Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Armadillo
From: Armadillo@cup.portal.com (Russ Armadillo Coffman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: America Online
Message-ID: <24891@cup.portal.com>
Date: 11 Dec 89 02:18:38 GMT
References: <1989Dec9.170635.22759@cs.rochester.edu>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 70

Mark Fulk:

>First of all, one has to download the menus at session startup.  They change
>very rarely, so I don't really see why that is necessary. If the latest versio
n
>were on my disk, I could even use the AO software (with easy mods) to look at
>old stuff I had saved.  If I choose an option that hadn't been saved, the
>program could bug me to sign on. (Lurkers: Mark doesn't mean the Mac menus
at the top of the screen, he's talking about windows that contain lists, aka
"menus.")

Just use the keywords, in which case menus aren't needed at all (until you
reach an area like a forum - they are needed then :) ). Note that no
other service "caches" menus, either. But on other services, current menus
disappears when you move forward. With AO, you have the choice of leaving
"menus" (windows displaying lists of choices, usually navigation choices) open.
Thus, if you go to the Developer's Forum after being in the Utilities Forum,
you can return instantly to Utilities by clicking on its window or choosing it
from the Windows menu. With any other service, you must leave one area to get
to another - with the meter running! To get back where you were, same problem.
Not so on AO. If you want to close the windows, that is your choice. Generally
they reload faster than you can read them or decide what to do anyway, so it's
probably OK to close the windows. It's not uncommon for us to be chatting in
one Forum (each has a regularly scheduled weekly chat) when a question comes
up about a file or message in another. With AO, you can go to another forum
and get the answer without ever leaving the chat! Thus I see their scheme as
a GREAT advance over other IBM-oriented text menu (non-window) services.
Summary: the choice of remembered menus is left to the user. Leaving lots of
windows open is not really a problem, as most are hidden by new windows anyway.
Further, there are commands to close all, all but the top, or clean up all
windows if you choose. I prefer leaving 'em all open for the instant navigation
that offers.

>I don't want my screen full of little, indistinguishable menus that I have
>to select from to navigate.

Why not? As stated above, sure beats memorizing IBM-type commands, and sure
beats being forced to leave one area to visit another, as on GEnie or CI$.
Here's a tip, though - instead of entering a number or letter and hitting
RETURN or ENTER to select it as with most other services, use the Up and
Down arrows to highlight a menu, then just hit RETURN or ENTER. You can
also just double-click a list item, of course. As with any good Mac
application, you have several ways to do things.

>Caching files such as help documents is even more to the point, as they take
>longer to download.

 The Help file is ALREADY offline. Select Help from the Apple menu or use
Command-/. Additional help can be found in the "Service" area, which is FREE.

>...I hope that noone is putting off such changes in order to keep people
>signed in longer, paying the (fortunately, very good) connect time price.

To the contrary, see the AO VP's comments you can access from the splash
screen. And changes are much easier than with other services - they can
change the way messages work at their end without you needing new SW.
Compare that with CI$: they've known for two years that CI$ Navigator will
not keep up at 2400 baud on a Plus or SE (text only, DLs do transfer at full
speed), yet have made no changes. The result - a windfall for them paid for
by all us Plus and SE users with 2400 baud modems. There is supposed to be
a "test area" on AO where you can try out the new messaging scheme and make
comments. When's the last time CI$ did anything like that? :)

The Mac has spoiled people. If it takes more than an hour to master something
new, they complain. Remember how long it took to master CI$ or GEnie when you
first started using them - if you ever did master them completely. AO is to
online services as the Mac is to IBM. It's like being in online heaven. You
should be proficient the first day. If not, just browse. At 1/2 to 1/4 the
cost of most other services, you can at last afford to. -Russ (AFL RussC,
ForumLink Forum Leader, pardon my enthusiasm)