Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!uwm.edu!linac!att!cbnews!jbr0 From: jbr0@cbnews.cb.att.com (joseph.a.brownlee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.system Subject: Re: ScrollBar design question Message-ID: <1991Jun25.124247.11023@cbnews.cb.att.com> Date: 25 Jun 91 12:42:47 GMT References: <305426.2865D1B9@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG> Sender: jbr@cblph.att.com Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 22 In article shores@fergvax.unl.edu (Shores) writes: >>dmittman@beowulf.JPL.NASA.GOV (David Mittman) writes: > >>DM> My office-mate repeatedly questions the wisdom of the Apple engineers >>DM> who designed the standard scrollbars. He would like to know why >>DM> the thumb (box) is not proportional, i.e. show how much information >>DM> of the total information content of the window is currently being >>DM> displayed, rather than positional. > >Not totally sure, but I don't think the WinDudes deserve credit for that >either; AmigaDOS has had them for a long time, I think b4 Windows did. Actually, I have seen Xerox applications that have this (most notably Ventura Publisher), so I wonder if the old Xerox PARC stuff had them. I must admit, that this is one thing I wish Apple would have done differently, but I'm sure that changing it now would probably cause problems for some programs. -- - _ Joe Brownlee, Analysts International Corporation @ AT&T Bell Labs /_\ @ / ` 471 E Broad St, Suite 1610, Columbus, Ohio 43215 (614) 860-7461 / \ | \_, E-mail: jbr@cblph.att.com Who pays attention to what _I_ say? "Scotty, we need warp drive in 3 minutes or we're all dead!" --- James T. Kirk