Every App Should Have a Power Bar
How the command palette gives users superpowers
A new tool is quietly appearing in many new and old apps that makes it easier for users to get around and get things done quickly. It’s a supercharged search box that I’ve dubbed the “power bar” and is sometimes referred to as the “command palette.”
Similar to Apple’s Spotlight search on macOS, power bars are built into a specific app and generally summoned with a shortcut like CMD+K (or CMD+SHIFT+P) and then typing in what you’re trying to do. Unlike Spotlight, however, power bars allow you to complete actual tasks rather than simply finding files or navigating to other parts of the app.
In a tool like email client Superhuman, for example, the power bar allows you to do anything that could be done by clicking a button in the app—without lifting your hands off the keyboard. Hitting the keyboard shortcut from an email in Superhuman and typing “schedule,” hitting “Enter,” and typing “next week” is far faster than hunting and clicking around an interface to do the same task if you understand how to use it.
