Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!zephyr.ens.tek.com!tekcrl!brucec From: brucec@phoebus.phoebus.labs.tek.com (Bruce Cohen;;50-662;LP=A;) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: Noun-Verb vs Verb-Noun Message-ID: Date: 30 Jul 90 17:48:57 GMT Sender: news@tekcrl.LABS.TEK.COM Organization: Tektronix Inc. Lines: 24 There is one advantage to non-verb for _sequences_ of commands on a given object: you don't have to constantly rename the target object. So a sequence might be noun-verb-verb-verb. The utility (or even desirability) of this obviously varies with the application. I use sequences like this often when using a drawing program to make complex, multi-object-group diagrams. On the other hand, the inverse kind of sequence is also common: perform the same operation on multiple objects. Many Apple-style drawing programs do this by having you select an operation from a menu of operations, and applying that operation to any object you point at until you select a different operation. I suspect that this choice is somewhat less driven by abstract CHI principles than by the dictate that the Macintosh had to use a one-button mouse. It seems clear to me that both styles should be available at any time to a user, since the choice is dictated more by the immediate work flow than by the kind of work (which application is being used) or by "goodness" of UI design. -- --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruce Cohen, Computer Research Lab email: brucec@tekcrl.labs.tek.com Tektronix Laboratories, Tektronix, Inc. phone: (503)627-5241 M/S 50-662, P.O. Box 500, Beaverton, OR 97077