Xref: utzoo comp.windows.x.motif:2349 comp.windows.open-look:1051 comp.windows.x:34648 comp.windows.misc:1892 comp.unix.misc:1214 news.misc:6365 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uunet!utoday!info From: usinset!jr@uunet.UU.NET Newsgroups: comp.windows.x.motif,comp.windows.open-look,comp.windows.x,comp.windows.misc,comp.unix.misc,news.misc Subject: Re: Question for net.views column in UNIX Today! Message-ID: <9103311847.AA06681@relay1.UU.NET> Date: 31 Mar 91 18:47:30 GMT Sender: info@utoday.com (UNIX Today!) Organization: The Instruction Set, Waltham, MA Lines: 85 To: netviews@utoday.UUCP In-Reply-To: <1991Mar29.195953.2421@utoday.com> Recently, you wrote: > > ******************* > * QUESTION #2 * > ******************* > > Is a single GUI standard really necessary? > > Most definitely, yes! A GUI standard defines a Look and Feel. This has two parts to it. The first part is the `Look' definition; the second is the `Feel' guidelines. The Look definition consists of a programmer's toolkit containing a selection of widgets. These widgets will be buttons, sliders, list boxes, entry boxes, window size change knobs, etc, etc, which are likely to be needed by many applications. By using the same set of widgets, all applications will appear similar on the screen, thus allowing the user to instantly recognize parts of a new application, and hence the user will immediately have an understanding of how to use the application. The second part, the Feel guidelines, is much more important. All GUIs embody a specification of how an application must behave in order to conform. Guidelines include things like `the application should present the user with a horizontal row of pull-down menu titles', and `if you have a `File' menu, it must be the left-most pull-down', and `the `Quit' button must be the bottom button in the left-most pull-down', and `a menu is opened by clicking it with the left mouse button', and so on. These kinds of `rules' ensure that applications behave consistently and that users can navigate around them without having to reach for the manual every time they need to do something. The current proliferation of GUI standards is very annoying. In my organization we currently use X+uwm, X+MOTIF, X+OpenLook, MAC, Windows 3, and OS/2 PM. Now, the technical gurus have no problem switching between environments, although they do complain that having to remember which mouse button to press is a bit of a pain. However, non-techies find the differences to be a major problem. For example, a user used to the MAC environment, finds using X+OpenLook very cumbersome. The differences in appearances of the widgets is not really a problem because a push-button appearing as a rectangle or an oval is something most people cope with automatically. But, having to hunt around an application to find its options, or having to learn a new set of mouse/menu finger actions for each application is a bore. I have witnessed people asking other people to help them, simply because they can no longer be bothered to learn how to use an application which uses an unfamiliar style. Compare this with another common user interface - that of an automobile's driving console. If you rent a car, you just open the door, sit down and drive off. You don't have to worry that the pedal on the right is the accelerator, and on the left is the brake; you don't spend 20 minutes with the manual to look for the turn signal knob! Why not? Because things are in standard places. This means that you can drive a Honda Civic with as much ease as a Mercedes 500. Sure, the shape of the controls varies, and there are some common alternatives (2 pedals or 3, stick shift or column), but people can cope with this. Having 6 different GUI Looks and many, many application Feels is too much. One standard, please. A final note. The single standard should not be rigid. That is, it should support customization of the interface, using something like a `Preferences' dialog box. It is important to allow users to set things like color, mouse acceleration, button ordering, and so on. An ideal interface would also allow users to globally select details like where in a window standard items are presented (i.e., scroll bar on right or left, or maxmize button on title bar or in a menu), and to have this take effect for all applications for that user. Unfortunately, this level of interaction with applications may be too complex for most current GUI systems. Jim R Oldroyd Technical Director The Instruction Set Waltham, MA 02154 jr@inset.com PS: Permission is granted to publish these comments in any form, provided that the intent of the meaning of these comments is not changed, and provided that an attribution to the author is included.