Many user interfaces have a modes or "attention" organized as a stack. Press the "escape" key or sequence to exit the current mode and pop the stack to where you were previously. This is a conceptually simple and good design. One example, perhaps not a very good one, is nested "screen" applications, and various sequences of ctrl-A A get you up to any desirable level.
Consider augmenting this design to be able to access both endpoints: one can hit a different "escape" key to go to the opposite end of the stack. A deque or doubly linked list. One example, again perhaps not a very good one, is Microsoft Windows, where ctrl-alt-delete immediately lets you interact with the OS, not any intervening applications.
A vague concept, still needs thought. When would it be useful?
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