[Novalug] Interfaces (was Re: What to put on a G4 Laptop?)

[JRR]

Bonnie Dalzell wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, Geoff McNamara wrote:
>
> GM >I will contend that the "intuitive" property of an interface is only one
> GM >important aspect - the other is "productivity".
> GM >
> GM >My wife could do accounting input without ever taking her hand off of the
> GM >keyboard in a text based environment. When the gui interface came along
> GM >with the mouse and "window frame heaven" - where everything would "work
> GM >the same" and therefore be intuitive - it hammered her productivity. No
> GM >longer could she get work done with the efficiency she could before - the
> GM >gui environment required constant attention to the screen and hands
> GM >switching from the keyboard to the mouse and back to the keyboard.  In the
> GM >text world it was almost a requirement to have shortcuts for every menu
> GM >item - now you have to hunt for them or create your own.
> GM >
> GM >I apologize for sliding off topic and inviting perhaps another religious
> GM >flame war but I have always felt strongly about the need to pay attention
> GM >to productivity of an interface.
>
> even in a window environment one should be able to do all key board work 
> for most things other than graphics.
>
> here on my ubuntu desktop i can move from window to window using alt and 
> tab together. of course it was not obvious to figure out and I am not 
> sure what commands might open the gui menus on the menu bar.
>
> everthing working the same still should mean the keyboard shortcuts are 
> also the same. if not disaster can be on the horizon.
>
> one of the very earliest experiences i had with this was years ago when I 
> encountered a text editor whose command for close down without saving was 
> "control s"
>
> GM >
> GM >-geoff mcnamara
> GM >
> GM >
> GM >>  On Fri, 27 Feb 2009, rarob at comcast.net wrote:
> GM >>
> GM >>  > <snip>
> GM >>  > ----- Original Message -----
> GM >>  >
> GM >>  >
> GM >>  > In terms of computer use, "intuitive", is in my opinion based mostly on
> GM >>  > past experience. There is nothing in our lives that really mimics using
> GM >> a
> GM >>  > computer.
>   
JRR   How about my flight simulator ???   :-)
> GM >>  >
> GM >>  > <snip>
> GM >>  >
> GM >>  > I wonder if there have been any studies about that.  I agree with you
> GM >> btw.
> GM >>  >
> GM >>
> GM >>   About 10 years ago Nathaniel Borenstein was a HCI prof at U-Mich
> GM >> and tried to determine/develop an intuitive user interface.
> GM >>
> GM >>   After a semester or so of work, the conclusion was that whatever
> GM >> you learned first was intuitive, and everything else was wrong, or
> GM >> at least strange.
>   
JRR   It was the first thing you learned because that feature made the 
most sense to you.
> GM >>
> GM >>
> GM >>   I don't believe this work was ever published.
> GM >>
> GM >>   I think we might be approaching something obvious with the
> GM >> wand and 2-finger things coming from the wii and related work.
> GM >>
> GM >>   One problem is that the most efficient tools are divorced from
> GM >> their real-world analogs.
> GM >>
> GM >>   A keyboard is very non-intuitive for a way to write. Graffiti is more
> GM >> intuitive, and a lot slower than typing.  Chording keyboards look
> GM >> interesting, but I understand they are even harder than a QWERTY keyboard
> GM >> to learn to use.
> GM >>
> GM >>   A trackball/mouse/pencil eraser/whatever is not like pointing
> GM >> your finger, or just moving your eyes to gain focus on something, but
> GM >> these are the best tools for pointers we've developed to date.
> GM >>
> GM >>   In a WIMP mode - the idea of a display on a set of goggles,
> GM >> with a finger gadget to move the windows to the center, instead of
> GM >> moving your head to look at the various windows might be closer
> GM >> to the real-world thing we're emulating.
> GM >>
> GM >>   Or maybe not.
> GM >>
> GM >>   Clif
> GM >>
> GM >>
> GM >> --
> GM >> ... Clif Flynt ... http://www.cwflynt.com ... clif at cflynt.com ...
> GM >> .. Tcl/Tk: A Developer's Guide (2nd edition) - Morgan Kauffman ..
> GM >> ... 16'th Annual Tcl/Tk Conference:  2009,  Portland, OR  USA ...
> GM >> .............  http://www.tcl.tk/community/tcl2009/  ............
> GM >>
> GM >>
> GM >>
> GM >>
> GM >>
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> GM >
> GM >
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> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>                        Bonnie Dalzell, MA
> mail:5100 Hydes Rd PO Box 60, Hydes,MD,USA 21082-0060|EMAIL:bdalzell at qis.net
>
> freelance anatomist, vertebrate paleontologist, writer, illustrator, dog
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