Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.system:4017 comp.sys.mac.programmer:23289 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!pacific.mps.ohio-state.edu!linac!midway!quads.uchicago.edu!jcav From: jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john cavallino) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system,comp.sys.mac.programmer Subject: User interface issues (was Re: Dialog Modality) Message-ID: <1991Apr4.024724.27910@midway.uchicago.edu> Date: 4 Apr 91 02:47:24 GMT References: <1991Mar27.121607.9672@maths.tcd.ie> Sender: bcareful@midway.uchicago.edu Organization: University of Chicago Lines: 37 In article baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten) writes: >On a slightly different note, I was very disappointed that the >standard file dialog had changed so little in System 7. Given how >long Super Boomerang and similar standard file extenders have been on >the market (and how popular they are), I would have thought that Apple >would have spent some time improving on it. The standard file dialog >is really a relic of the days when people had small hard disks (or >none at all) and few files and folders. For all the improvements that >the System 7 Finder will bring us, those without something like Super >Boomerang will still be spending much more time than necessary >navigating through their disks. I think the Standard File dialog is a relic of the days before Multifinder and inter-application communication. Especially in light of the dramatic improvements in the System 7 Finder, it seems to me that there should be only one method for opening documents--through the Finder. The Finder's navigation facilities and desktop metaphor will always be more powerful and intuitive than having to look through the cramped and narrow viewport of some dialog box, no matter how feature-packed. The Standard File dialog and the Finder are just two (very) incompatible ways of looking at the same information, and I think the Finder's way is better. It would be much easier for the user if there was only one paradigm to learn. I believe that in a better world, applications wouldn't have "Open" commands. In an even better world than that, there wouldn't be applications at all, certainly not visible to the user, only documents and menu commands for working with them. Comments? Question for Apple Gurus Most High: what happened to the idea of the Chooser creating an object called the desktop printer, upon which documents could be dropped? Is this part of the postponed New Printer Architecture? Am I suffering from a memory fault? -- John Cavallino | EMail: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu University of Chicago Hospitals | USMail: 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Box 145 Office of Facilities Management | Chicago, IL 60637 "Opinions, my boy. Just opinions" | Telephone: 312-702-6900