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From: kehr@felix.UUCP (Shirley Kehr)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor (Why any metaphor?)
Message-ID: <76651@felix.UUCP>
Date: 30 Dec 88 15:47:05 GMT
References: <850@mtfmi.att.com> <673@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> <1489@umbc3.UMD.EDU> <22616@pbhya.PacBell.COM> <66401@ti-csl.CSNET> <4510@xenna.Encore.COM> <4455@Portia.Stanford.EDU>
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In article <4455@Portia.Stanford.EDU> rdsesq@Jessica.stanford.edu (Rob Snevely) writes:
<The issue is not ease of use, the issue is how effectively a person can
<use a program as a tool to make his/her life or job better or easier.
<The mac does have 1 advantage over emacs or wordstar, it is easier for a 
<new user to get up and running. However, once that user is up and running,
<the interface can slow down there speed and productivity. So I propose both,
<why cant we have a word processor that has two interfaces. A "user-friendly"
<pull down menu -- dialog based interface for new users. and a command
<oriented interface for advanced users. This would allow those users who
<want or need a command oriented interface access to it while allowing
<new or intermediate users to have the point and click. Also since the
<menu interface would be around all the time, it would help to eliminate
<the problems of going from on to the other cause they are interchangable.
<So if I do a lot of side by side formatting I could use the command
<interface to speed that along but I would be able to use the menu interface
<for things that I don't use all the time.

<From: rdsesq@Jessica.stanford.edu (Rob Snevely)
 
<Makes sense to me. what about you?
 
This is exactly what I do with Word. I rarely pull down a menu anymore. By
combining Quickeys and an extended keyboard, you can eliminate most pull
down menus. This still left you with dialog boxes to fill out, but for 
those cases where you choose the same item(s), you can use macro maker.
So, one of my macros turns hidden text on and off. Another selects the
entire document, formats it to courier font and bumps the size down one
notch. Most of this was a lot easier to do by using Word's key commands
in the macro. But in some cases I used Quickeys aliases within Apple's
macro maker.

The only problem I have now is that I'm running out of slots. Basically
all 15 function keys are programmed unshifted, shifted, and with command.
I only have the control and option keys left, but no room to write on my
little cheat sheet. I'm not defining any more commands until Word 4.0
comes out when I'll probably have to start over since I hear they've
moved items on the menus. 

Shirley Kehr