Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!udel!burdvax!dave
From: dave@PRC.Unisys.COM (David Lee Matuszek)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system
Subject: Re: Standards for Balloon Help?
Message-ID: <18090@burdvax.PRC.Unisys.COM>
Date: 24 Jun 91 18:46:33 GMT
References: <1CE00001.h2b15n@avalon.caladan.wa.com>
Sender: news@PRC.Unisys.COM
Organization: Unisys Corporation, Paoli Research Center; Paoli, PA
Lines: 70

In article <1CE00001.h2b15n@avalon.caladan.wa.com> stui@avalon.caladan.wa.com (Stuart Burden) writes:

>Why..?  Once you've seen it, you've seen it...!  An obvious user interface
>flaw is the "Help" key on the Extended Keyboards.. doesn't turn on
>or off balloon help.. nor does Command-Help.. what the world really
>needs is a keyboard shortcut to turn the item on or off, and if that
>be the case, why not trash the icon?  Why not a key to turn on or
>off the display of the menu item?
>
>No-one has been able to say why this is not a good idea, other than
>"every man and his dog will one day write Balloon Help".. So..?

I think two such utilities already exist, and I'm sure more will be
written.  With this in mind, here is the up-and-coming FAQ for this fall:

	"My balloon help has disappeared!  What happened to it?
	Is my System corrupted?  DO I HAVE A VIRUS????"

There have already been a couple of instances of net postings where
the poster said he turned off balloon help first thing.  Then he
proceeded to ask a stupid question about System 7 that would have
quickly been answered by the balloon help.  Oops.

I expect we will soon be seeing a new acronym:  RTFB.

The balloon help should be a major selling point for Macs (that is, if
Apple ever gets around to providing System 7 on new machines).  Don't
forget that novices need it most, and will be least likely to discover
how to turn it on when they need it, or why it's suddenly missing.

The obvious flaw in using "Help" or "Command-Help" to toggle the
balloon help is that the Help key does not exist on every keyboard.
Go back and look at your Human Interface Guidelines--they strongly
discourage options that can ONLY be accessed if you have a certain
keyboard (though it's OK if you have another method, such as a menu
item).

Here's a method in which the flaw is less obvious.  I believe that
with "Helium" you move the mouse to an item and then hold down
"Command-Option" (or some similar pair of keys) for a second or two,
then the help balloon pops up.  However, in Nisus, holding down
Command, or Shift, or Option will change some of the menu entries.  I
don't have Helium, but I suspect that this will not interact at all
well with balloon help for these items.

This isn't "just Nisus" either, since the System 7 Finder also does
this with its Clean Up commands, so probably other developers will
pick up on this idea.  (Developers, take note:  Nisus does it better
than the Finder.  In the Finder you have to be holding the key before
you pull down the menu; in Nisus you can pull the menu down first,
then watch it change as you press and release keys.  Much nicer!)

Yes, like everyone else, I keep balloon help off most of the time.  I
do expect to use it more with the next generation of software, though,
and I want to keep it handy.  What I'd like to see is a control panel,
preferably named "Balloon Help", that I could drop into the Apple
Menu.  (Obvious icon, right?  Balloon help icon with a slider.)  Even
a novice has a fair chance of finding it in the Apple Menu, and I
personally don't toggle it often enough for it to merit a power-key
sequence.  The control panel might let you set (or turn on/off)
something like Helium's magic keys.  What I would like to see in a
control panel is a settable delay before the balloon pops up (so I
don't get a balloon unless I hesitate on something for a second or two
without selecting it); I had this on my old Xerox Dandelion, and I
MISS IT!

-- Dave Matuszek (dave@prc.unisys.com)  I don't speak for my employer. --
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