My first thought was how this would be helpful for the app
| commands I use just enough to want quickly accessible but not
| often enough that I remember the keyboard shortcuts. I'll give
| this a try when my Mac/OS are compatible. Best of luck.
| ljm wrote:
| Reminds me a bit of the Surface Dial. Really liked that concept
| even if I'd never have the sort of setup that would benefit from
| it.
| j45 wrote:
| I was thinking about that too. I think logitech or someone else
| has a device or software too?
| seltzered_ wrote:
| Griffin had the PowerMate going back to 2001:
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffin_PowerMate
| tinkertell wrote:
| Personally I'm using BetterTouchTool's floating menus for this.
| These are very powerful because they are fully scriptable and can
| be triggered in many different ways (although the docs are still
| very basic, most useful info is on their community forum). Here
| is a nice window management preset I have been using for some
| time now: https://community.folivora.ai/t/mouse-window-menu-mwm-
| window...
| josters wrote:
| This preset is great and gets really natural quite quickly.
| Just hold down the right mouse button and wait for the menu to
| appear, then release it at the desired option. I have adapted
| the window management menu to commands specific to whatever app
| I am using as well as global ones.
| k__ wrote:
| Don't quite understand why not more mobile apps have a radial
| menu.
|
| Seems like a reasonable choice for one-thumb controls.
| j45 wrote:
| Agree, it's very handy and natural .. also existed in many
| forms.
|
| The lack of seeing this may be an patent issue where a patent
| for a radial menu needs to be invalidated. Pie menus existed
| back in the 60's, before the patents, lots of examples in this
| thread.
|
| And for what it's wroth, I'm glad this thing exists, because
| people should be able to see it and say 'oh yeah, this is like
| the buttons on my remote control"
| ks2048 wrote:
| I'd guess one issue is the number of items. Radial probably
| only works for 6 or less. With a scrollable list, any number
| would work (And many popups have a variable number of options).
| jandrese wrote:
| One downside is your thumb is always going to obscure at least
| one of the options.
| donatj wrote:
| I used to use a similar app where you'd spin your mouse in a
| circle and it'd pop open a radial menu in the center of the
| circle you drew.
|
| It was kinda neat, I forget the name of it.
| lagniappe wrote:
| This just makes sense
| nerdjon wrote:
| It looks cool, this is not a critique of your work just something
| I have noticed about myself and curious if others have.
|
| I don't know why but I have long struggled with using icons to
| mark a task. There are certain ones that are so engrained like a
| floppy disk to save, a plus mark for a new tab, reload symbol,
| home symbol, or other very obvious ones. Or ones that are just
| the logo for a brand, those are easy to remember.
|
| But especially as we moved away from skeuomorphism (which
| thankfully bits and pieces of it are combing back, without it
| being bashed over the head with, like with the apple pencil UI)
| this got a lot harder for me.
|
| And I see this, and and I just know that I am going to have to
| look at all 6 going in a circle to find the one I want every
| time.
|
| I experienced this recently where I wanted to put a Shortcut
| (from the Mac App) on my toolbar in finder. My only option is to
| show icon only, text only, or both. I can't say, I want to have
| both for some things.
|
| I am curious if anyone else has struggle with symbols. Basically
| it seems like for me, the only symbols I remember are the ones
| that are so obvious (I guess) that it couldn't possible be
| something else. Or its universal across most/all apps. Even apps
| that I use daily, if its a symbol unique to that app I am still
| going to go top to bottom or left to right mousing over until I
| find the one I am looking for.
| ppbjj wrote:
| Similar thoughts. I use a few of the apps listed on the site
| frequently and this would take me awhile to master. Super cool
| idea though.
| KaiMagnus wrote:
| No, you're most certainly not alone. Very few icons are
| intuitively understandable, although even the folks at Nielsen
| Norman have trouble backing that up with data (as linked
| below).
|
| What immediately came to my mind was Autodesk Maya, where they
| have similar menus that use text only labels (see the
| screenshot from their manual). They have a lot of very abstract
| and complicated features, so every bit of usability counts.
|
| https://www.nngroup.com/articles/icon-usability/
|
| https://help.autodesk.com/view/MAYAUL/2022/ENU/?guid=GUID-8B...
| jandrese wrote:
| The design fad of ultra-minimalism has set UI development back
| years. Non-visible controls, exceedingly vague iconography,
| elimination of the distinction between control and content, and
| more are all symptoms of developers chasing the trend without
| thinking about how people actually use their products. Plus
| back in the day people just put more effort into designing
| icons. Can you imagine Susan Kare putting a hamburger menu
| button on something? It's laughable. A complete iconography
| fail and yet you see it absolutely everywhere these days.
| xtacy wrote:
| You are not alone, me too, and several others have noted it and
| discussed it before. For e.g., Gmail made this change that I
| absolutely hated and instantly disabled when it was released:
| https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/15291/are-grayscale-b...
| and https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17038130
|
| The grumpy.website linked above is gold!
| HeckFeck wrote:
| Agreed. Add colour and/or text to this pie menu and it is
| perfect.
|
| The most well-known implementation of the concept was in the
| Sims 1, where actions for the active sim were clearly labelled.
| The menu was a nest of unlimited depth. Good to see someone
| bring it to the desktop, but it would be better if it were more
| like its forbearer.
