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From: andrea@hp-sdd.HP.COM (Andrea K. Frankel)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.sys.next,comp.sys.mac,comp.cog-eng
Subject: Re: replacing the desktop metaphor (Why any metaphor?)
Keywords: desktop metaphor, graphical interfaces, computing environments
Message-ID: <1789@hp-sdd.HP.COM>
Date: 27 Dec 88 18:21:05 GMT
References: <850@mtfmi.att.com> <673@cogsci.ucsd.EDU>
Reply-To: andrea@hp-sdd.UUCP (Andrea K. Frankel)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard, San Diego Division
Lines: 81

In article <673@cogsci.ucsd.EDU> norman@cogsci.UUCP (Donald A Norman-UCSD Cog Sci Dept) writes:

[ excellent posting largely deleted ]

>Moving the disk image into the trash can to ejectthe disk
>is a violation that bothers many people at first usage, but seems
>perfectly natural after just one or two uses.   The trash can example
>is one that bothers me a lot (intellectually) because it illustates a
>real violation of principle that causes no problems in practice.
>(Some try to save it by redefining ejection of a diskette as a kind of
>"throwing away" but I think this is a feeble save.)

No matter how many times I do it, it STILL bothers me alot!  

I had the unpleasant experience many years ago of working on one
project on two different systems with radically different text editors;
one of the worst examples of the conflict was that "k" meant "keep" in
one and "kill" in the other.  The only way I survived was that I
developed a deep, gut-level anxiety whenever I was about to do anything
dangerously ambiguous like that, that caused me to stop and think a sec
before typing automatically (as I would with simple insertions and
undoable changes).  Dragging the disk's icon into the trash can still
triggers that gut-level anxiety (omigod I'm gonna lose the data I spent
all morning on...no, it's ok, I know I saved it, I'm just
ejecting...whew!)

I wish the Mac had both a trashcan (for actually deleting) and
something like an open window (for chucking the disk out ;@) or perhaps
even better, a picture of a pair of BBQ tongs (for extracting the disk).

>I suspect that metaphors are useful in keeping consistency.  But
>now Jonathan Grudin is about to present a paper in CHI 89 arguing about
>the foolishness of consistency: systems are often improved by
>violations.  Even the Lisa/Macintosh deliberately violated consistency
>principles when user testing showed it was better to do so.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:  "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of the
little mind."

>I do believe that we need overall consistency and a coherent mental
>model (system image) so we can better remember and derive the
>appropriate operations and better trouble shoot when things go wrong.

I think the goal is to develop symbology which matches the
user's intuitive expectations, to minimize errors and the learning
curve.  The gotches are that people have radically different internal
models sometimes, and that our intuitive expectations are not cast
in concrete - they are shaped by our experiences with tools we use.
But perhaps the biggest gotcha is that our internal models and our
intuitions are not always coherent or consistent in a rational sense,
so modelling them with coherent, consistent, rational systems won't
necessarily produce a good match!

>The Macintosh is superior in that it is easy to use most programs
>without any manuals.  But most of this results from "visibility": I
>can examine all the menu items and figure out what to do.  

This brings up something which systems designers sometimes overlook:
it takes alot of motivation on the part of the user to learn any model
which is not immediately either intuitive or visible.  For example, I
recently got myself an AT clone for personal use, and did a little
investigating to see what kind of word processing software to get.
There's a pretty wide range of prices ($0-$695) and some fairly
impressive capabilities in the larger packages.  But none of the
goodies were attractive enough to make me willing to learn Yet Another
Key Mapping (ctrl-alt-meta-sheesh!).  Windows Write has everything
in pull-down menus (like the Mac), and that won out over increased
functionality.  

How many tools (hardware, software, mechanical, electrical) go unused
on your system (or collect dust in your garage or attic) because the
benefits to be gained by learning the tools' model were just not
sufficient to offset the aggravation of learning it??

Andrea Frankel, Hewlett-Packard (San Diego Division) (619) 592-4664
                "...I brought you a paddle for your favorite canoe."
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