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From: ccastgs@gitpyr.gatech.EDU (Glenn Stone)
Newsgroups: sci.philosophy.tech
Subject: Re: icons (was: Re: Just a test)
Message-ID: <3606@gitpyr.gatech.EDU>
Date: Tue, 19-May-87 13:00:14 EDT
Article-I.D.: gitpyr.3606
Posted: Tue May 19 13:00:14 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 20-May-87 05:29:32 EDT
References: <7585@orchid.UUCP> <3439@sunybcs.UUCP> <1767@kitty.UUCP> <312@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU> <763@mind.UUCP>
Reply-To: ccastgs@gitpyr.UUCP (Glenn Stone)
Distribution: sci
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta
Lines: 32
Keywords: computers fright
Summary: this has been done...

In article <763@mind.UUCP> greg@mind.UUCP (Greg Nowak) writes:
>In article <312@phoenix.PRINCETON.EDU> dykimber@phoenix.UUCP (Dan Kimberg) writes:
>>
>>My first reaction to your example
>>problem is to think in terms of the iconic interfaces that are so popular.
>>It would seem that it's much easier for people to adapt to a system that makes
>>some steps towards adapting to them, i.e. emulating what they already know...
>
>If by iconic interfaces you meant mouse-accessible menus, there's a further
>step you can take. Touch-sensitive screens, combined with graphics,
>seem to remove most of the computer-phobia, and solve the problem of
>access for those who can't type. Right off the bat, I could't guess whether
>a mouse or a TSS would be easier to use for the phobic or the physically 
>impaired, but I'd vote for the TSS.

I agree... Mice are sometimes unfriendly, especially if there is
more than one button and the buttons do different things.
I saw TSS's used (in a very good fashion) at the 1982 World's
Fair (Knoxville, TN) to run a menu-driven information database
(essentially an overgrown dictionary and thesaurus).
One used the TSS to scan at a variable speed thru the list of 
topics, choose a topic, and control whether the user wanted more
information on the topic.  
(just as a side note.... TSS's are also a lot tougher than mice
where a careless/abusive user is concerned.)


-- 
                                Glenn Stone                   GGGG
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