Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!helios!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!rutgers!njin!princeton!phoenix!bskendig From: bskendig@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Brian Kendig) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: New control panel icons in 7.0 Message-ID: <8410@idunno.Princeton.EDU> Date: 17 Apr 91 20:26:12 GMT References: <671688005.1@mmug.mn.org> <1991Apr17.045421.29754@verity.com> Sender: news@idunno.Princeton.EDU Organization: Starfleet Academy: Princeton University Lines: 50 In article yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) writes: > Sound like a very bad user interface if the control panel icons look > worst than the current icons displayed in the 6.0 Control Panel. > User interfaces should get better, not worst. I don't have 7.0, but > it seems that Apple had their heart in the wrong place in getting > rid of the Control Panel. I think the Control Panel is a good idea. > The original Control Panel concept seem like a more natural way to > deal with the setting of system parameters than the 7.0 paradigm of > clicking on CDev files on the desktop. > ... > I guess this is another area where a 3rd party company can develop a > old style Control Panel DA or application. Yick! Personally, I hope they don't. It's rather confusing for neophytes to have to understand how the icons in the Control Panel can't be manipulated like the icons in the Finder (for example, dragged from the Control Panel to a floppy to copy them), and to try to figure out why nothing interesting happens when they double-click on the cdev file in the System Folder. And I'd rather be able to make the control panel window bigger so I can see more cdevs at once (it's horrible when I have to scroll through twenty at a time!), and it would be oh so nice to be able to look at more than one control panel at once... System 7 fixes all these shortcomings, and also provides the added ability to double-click on any cdev file you find and see its config window, so you can click on its `help' buttons and twiddle with it and figure out what it does without having to actually copy it over and drop it into your System Folder. And when you _do_ drop it into your System Folder, your computer will automagically route it to the Control Panels folder inside. Neat, huh? The Control Panel DA was nice when it brought up one window from which you could tweak all the settings of the machine. It had its day -- but then cdevs came along, and the Control Panel became a kludge for a confusing concept. The System 7 way of handling control panels is much more intuitive to new users, much more flexible for power-users, and better suited to the Finder interface. Before you complain about it, *try it*. << Brian >> | Brian S. Kendig \ Macintosh | Engineering, | bskendig | | Computer Engineering |\ Thought | USS Enterprise | @phoenix.Princeton.EDU | Princeton University |_\ Police | -= NCC-1701-D =- | @PUCC.BITNET | "You gave your life to become the person you are right now. Was it worth it?"