Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.misc:10145 comp.windows.ms:10835
Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!sdd.hp.com!spool.mu.edu!munnari.oz.au!brolga!uqcspe!cs.uq.oz.au!brendan
From: brendan@cs.uq.oz.au (Brendan Mahony)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.windows.ms
Subject: Re: give me solid facts: Windows/Mac
Keywords: ease of use issues
Message-ID: <476@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au>
Date: 27 Mar 91 06:48:55 GMT
References: <1991Mar27.033317.23763@cs.uoregon.edu>
Sender: news@cs.uq.oz.au
Reply-To: brendan@cs.uq.oz.au
Followup-To: comp.sys.mac.misc
Lines: 30

In <1991Mar27.033317.23763@cs.uoregon.edu> akm@obelix.cs.uoregon.edu (Anant Kartik Mithal) writes:

>I feel (MHO) that an application like Word (substitute your favourite
>'major' application here) is so complex to use that just a consistent
>user interface will not be enough to "master" the application. So a
>user proficient in, say, PaintBrush/MacPaint might be able to quickly
>do a simple document in Word, but would not be able to produce a
>complex document (say chapters, tables etc) without investing a fair
>amount of time learning the application.

Very true, but what is important is that more time be spent learning the
application rather than the application interface. For example I have
quite a bit of experience working with document preparation tools, so I
have a fair idea what I want to do when I start working on a document.
With the Mac I find that once you know what you want to do, it is just a
matter of looking through the menus for a likely looking command, nasty
manuals and indexes are generally avoided. Compare this to LaTeX where I
can generally forget the correct pnuemonic for a command I used just
yesterday and finding it in the manual always takes 10 minutes.
Of course MSWord is not the
best from this point of view, neither is HyperCard 2.0. What is the
command key that releases access to the authoring menu items?????
In any case you have to have some experience with the application area
to make any reasonable use of an application.

--
Brendan Mahony                   | brendan@batserver.cs.uq.oz       
Department of Computer Science   | heretic: someone who disgrees with you
University of Queensland         | about something neither of you knows
Australia                        | anything about.