| kaeruct wrote:
| I liked the preview feature on the website, but shift + z is a
| horrible shortcut on a German keyboard. Just thought I'd let you
| know.
| hauken wrote:
| Thanks! I've had a lot of doubts with the preview feature.
| Browsers won't let you reliably use cmd/option for the same
| effect to preview it, so landed on shift + z. But in the app
| you can't use that shortcut because it would trigger every time
| you write something with capital Z.
| herpdyderp wrote:
| What's the free tier like? I see no explanation of that but it's
| free with in-app "unlimited access" purchases.
| hauken wrote:
| Free tier is 10 shortcut invocations a day before it resets
| next day.
|
| You could also try a 7 day free trial if you pick the yearly
| subscription (you can then directly cancel in App store and not
| pay)
|
| Here is more on the pricing: https://www.pie-
| menu.com/help/pricing
|
| But as you say I haven't written about the free tier there.
| gwbas1c wrote:
| Uhm, isn't this what command (right) click is supposed to do?
| hammerbrostime wrote:
| Hi, I had some initial trouble where I kept selecting all the
| text on the website when I shift-z-clicked. This is easily fixed
| by making text unselectable on your site via CSS. I wouldn't
| recommend everyone use it for their entire site, but I think in
| your case it will make a better demo.
|
| https://stackoverflow.com/questions/826782/how-to-disable-te...
| hauken wrote:
| Thanks! I haven't noticed that problem! Will try it out!
| iAkashPaul wrote:
| Hey Marius, cool project! Would this work with just the middle
| mouse button click too?
| hauken wrote:
| Yes, as long as you can trigger a keyboard shortcut from the
| middle mouse click.
|
| With help of better touch tool or others you can also trigger
| it with three finger tap on your trackpad: https://www.pie-
| menu.com/help/show-options
| ericyd wrote:
| Just a heads up, the marketing site has really bad scroll
| performance on Android Firefox.
| hauken wrote:
| Thanks! I should test it more thoroughly. Wrapping a couple of
| the blurs and masks in @supports will probably quickly fix a
| couple of the issues.
| ChrisMarshallNY wrote:
| That's nice!
|
| I wrote a Swift package that does a similar thing (but as an iOS
| widget): https://github.com/RiftValleySoftware/RVS_Spinner
|
| My own experience, is that I keep on _not_ using it in my
| projects. It 's too much of an "in your face" widget. I was going
| to do a SwiftUI version of it, but stopped working on it, when I
| figured out that I probably wouldn't use it.
|
| I suspect that MacOS, with the cursor-oriented navigation, is a
| better home for it.
| hauken wrote:
| Nice! I've noticed that I tend to use Pie Menu myself on apps
| where I frequently switch tools. Like Figma, Photoshop,
| Illustrator etc. Or for apps that have different modes: like
| Calendar (today, week, month), Things (today, inbox++),
| Obsidian (daily note, graph view, backlinks).
|
| For other apps where the keyboard shortcuts acts more as other
| shortcuts I don't use it as much.
| rendx wrote:
| Nice idea! On German keyboards, Z and Y are swapped, so holding
| SHIFT-Z is not very convenient. You may want to allow both for
| your demo.
| hauken wrote:
| The things you learn! Good idea: easy fix to allow both on the
| website.
| worldmerge wrote:
| Nice job on the website! That's sick!
| bitwize wrote:
| Did you know that Hackernews' own DonHopkins implemented pie
| menus for his X11 port of SimCity?
| dylan604 wrote:
| This is one of those things that is interesting but I don't
| immediately dis-like it like so many other ideas looking for a
| problem to solve. Being that it is so new, the one thing that
| strikes me immediately is the use of icons instead of text. I get
| that it looks good design-wise, but now my mind has to remember
| the icons. Some of the actions are short words where text could
| be used and not be cluttered: Move, Copy, Scale, etc. Maybe as an
| option?
|
| Also, would it be possible to have a different trigger than
| keyboard keys? If I'm hitting keyboard modifier to enable this,
| I'll just hit the shortcut keys directly. What about middle-click
| (3-finger click on macOS multi-touch or something) equivalent to
| enable so that it is entirely mouse driven?
| Terretta wrote:
| > _Being that it is so new, the one thing that strikes me
| immediately is the use of icons instead of text._
|
| That's so you don't confuse it with a right-click pop-up menu.
| :-)
| BiteCode_dev wrote:
| Always liked the Secret of Mana circular menu, but could never
| find a really good way of porting that to a computer.
| kayson wrote:
| The menu sounds haunt my nightmares
| numbers wrote:
| Love it! installed thru SetApp :)
| o-o- wrote:
| Nice work - radial menus are so underrated.
|
| A feature request is to allow the menu to ride along the cursor
| trajectory, effectively evolving the menu into a gesture GUI. I
| made an attempt at an svg implementation eight years ago:
| https://rawgit.com/lgrkvst/d3-sunburst-menu/master/demo/d3-s...
| Terretta wrote:
| Someone showed one of these here a few months ago, with a
| sequence of gestures diving deeper into a menu tree.
|
| The idea started out great but hit a wall every time you tried
| to gesture near an edge.
|
| It also felt as though you were playing Witcher 3 casting
| spells...
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