The Dasher Project uses the metaphors gleaned from ZIPs (Zooming Interface Paradigm) about infinite desktops to create a highly efficient, usable, albeit unconventional text-entry system. Very cool. It uses one of the most beneficial, yet seldom applied, UI principle: Fitts’ Law.
Apple’s OSX leverages Fitts’ law well in their Aqua Doc, at the bottom of the screen. The icons in the Doc zoom and grow larger in proportion to how close a cursor gets to the icon’s edge, thus allowing the user to travel even less screen real estate to perform a task. It was easily the most controversial new piece of functionality within Aqua when it was initially released almost a year ago. At this point though, that criticism has probably waned quite a bit since it is now the quintessential identifier to the layperson of OSX .
