Xref: utzoo comp.sys.mac.misc:10308 comp.windows.ms:10942 Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!stanford.edu!leland.Stanford.EDU!jessica.stanford.edu!aaron From: aaron@jessica.stanford.edu (Aaron Wallace) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.windows.ms Subject: Re: give me solid facts: why is the mac better than MeSsy DOS/WINDOWS Message-ID: <1991Mar29.182819.2026@leland.Stanford.EDU> Date: 29 Mar 91 18:28:19 GMT References: <23195@as0c.sei.cmu.edu> <1991Mar28.180115.22140@daffy.cs.wisc.edu> <1991Mar29.002307.9456@agate.berkeley.edu> <1991Mar29.034441.25349@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> Sender: Aaron Wallace Organization: Academic Information Resources Lines: 46 In article <1991Mar29.034441.25349@gn.ecn.purdue.edu> jess@gn.ecn.purdue.edu (Jess M Holle) writes: > >What's wrong with running programs all over the screen on a Mac like you say >you do under windows and simply clicking once on the window you want to make >active? > Answer 1: There is only one menu bar! Simple copy from one app and paste into the other -type commands are a pain. Edit-copy, then click on the destination window, then Edit-paste. I find it much easier to be able to hit the destination's menu bar directly, thus activating the app and the menu at once. It's also nice to be able to tug an app and all its windows off the screen temporarily, or have just its title and menu bar appearing at the bottom of the screen to do cuts and pastes to/from. Answer 2: How many compact macs have a burnt-in stripe across the top of their screen because of the menu bar always being there? Almost all I've seen do. Screen savers work, except it's hard to work when the screen saver is activated! Apple standard response: The gods in our Human-Computer Interaction labs have decreed that the one menu bar at the top is more efficient. Why? Because you can overshoot the bar when moving the mouse and the fact that it's muched against the top of the screen will prevent overshooting it. Wouldn't similar reasoning suggest smunching all common controls against the screen edges? I just want to know how much more efficient it is to have to activate, then access the menu bar, instead of doing both in one click. For that matter, it's probably *most* efficient to use Alt- to access the menu! [Side note: I was involved in a rather lengthy discussion with some folks from comp.sys.mac.religion.gods.sys.misc or whatever on this exact point about a year ago. I think Apple is trying to justify a poor decision made when the original Mac interface was cast in stone, but this is my opinion. It's *very* interesting to note that the company that most recently said they'd successfully cloned the Mac ROMS is using a Motif-like interface, with the menus in each apps window right where they belong.] Actually, one thing I really like is the ability for an app like Windows Help to spring forth with its own menu bar--on the Mac the alternatives are to have a bunch of silly buttons or pop-up menubutton thingies or to take over the global menu bar. Sorry for the digression... Aaron Wallace