Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!cs.utexas.edu!utastro!werner From: werner@utastro.UUCP (Werner Uhrig) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: What's that thing (really Mac philosophy) Summary: thanks, Mike, for expressing that "user-friendly" sentiment! Keywords: Easy Access etc Message-ID: <4235@utastro.UUCP> Date: 22 Aug 89 07:53:20 GMT References: <551@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> Distribution: comp.sys.mac Organization: U. Texas, Astronomy, Austin, TX Lines: 33 I appreciate that Mike took the time to "break a lance" in support of the person asking the question and for the "friendly" sentiments he champions for interaction on the net: quite honestly, I thought of several other things as possible reasons for "that little icon", and did not think of Easy Access either.... and am not ashamed to admitting to it. I do not believe in the RTFM-sentiment, because I am certain that it had no entry in the index for "that little icon in the top right corner of the menubar" and I do not believe in having to scan half a dozen of manuals or docs which could be the source of information for something that there is no telling what causes it. The real problem is that the user-interface lacks a HELP-key or a MENU-entry (with some settable command-key-equivalence) to allow the user to select something on the DeskTop and ask: "What's That?! ... I consider this to be the most glaring absence in Apple's attempt at user-friendliness. imagine, a standard programmer interface to connect helpful information to most anything that appears on the screen !! what a blessing for us overworked and underpaid (and understaffed) brotherhood of support-volunteers for the Macintosh; rather than RTFM one could say: "do you know how one can ask for HELP about anything that appears on the screen?" Wouldn't that be wonderful ?!!! -- -----------> PREFERED RETURN-ADDRESS FOLLOWS <-------------- (ARPA) werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu (Internet: 128.83.144.1) (UUCP) ..!utastro!werner or ..!uunet!rascal.ics.utexas.edu!werner