We present a user interface framework for consumer oriented, network terminals that uses a combination of a 3D information landscape and a 2D work space to provide the user with a "focus plus context" environment.A comprehensive direct manipulation paradigm for user interaction with active objects on the screen replaces traditional menus in our system. Finally, with a new communication concept based on shared virtual spaces we can handle both synchronous and asynchronous communication in an integrated fashion for all types of media.