Show HN: Pie Menu – a radial menu for macOS

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Historical context and prior art

  • Radial/pie menus date back at least to the 1969 PIXIE system and have appeared in many products (SimCity, The Sims, Blender, Maya, Rhino, WoW addons, Autodesk tools, game UIs, custom ROMs, etc.).
  • Earlier research found pie menus faster and less error‑prone than linear menus for fixed‑length menus, but tradeoffs such as occluding content and screen real estate were noted.

Patents, prior art, and “FUD”

  • Several patents on radial/marking menus are criticized as covering obvious techniques and misrepresenting how pie menus work.
  • Commenters describe how one prominent patent and associated marketing allegedly discouraged adoption for years, even though it is now expired.
  • Some still see ongoing “FUD” in marketing around “patented” marking menus.

Advantages and interaction design

  • Benefits cited: directional gestures, “mouse‑ahead” use, self‑revealing options, ability to adjust in-flight, rehearsal effect from novice to expert, reduced gesture error space.
  • Works well for tool/mode switching and context actions in graphics, CAD, and similar pointer‑centric workflows.
  • Fans note smooth expert use via quick directional flicks without looking.

Critiques and usability concerns

  • Radial menus obscure more content than linear menus and can feel visually out of place in box‑based UIs.
  • Some find radial movements finicky with a mouse and prefer grids or hotboxes; others think they shine more on controllers or touch.
  • Icon‑only designs are criticized; many request text labels, color, or clearer iconography for learnability and accessibility.
  • On mobile, issues include finger occlusion, item count limits, and hit‑testing near edges.

This macOS app specifically

  • App provides per‑app pie menus for frequently used commands, aiming to help with actions used too rarely to memorize shortcuts.
  • Activation currently relies on a keyboard shortcut, but users suggest mouse/trackpad gestures or middle‑click mapping; integration with tools like BetterTouchTool is discussed.
  • Some want smarter, dynamic population (e.g., via menu inspection or AI).
  • Pricing: free tier with 10 shortcut invocations/day, paid unlimited options including a “lifetime” license (stated as genuinely lifetime).
  • Technical feedback: demo keybinding is awkward on non‑US layouts and non‑Latin keyboards; suggestions include using key codes. Site has performance issues on some browsers and text‑selection glitches during the demo.