Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!think.com!spool.mu.edu!olivea!uunet!stanford.edu!neon.Stanford.EDU!torrie From: torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan Torrie) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: De-macification of the Amiga (Re: The Amiga's Future) Message-ID: <1991Jun23.044133.23463@neon.Stanford.EDU> Date: 23 Jun 91 04:41:33 GMT Article-I.D.: neon.1991Jun23.044133.23463 References: <1991Jun17.123525.1485@sugar.hackercorp.com><1991Jun18.165401.26383@ifi.unizh. ch> <1991Jun19.154113.28723@news.iastate.edu> <1991Jun19.224736.15828@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu> <13824@mentor.cc.purdue.edu> <4618.tnews@templar.actrix.gen.nz> <13863@men Sender: torrie@neon.Stanford.EDU (Evan James Torrie) Organization: Computer Science Department, Stanford University, Ca , USA Lines: 44 jbickers@templar.actrix.gen.nz (John Bickers) writes: > Workbench already has a drag and drop like operation, for copying > files (ie: drag an icon over a disk icon, and it gets copied, etc). Does the disk icon auto-highlight? > Auto selecting would be a problem, btw, because if the file icon is > large and covers two or three application icons, how will the OS know > which one to select? Always go for where the mouse pointer is pointing. The 'hot spot' is where the action happens. >And if you go for some nice solution of using > the position of the mouse pointer to judge, then you don't need to > autoselect at all - just use the mouse pointer in the first place... This cuts against the one of the core tenets of human interface design - namely "VISUAL FEEDBACK". A good user interface will always try and provide immediate visual feedback to indicate the result of completing the action. In the case of dragging and dropping, auto-highlighting the appropriate application while the user drags the document icon indicates to the user that if he lets go now, this is the application which will get launched. If you don't highlight at all, what happens when your icons are all crammed together, and it's difficult to tell exactly which one the mouse pointer is on top of?? If we were to carry your argument further, then why would you bother highlighting menu items as you drag the mouse down the menu? By your reasoning, you can see where the mouse pointer is... why bother auto-highlighting? I suggest you try a menu system without auto-highlighting, and then come back and tell us whether it's a good idea or not... (Hint: what happens when you're halfway between two menu items?) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Evan Torrie. Stanford University, Class of 199? torrie@cs.stanford.edu "If it weren't for your gumboots, where would you be? You'd be in the hospital, or in-firm-ary..." F. Dagg