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From: swsh@ellis.uchicago.edu (Janet M. Swisher)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Computers for users not programmers
Message-ID: <1991Jan30.203240.9441@midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: 30 Jan 91 20:32:40 GMT
References: <1991Jan30.014945.22840@amd.com> <1991Jan30.100611.6787@lth.se> <1991Jan30.193422.15369@Think.COM>
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In article <1991Jan30.193422.15369@Think.COM> barmar@think.com (Barry
Margolin) writes:

>In article <1991Jan30.100611.6787@lth.se> magnus@thep.lu.se (Magnus
>Olsson) writes:

>>The concept of `folders' on the Mac is identical to what is called
>>subdirectories under Unix, MS-DOS, VMS and so on. Under these last
>>OS's, you see lots of users who refuse to learn anything about
>>subdirectories but put all their files in the root directory. Is
>>this because the concept of a subdirectory is so inherently
>>difficult that the users just can't understand it? Possibly - but I
>>haven't seen a single Macintosh user (at least not one with a hard
>>disk) who didn't understand and use folders.
>
>I think one reason (but not the only one) Macintosh users make folders is
>because they *have* to.  The graphical user interface makes it harder to
>access files that don't fit on the screen.  With a single folder the user
>would be spending all their time scrolling the window to find the files
>they want (yes, there are some keyboard shortcuts, but most users probably
>don't know about them).  

I know of one person who understands folders all right, but he
arranges the files on his hard disk the same way he arranges the
papers in his office:  spread out as widely as possible with as few
layers as possible.  But he doesn't claim this is organized or
efficient; it's just the way he likes it.

>I find it very difficult to believe that significant "understanding" is
>necessary to use traditional subdirectories.  Sure, you have to find out
>about the "mkdir" and "cd" commands, whereas the menu and visual interface
>of a Mac make this step simpler.  But you don't have to understand how it
>works; all the user needs to know is that directories are places to put
>their things.
>
>Here's an interesting question I have: how many unsophisticated Mac users
>have nested folders (not counting nested folders built automatically by
>some application)?  My guess is that very few do.  I'm not sure exactly
>what the significance of this would be, but it seems like it should mean
>something.

You may be right about naive users creating nested folders
*intentionally*, but I have seen entirely too many naive users with
things like Copy_of_Empty_Folder:Empty_Folder:Empty_Folder.  And then
somehow they got Microsoft Word's spelling dictionary down at the
bottom of that so the program can't find it.  One thing I think this
means is that the use of "New Folder" is not necessarily any more
self-evident than "mkdir".


--
Janet Swisher			Internet: swsh@midway.uchicago.edu	
University of Chicago		Phone: (312) 702-7608
Academic and Public Computing	P-mail: 1155 E. 60th St. Chicago IL 60637, USA