Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!rutgers!ames!ucbcad!ucbvax!decvax!decwrl!labrea!Shasta!gus
From: gus@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU (Gus Fernandez)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Power Users (long)
Message-ID: <2373@Shasta.STANFORD.EDU>
Date: 2 Jan 88 19:44:37 GMT
Organization: Stanford University
Lines: 77
Keywords: Macintosh Power Users Interface Shortcuts

Hello, I am working on a new Mac application aimed at high end power users.
We are currently examining the feature set of our product, and in
particular, the needs of our user base. These are some fairly old issues,
but I feel that they need to be revisited every once in a while to get a sense
for what the user community really wants. I am particularly interested in 
reading responses to the issues below from power users who use the Macintosh 
every day to get their job done.

I am interested on how you personally work as opposed to vague "religion"
about how you think the way things ought to be. If you think, however, that 
certain specific features are missing from a particular product relating to 
issues described below, mention them. (example: I wish application xxx had a 
yyy command in the menu instead of having to drag zzz to www, or I wish you
could just drag ZZZ to www instead of chosing yyy from the kkk menu.) Please
also indicate what other computers you use or have used. Examples need not be
limited to Mac applications.

1) Mouse vs keyboard: Obviously, there are some things better done with the
keyboard (typing) and others with the mouse (drawing). Almost everything
else in between can be done both ways effectively. Is it important to people 
that EVERYTHING else be doable from both the keyboard and the mouse? I am
especially interested in getting the responses from Microsoft Word 3.0 users 
about whether or not they use such features as keyboard menus and keyboard 
dialogs. Do you use all of the keyboard shortcuts, or do you often use the 
mouse to do an operation where the keyboard would have worked. Conversely, do 
you ever use the keyboard for operations where the mouse would have perhaps 
worked better. Please site specific exampless. 

2) Centralized vs. decentralized operations: Some applications provide large
dialogs which can be used to modify many attributes of a particular object.
Generally, these attributes are chosen using check boxes, radio buttons,
editable text fields, and, most recently, pop-up menus. Finally, the OK
button applies all of the changes at once. An alternative approach is a "direct
manipulation" paragign whereby attributes are changed individually. For
example, changing a margin is effected by moving an arrow in a ruler instead of
typing a number in a dialog. If a feature is accessable in two different ways,
which do you use more often? Do you often use both? Again, please site as many
specific examples as you can.

3) Features and shortcuts: Is it important that any and all program features
have some type of screen indication that they exists, such as command key
equivalents in menus, or is it better to not clutter the screen and expect
the user to either refer to the manual or an on-line help facility? What
devices have you seen that are used effectively (an not effectively) in certain
applications?

4) Format lines and languages: Some programs use short text lines in certain
places where the individual characters mean something special. This is most
prevelant in search strings(regular expressions), paragraph numbering,
numeric output formatting, etc. Note that these are not command lines, since 
it is generally individual characters that have significance, and not keyowrds.
Other programs provide similar features using iconic interfaces where perhaps 
the mouse is used to drag special icons into a format line, and text is used

strictly to denote itself. Do you use the full power of such format lines or 
do you often do things manually that you know you could probably do
automatically "if you knew just how to set it up?" What would help you in 
this regard. Describe interfaces which you think have been most (and least) 
successfull.

5) Small screen: It has long been complained that the Mac screen is too
small. This problem has finally been solved by third party vendors and by 
Apple, on the Mac II. However, many Mac Pluses and Mac SE's are still being 
sold with the original 512x342 screen. Some high-end users are complaining 
that programs were optimized for the small screen and look "crowded" on a 
larger screen. Although there are some things that developers can do easily, 
like centering dialogs, and not limiting growable window sizes to any 
arbitrary maximum size, other things are much harder to do, such as making 
dialogs automatically larger in proportion to the size of the screen. Keeping 
in mind that what we are developing is a high-end product, how important is 
it that it work nicely on small screens?

Your responses to these questions will be greatly appreciated. You may post a 
follow-up here to get a discussion going, but preferably also reply directly 
via email so that I don't miss messages that get rolled off.

Gustavo A. Fernandez