Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!dgp.toronto.edu!flaps
Newsgroups: comp.human-factors
From: flaps@dgp.toronto.edu (Alan J Rosenthal)
Subject: Re: Audio feedback from GUI's
Message-ID: <1991Jun13.100818.21523@jarvis.csri.toronto.edu>
References: <1991Jun12.171211.2716@cs.umn.edu> <SANDY.91Jun12135707@snoopy.cs.umass.edu>
Date: 13 Jun 91 14:08:18 GMT
Lines: 21

sandy@snoopy.cs.umass.edu (& Wise) writes:
>There are also a couple of PD/Shareware Mac utilities that let you bind sounds
>to events.

I've seen some TERRIBLE implementations, such as "finder sounds".

The Sonic Finder is very nice.  It was designed by someone who knew about macs
and who also knew about sounds and human auditory perception.  He spent a
considerable amount of time designing the sounds to be used.

These other things I've seen are all terrible.  They were designed by people
who knew about macs but didn't know anything about sound.  They didn't seem to
spend much time on the sounds, and they sound awful.  Other posters mentioned
deleting these implementations within minutes.  You would not have the same
reaction to the original sonic finder.

As the original poster later pointed out, it's not just the bare fact of
associating sounds with actions, it's doing it in a way which is beneficial to
the user (not just "cool").

ajr