phatBar

phatBar is currently a conceptual product designed to explore the paradigm of using the keyboard as the only input device and we welcome feedback on the user experience and suggestions for improvement.  It should be noted that as this product is purely conceptual, its functionality will change over time and any releases should for the moment be considered non-production quality.

Key Features

phatBar is designed from the ground up to be used solely from the keyboard.  Use the WIN+Space key combo to make it appear, type what you want and then hit TAB, Shift+TAB or Return depending on what you want to do next.

It includes a built-in scientific calculator.  Just begin your calculation with an equals sign (the input icon will change to a calculator to signify you’ve entered calculator mode) and type away.  The result is prefixed with an equals sign in case you want to add further calculations.

Create aliases to commonly used files, URLs, extensions and anything else.  Once you’ve created an alias, just enter it and off you go.

Open URLs as quickly and as easily as you would a file or folder.  phatBar recognises namespaces added to Windows by other applications and will support its own namespace functionality in future releases.

View files and folders on your computer quickly and easily with just the TAB, backspace and cursor keys.  Once you’ve found the file want, open or launch it by hitting Return.

Open a command prompt by typing ‘|cmd’.  Follow it with a folder path to open the command prompt at that folder.

Email people.  Create an email by typing ‘|mail’ followed by the recipient’s address and subject.  Or create an alias to do it for you!

Anyone can create extensions (which extend the functionality of the input field) and AddOns (which augment what can be done with the results of the input field) – you just need a text editor and some VB script knowledge.