Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!portal!atari!daisy!klee
From: klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee)
Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: introducing use of a mouse
Message-ID: <951@daisy.UUCP>
Date: 25 Mar 88 00:11:22 GMT
References: <987@pbhyc.PacBell.COM>
Reply-To: klee@daisy.UUCP (Ken Lee)
Organization: Daisy Systems Corp., Mountain View, Ca.
Lines: 23

In article <987@pbhyc.PacBell.COM> ria@pbhyc.PacBell.COM (Rich Anderson) writes:
>
>Let's say you were planning to introduce sophisticated workstations (each
>with a mouse) to people with experience with dumb(er) terminals only.
>
>What would you say are key steps that need to be taken to enable these
>people to readily understand and effectively use a mouse?
>

The mouse is a tool, not an end to itself.  Learning to use the mouse
must take place within the context of the application.  Learning to use
a keyboard differs quite a bit between applications that use it for text
entry and applications (e.g., vi) that use it for control.

Fortunately, the mouse is much simpler than the keyboard.  Almost all
applications use the mouse solely for pointing.  This is a fairly simple
spatial coordination task:  move the mouse and the cursor moves with it.
Any buttons on the mouse should be tied into the pointing task.

More sophisticated uses for the mouse are, of course, possible, but they
must lead to greater cognitive complexity.

Ken