Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
From: lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Brain-fried after too much hacking)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re^2: Xerox sues Apple!
Message-ID: <462@uwslh.UUCP>
Date: 20 Dec 89 23:25:08 GMT
References: <172@comcon.UUCP> <7326@ficc.uu.net> <9320@hoptoad.uucp>
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison, State Hygiene Lab
Lines: 76

tim@hoptoad.uucp (Tim Maroney) writes:

>>In article <172@comcon.UUCP> roy@comcon.UUCP (Roy M. Silvernail) writes:
>>> I have had to hassle with GUI's
>>> that are less than intuitive because they had to change little
>>> details(to avoid Apple's legal staff).
>>
>In article <7326@ficc.uu.net> peter@ficc.uu.net (Peter da Silva) writes:
>>While I'm overjoyed that Xerox finally wake up and smelled the bacon, I'd
>>love it if Apple retained a few fascist look-n-feel copyrights on some of
>>the stupider "innovations" they came up with for the Mac. They're easy to
>>figure out: they're all based on Apple's brain-damaged choice of a single
>>button mouse:

>Spoken like a true techno-nerd, Peter.  I have personally observed
>highly intelligent and skilled UNIX programmers who could not remember
>from one minute to the next what each button on their three-button
>mouse did...Multi-button mice are brain-damaged.

Yes, I agree with this completely!  Now let see, does
control-middle-mouse pop up the terminal menu in xterm and
control-left-mouse the signal menu, or is it the other way around?

>People find it intrinsically easier to keep mental distinctions
>straight if there are significant differences between the things (e.g.,
>click vs. double-click vs. shift-click) rather than having them all be
>relatively undifferentiated members of a flat class of phenomena (e.g.,
>left-click, middle-click, right-click).

This depends: it is fairly easy to keep straight which button selects
an object and which activates the menus on the amiga, since they are
the same 99% of the time.  Consistency is the key.

>>	Popping the active window to the front.

>Part of the real-world metaphor approach to improving learning curves.
>When working with a file on a real desktop, one almost always brings it
>to the top of the stack first.  You really haven't looked into the
>psychological basis of graphical interfaces at all, have you?

I disagree with this.  One wonderful aspect of windowing interfaces is
the ability to obscure other windows.  There are many times where my
active window is not on the top.  Granted, I am not Mr. Computer
Beginner, and I can see a need to make the active window come to the
front if the person is a rank beginner, but it is not true that "one
almost always brings [the selected window] to the top of the stack
first."  In fact, this is one thing that makes DecWindows a pain-in-
the-butt to use (IMHO).

>>	Double-clicking as a normal action.

I don't see what is so hard about double-clicking myself.  Just so
long as the user interface:

	(a) Allows one to set the double-click threshold period, and

	(b) Does *NOT* make triple-clicking and n-clicking a necessity.

>>	And the one-button mouse itself.

One button means you cannot confuse it with another.  Granted, two
buttons used consistently are nice, but I prefer one button with a
visible menu bar.  

>> [Peter da Silva]
>Tim Maroney

					.oO Chris Oo.
-- 
Christopher Lishka                 ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka
Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene                   lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu
Data Processing Section  (608)262-4485                       lishka@uwslh.uucp
                 
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