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From: brownell@harvard.UUCP (Dave Brownell)
Newsgroups: net.cog-eng
Subject: Fast typists and mice
Message-ID: <236@harvard.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 27-Apr-84 00:24:29 EST
Article-I.D.: harvard.236
Posted: Fri Apr 27 00:24:29 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 28-Apr-84 10:09:41 EST
Organization: Sequoia Systems Inc., Marlborough Mass.
Lines: 21

Maybe this doesn't belong in cog-eng, but many of the discussions
here seem to be human-factors so here goes:

With Apple's MacIntosh on the mass market, mice and windows are
at the forefront of user interface design.  However, there does
seem to be a consensus that mice are not always good -- in particular,
they slow down fast typists.  Such typists would rather their hands
didn't move from the 'home row' (asdf jkl;)

My query:  what other kinds of considerations are important for fast
typists?  Clearly commands should be fast to type -- that's part of why
I like VI better than EMACS, the commands are (mnemonic) single
characters rather than (hairy) two and three letter sequences.
Are there any cognitive aspects to this, aside from using muscle
reflexes (making things mnemonic)?

I don't like the over-reliance on mice that I've seen in some circles ...


Dave Brownell
{decvax!genrad, allegra!wjh12, ihnp4!harvard} !sequoia!brownell