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From: barnett@grymoire.crd.ge.com (Bruce Barnett)
Newsgroups: comp.windows.misc,comp.windows.x,comp.windows.news
Subject: Look and Feel? Or just Look?
Summary: 3-D - is that all there is?
Message-ID: <5348@crdgw1.crd.ge.com>
Date: 17 Feb 90 15:43:08 GMT
References: <671@tci.bell-atl.com> <1907@cbnewsi.ATT.COM> <1990Feb14.201536.29437@sq.sq.com>
Sender: news@crdgw1.crd.ge.com
Followup-To: comp.windows.misc
Distribution: comp.windows.misc
Organization: GE Corp. R & D, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 75

Why do most people measure the "quality" of a window system on such
cosmetic features like 3-D buttons?

I have seen a lot of people on the net "judge" Motif vs. Open Look
mostly on the overall look of a UI, or else they select it because it
is what their vendor has supplied.

While I admit having a "sexy" UI is nice, but I haven't seen many people
compare OpenLook vs. Motif on non-religious issues.

Some say "Motif is like MS-Windows - therefore it is good."

I don't quite follow the argument. I think Mac and MS-Window users can
use both Motif and OpenLook without much effort. I would be interested
in some real studies that measure the learning curve of Motif vs.
OpenLook.

I have also seen a lot of people who are experienced in one window
system, use another for a few hours and then pass judgement.
These judgements tend to be biased and unfair.

Since I am not experienced in both Motif and OpenLook, I would like to
start a conversation concerning the real differences between the two.
(My goal is to learn more about both window system, and hopefully
learn more about the best features of both.)

Here are some questions to start some discussions?

	Is the UI easy to use? Does it require any documentation?
	Is it intutive?

	How easy is it to move and resize windows? 
	Is the mechanism intutive? Convenient?

	How easy it it to keep track of the keyboard focus?
	How easy is it to change the focus?

	Are there any mechanisms to help you keep track of
	the state (busy/idle/error) of each application?
	
	Is it easy to manage multiple tasks simultaneously?

	Is there any method used to group related windows?

	How easy is it to organize the window placement?
	Does the UI provide features for organizing your desktop?

	How convenient is the scrollbar?

	Does the UI support Selections well? How many types of
	selections? Is it intuitive?

	How well are choices (i.e. menus) presented to the
	user? What sequences of actions are needed to select
	menu items? How much screen real-estate does it require?
	Does this mechanism scale well? Can the menu system
	handle large choices well? (i.e. pick one option out of 100).
	How many actions does it take to make menu selections?
	Are there accelerators for these actions? Are they user definable?
	How quickly can the menu be browsed (assume no CPU delays).

	Is there a desktop metaphor? How complete is it?
	Drag and drop?

	Are there accelerators for common actions? Can you redefine them?

	Notices/Alerts - do they tell you which application caused the
	alert? What happens if two applications alert you at the
	same time?

Followups to comp.windows.misc - please.
And please, let's not get religious.	
--
-- 
Bruce G. Barnett	barnett@crd.ge.com	uunet!crdgw1!barnett