Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.applications
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watserv1!tcapener
From: tcapener@watserv1.waterloo.edu (CAPENER TD - ENGLISH )
Subject: General Complaints About Amiga Applications
Message-ID: <1991Jun23.200930.17561@watserv1.waterloo.edu>
Keywords: complaints
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 1991 20:09:30 GMT
Lines: 49

     I realise this posting is going to be flame bait, but...

I'm really disappointed with some of the common traits of Amiga applications
software.  Obviously, not all Amiga applications share these flaws, but a good
deal seem to.  It is the flawed software I'm talking about, not the (IMHO)
well-written software.

1)  I haven't found one application yet which takes advantage of the clipboard.
    I should be able to draw something in DPAINT 3, put it in the clipboard
    and draw it directly into PageSetter II or into HyperBook.  Likewise, I
    should be able to copy text onto the clipboard from HyperBook and take
    it directly into Word Perfect.  Come on, we've had the clipboard since
    WB 1.3, when are people going to start using the damn' thing?

2)  Very few applications use the standard keyboard short-cuts outlined in
    the Commodore Amiga OS Libraries and Includes book.  When I'm in a paint
    or draw program and want bold text I want to hit Amiga-B.  When I'm in
    any program and want to cut or delete something I want to hit Amiga-X.
    This isn't very hard to implement, and (IMHO) programmers who don't do
    it are just being lazy.

3)  Amiga software does not have a consistent look and feel.  I know a lot
    of people say that Mac-style interface guidelines cramp creativity and
    result in dull programs.  I will not argue this point.  But, having to
    learn a different interface for each program is a real pain.  Maybe I'm
    just stupid, but I hate having to remember a different set of rules for
    every program.  At least menus all tend to work the same, but that's about
    it.  I don't know how many times I've been in Perfect Sound, highlighted
    a section and pressed Amiga-D only to erase the entire sample.  Very
    few programs (even by the same company) offer a similar interface.

    And on a second note: the Commodore programming guidelines say that the
    best user interface is one the user doesn't even notice is there.  Since
    when do we need exciting user-interfaces?  The kind of excitement that 
    that CanDo's user-interface gives me is the kind I don't need.

     I realize that the above three points are a bit of a tirade, but I
think that the issues are important (IMHO, of course) and need to be discussed.
It's not just me, either.  In the latest issue of Byte (which, like it or not
is an authority in the computer world) they had a survey of GUI systems and
one of the major points about AmigaDOS/Intuition was that applications had
and inconsistent look and feel.

I'm not knocking the Amiga, which (again, IMHO) is the best computer platform
at its market level, just offering some hopefully constructive criticism to
make the system all that much better.

Travis Capener