Labs/Ubiquity/Interactive Tutorial Workspace
Contents
- 1 Explanation
- 2 Tutorial Contents
- 2.1 Table of Contents
- 2.2 Part 1 of 6: How to Start Ubiquity
- 2.3 Part 2 of 6: Weather command and Previews
- 2.4 Part 3 of 6: Calculate command and Abbreviations
- 2.5 Part 4 of 6: Wikipedia command and the suggestion list
- 2.6 Part 5 of 6: Selecting and Executing
- 2.7 Part 6 of 6: Getting Help and Learning More Commands
Explanation
This page is where everyone can edit the content of Ubiquity's built-in interactive tutorial.
(You can try out this tutorial in action if you install Ubiquity from the latest source-code checkout, by using the 'help command or going to the about:ubiquity page.)
The tutorial is divided into short segments of text, each one containing instructions. (I've numbered the text segments on this page -- those numbers don't appear when the tutorial is running.) When the tutorial is running, it pauses after showing each segment of text and waits until the user has completed the instructions before proceeding.
On this page, I've put everything that is actually part of the tutorial contents text in
boxes like this one
so that it will not get mixed up with the commentary text, which is outside of the boxes.
Once everybody has hacked on the contents here to their satisfaction, I will put them back into the source code.
Tutorial Contents
Table of Contents
Welcome to the Ubiquity Tutorial.
Click Here to Start From The Beginning
Start from the middle: * How to start Ubiquity * Previews (Weather command) * The Suggestion List (Calculate, Wikipedia) * Selecting, Executing (Translate, Google) * How to get help and learn more commands
Part 1 of 6: How to Start Ubiquity
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Ubiquity Tutorial, part 1 of 6: How to start Ubiquity
Welcome to the Ubiquity tutorial.
Let's get started. To summon Ubiquity, do this now:
Hold down the keyCombo[0] key and tap the keyCombo[1] key.
(Note: keyCombo[0] and keyCombo[1] are replaced automatically with the current keystroke settings.)
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(At this point, the tutorial adds a visual indication to the input box part of the ubiquity panel.)
This is the Ubiquity input box. You can type commands here.
If you want to get out of Ubiquity without giving a command, tap the Escape key. Try that now.
Part 2 of 6: Weather command and Previews
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Ubiquity Tutorial, part 2 of 6: Weather command and Previews
OK, so now let's learn a command. Summon Ubiquity again...
(Remember, hold down the keyCombo[0] key and tap the keyCombo[1] key.)
(Note: keyCombo[0] and keyCombo[1] are replaced automatically with the current keystroke settings.)
4
(Visual indication on the input box again.)
Now type the word weather...
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(Visual indication on the preview area this time.)
Even before you're done typing, the preview area shows a preview of the results of your command — in this case, a weather report.
If you don't enter a location, the weather command takes a guess where you are.
Now let's give it a location: type a space, and then the word Chicago.
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See how that works? Feel free to delete "chicago" and try some other locations.
When you're done checking the weather, hit the escape key.
Part 3 of 6: Calculate command and Abbreviations
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Ubiquity Tutorial, part 3 of 6: Calculate command and Abbreviations
Summon Ubiquity again, and we'll learn some more commands.
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(Visual indication on the input box.)
This time, type just the letter 'c' (lower-case) and see what happens.
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(Visual indication on the suggestion list.)
The Ubiquity suggestion list displays all of the commands that start with the letter 'C'.
Let's say you want the calculate command. You don't have to type the whole command name. Just type the letter 'A' (so that your input says 'ca').
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(Indication on the input box.)
Now type a space, and then type 22/7 (so that your input says 'ca 22/7'.)
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(Visual indication on the preview area.)
The calculate command will show you the result of any arithmetic expression you type in.
When you're done experimenting with calculate, hit the escape key.
Part 4 of 6: Wikipedia command and the suggestion list
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Ubiquity Tutorial, part 4 of 6: Wikipedia command and the suggestion list
Summon Ubiquity again...
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(Visual indication on the input box.)
Type the letter 'W', a space, and the word 'cheese'.
(Like, 'w cheese').
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(Visual indication on the suggestion list.)
Now tap the down-arrow key until the wikipedia command is hilighted.
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(Visual indication on the preview area.)
The Wikipedia command preview shows a snippet from each article on Wikipedia matching your search term.
Those article titles are links — you can click on one of them to open the article in a new page.
When you're done, close that page and come back here, or just tap escape to move on with the tutorial.
Part 5 of 6: Selecting and Executing
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Part 5 of 6: Selecting and Executing
If you select text on a web page before summoning Ubiquity, then you can have your commands do things to the selected text.
Let's see an example. Use the mouse to select the Japanese text below. Then summon Ubiquity.
The box below shows:
アドオンを選んで、自分だけのブラウザをつくろう。
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Now issue the translate command.
(type 'translate', or just 'tr').
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At this point, you could type in some words that you want to have Ubiquity translate. But as you can see in the preview area, Ubiquity is already translating the words that you have selected.
Next, tap the enter key to execute the command.
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Notice how the Japanese text that you selected was replaced with the translation. That's because you executed the command by pressing 'enter'.
Each command does something different when you execute it. Most often, it will open a new page, or change something on the current page. Click here to continue.
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Let's do one more example. Say you're browsing the web and you come across an unfamiliar word... like the one in the box below.
Select the word in the box below and then summon Ubiquity.
The box below shows:
aglet
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You don't want to translate this word, you want to look it up. So issue the google command (type 'google' or just 'goo').
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Now, if the preview of the google command tells you what you want to know, then you're done — you can dismiss Ubiquity and go on your way.
But if you want more information, you can tap the enter key to execute the google command, which will open the search results in a new page.
It's up to you.
Part 6 of 6: Getting Help and Learning More Commands
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Part 6 of 6: Getting Help and Learning More Commands
So far you've learned the weather, calculate, wikipedia, translate, and google commands. That's a good start, but there are dozens more commands included with Ubiquity — plus you can find more on the Web.
How will you find out what commands are available?
One way is by using the help command.
Summon Ubiquity...
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Suppose you want to know if there are any commands that deal with tabs. You can use the help command like this:
type 'help tab'.
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In the suggestion list, you can see all of the commands that have 'tab' in their names.
Use the arrow keys to move through the suggestion list. The preview area shows help information about each command that you highlight.
When you're done, tap escape.
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Finally, there's the command-list command. This command will take you to a page that shows every command Ubiquity has installed. You can learn all sorts of useful things by browsing the command-list page!
This is the end of the tutorial. Once you go to the command-list page, you are on your own to experiment and learn new commands at your own pace.
Summon Ubiquity, issue 'command-list', and tap the enter key to execute.
Good-bye!