Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!clyde!cbosgd!cblpf!cbstr1!Karl.Kleinpaste
From: Karl.Kleinpaste@cbstr1.att.com
Newsgroups: comp.windows.x
Subject: Re: Here we go again...
Message-ID: <282@cbstr1.att.com>
Date: Thu, 25-Jun-87 12:29:58 EDT
Article-I.D.: cbstr1.282
Posted: Thu Jun 25 12:29:58 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 27-Jun-87 03:59:42 EDT
References: <5840003@wdl1.UUCP> <78@decvax.UUCP> <99@decvax.UUCP> <102@decvax.UUCP>
Sender: karl@cbstr1.att.com
Distribution: world
Lines: 44
In-reply-to: gancarz@decvax.UUCP's message of 24 Jun 87 23:57:49 GMT

Posting-Front-End: GNU Emacs 18.47.3 of Sat Jun 20 1987 on cbstr1 (usg-unix-v)


gancarz@decvax.UUCP writes:
> I'd
> give you 100-1 odds that the standard default environment won't
> please everyone.  Hence, the desirability of a user-programmable
> user interface.

Certainly.  No one expects to please the world.  But one would do well
to introduce the world to something new in a more gentle fashion.

Perhaps 2 sets of defaults would have been appropriate, one for naive
novices, and one for experienced users who need a base from which to
customize.  Just a thought, and it might be a bad thought at that.

> What you're hinting at is that, since someone else has already done
> it one way, then that way must be right.  Or is it?

Not at all.  The only thing I'm arguing for is the Principle of Least
Astonishment.

The conditioned user of another window system walks up to an X
display, tries to do a few things, can't seem to get much out of it,
and then a local expert tells him to metafy a mouse button.  The
novice says, "I have to WHAT?"  P-of-LA violation.

He's *used* to naked mouse bindings, so give him what he's *used* to
while at the same time showing him what he could do if he'd get used
to metafying those buttons.  It seems you're giving the novice the
full power of uwm all at once.  Can the power be stepped down sanely?

If X had been the first window system, then users would have become
conditioned to it first, and the question they'd ask when walking up
to the next window system is, "OK, which meta/shift/ctrl keys do what
with this mouse?"  X has the disadvantage that it was not first.  That
is also an advantage in that it has learned from many of the mistakes
of the past.

> (By the way, did you know that the Macintosh uses meta keys in its user
> interface?  Surprised?  I was, too.)

Yes, I found out about that quite a while back.  And as one who seldom
uses a Mac, I don't care for it - but again that's just me,
personally, a Mac novice.

Karl