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From: fgm@icdoc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc
Subject: Re: every icon is an object
Message-ID: <451@ivax.doc.ic.ac.uk>
Date: Thu, 4-Jun-87 13:33:55 EDT
Article-I.D.: ivax.451
Posted: Thu Jun  4 13:33:55 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 6-Jun-87 11:49:41 EDT
References: <8705190042.AA14664@cogsci.berkeley.edu>
Reply-To: fgm@doc.ic.ac.uk (Frank McCabe)
Organization: Dept. of Computing, Imperial College, London, UK.
Lines: 36

In article <879@gvax.cs.cornell.edu> jqj@gvax.cs.cornell.edu (J Q Johnson) writes:
>I think we need some perspective on what we're trying to accomplish.  I believe
>our goal is to design a *simple* yet powerful user interface.  Neither the
>Mac/VP icon interface nor UNIX shell/pipes provides ultimate power.  For
>
>So far, the best extension I've heard that provides pipes is a general
>convention that some icons are filters, and that depositing on a filter
>icon will pop up an output icon next to it.  

There IS one metaphor in common use on the Mac system which handles more
complex types of operation: the palette.

For example, in Macpaint, Macdraw etc. the user selects a tool from the
palette and then clicks in the drawing pane.  The exact meaning of the
click depends of course on the individual tool.

We could have each filter be represented by an entry in the filter palette.
The standard user interface for such a filter tool is to connect two (or
more) icons in the desktop.  The first click would select the source
icon and the when the mouse is released (or the second click depending on
your preferences) the mouse should be over a target icon.  If it is not
over a target icon then a new output object is created.

Connecting the results of several filters is accomplished by
sucessive selection of different filters from the palette.  In a truly
multitasking system the first filter operation is executed while the user
makes up his mind what to do next.



-- 
                                                Department of Computing
                                                Imperial College
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