Xref: utzoo comp.windows.misc:872 comp.sys.next:1081 comp.sys.mac:24523 comp.cog-eng:773
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!wasatch!t-jacobs
From: t-jacobs@wasatch.UUCP (Tony Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor (Why any metaphor?)
Message-ID: <843@wasatch.UUCP>
Date: 30 Dec 88 00:51:51 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>
Reply-To: t-jacobs@wasatch.utah.edu.UUCP (Tony Jacobs)
Organization: University of Utah ME Dept
Lines: 40

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.
>Makes sense to me. what about you?
>
>rob

I agree providing the command interface doesn't require one to know how to
spell the commands exactly right or that the syntax is too ridgid.
I really believe that all applications should be usuable with either the mouse
or the keyboard. 
Granted drawing applications would be hard to do this way but why not let the
user decide which method he uses. For example if I wanted a circle at x=1" and
y=2" and it could be done by typing "cx1y2<cr>" it's much faster than mousing
it. Of course you can come up with examples where the mouse is faster too.

The thing that would make learning all the power user methods a lot easier 
would be to have a standard for getting help and getting advanced help inside
any application. A lot of companies have adopted cmd-? to put you into a help
mode where by you can select the item you want help on.  If all applications
supported this learning could happen faster.  If a standard for accessing
advanced help were something like cmd-shift-? it's pretty easy to remember.

APPLE REALLY SHOULD DEFINE SOME STANDARDS FOR GETTING HELP.
	

-- 
Tony Jacobs * Center for Engineering Design * U of U * t-jacobs@ced.utah.edu