Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sdd.hp.com!hp-pcd!hpcvlx!ben
From: ben@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com (Benjamin Ellsworth)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: XWarpPointer revisited.....
Message-ID: <100920274@hpcvlx.cv.hp.com>
Date: 22 Jan 91 02:28:49 GMT
References: <9945@ncar.ucar.edu>
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA
Lines: 32


>    Under the current thinking, the user must:
>    - move the pointer to the "acknowledge" button

You assume that the box is not and cannot be posted under the cursor.

>   In this scenario, the user would *only* have to click the button to
>   acknowledge the message. He von't be lost, since the application
>   would return the pointer where it was before...

Finding the cursor can be aided by visual clues.  However, unless those
cues are quite strong, the first time the box pops up the user will
probably be lost.  If you want to train the user, go ahead.

>  Besides, anytimes an application uses an Application or System Modal
>  (to use Motif terms), it has *already* disturbed the direct
>  manipulation paradigm, as it is forcing the user into something he
>  did not want to do.

(The terms pre-date Motif.)

"Forcing the user into something he did not want to do" is orthogonal
to direct manipulation paradigms.

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