Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!ucsd!ucbvax!NIC.GAC.EDU!scott From: scott@NIC.GAC.EDU Newsgroups: comp.sys.next Subject: Re: NOT (click to type) in NeXTStep? Message-ID: <9011061815.AA00881@mcs-server.gac.edu> Date: 6 Nov 90 18:15:17 GMT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Lines: 39 Just to add my thought to the move-to-focus stuff: One summer, I worked with a NeXT cube and a VAXStation 3100 on my desk. The NeXT ran (what else?) NeXTStep, the VAXStation, DECWindows. I'd only used NeXT for 2 weeks before that, and Macs not at all. The NeXT at work did not show up for about a month, so I'd had more time on the VAXStation than on the NeXT when it showed up. I _hated_ the move to focus stuff. One area where there'd be problems on the NeXT is that, at least under the X I saw, the cursor was _always_ on-screen. This caused me no end of frustration, because you _always_ had to have that cursor within the window you wanted to type in, and it was without fail right where you were working. So you always had to move it a couple times when editting a large file. Under NeXTStep, the cursor can be told to go away until the user moves it. Now, beyond the fact that I probably could have configured X to do what I want (though I really don't know that), move-to-focus when you cannot see the cursor would probably be pretty fun to watch, though I'd not want to be the user in such an environment. The amount of time it'd take to figure out where the cursor is would be much larger than that to click that extra time to get stuff going. Another problem I almost always had was that I'd run the cursor over something, it'd come to the front, and cover the window I was aiming for. That, of course, is a usage factor, but after a month I still wasn't doing it correctly. If it takes 3 months to get up to speed . . . Besides, for a windowing system that seems to demand 3 mouse buttons, I really don't understand an aversion to clicking them . . . :-) scott hess scott@gac.edu Independent NeXT Developer (Stuart) GAC Undergrad (Horrid. Simply Horrid. I mean the work!)