iconitis

[David Geary]

In article <11555 at lanl.gov, Jim Giles writes:

|| From article <1930 at dataio.Data-IO.COM>, by bright at Data-IO.COM (Walter Bright):
|| Don't misunderstand me, icons have their place. The arrows on the ends
|| of scroll bars are an ideal example of correct use of icons. I don't know
|| anyone who misunderstood that.

| Actually, even these can be badly implemented.  The expectation of a naive
| user is that: 1) the arrows on the end of the scroll bars go to the furthest
| extent in the pointed direction; or 2) the arrows on the end of the scroll
| bars move the file by an amount equal to the display size (ie. got to
| next/previous page).  Most implementations I've seen follow neither of
| interpretations.  The change in the displayed portion of the file is
| neither consistent nor easily predictable.  Oh well, at least the file
| moves in the expected direction.

| My major objection with icons is that often I know very well what I want
| to do, but I can't do it without walking down some menu.  This requires
| that I use the mouse, move to the right place to bring up the desired
| menu, move to the selected item, etc..  But, since I already KNOW what
| I want to do, what I really need is to type in a short command!  The
| icon interface simply slows down experienced users.

  Ah, icons vs. keyboard, mice vs. men ;-).  I think everyone will agree that
a Mac-like interface is more suited for novices, and a unix-shell-like interface
is more suited for experienced users. (of course *someone* will disagree ;-)

  I used to teach the usage of a 2D drafting package that runs on Sun workstations entitled cimcad,
from a company named Cimlinc, for a couple of years.  Cimcad had a slick interface which
consisted of icons, short commands (keyboard commands), pop-up menus (infinitely superior
to pull-down menus IMHO), and strokes (where you press a mouse button and *draw* a symbol
on the screen to trigger a command).  The most important thing about it was that it was
entirely configurable by the user.  Novices could start with icons and pop-ups, and later
on, when they had become proficient, and as Jim states above "knew very well what they
wanted to do", they could redefine *any* command that was found in pop-ups and icons as
keyboard equivalents.  Not only that, but the pop-ups, icons, strokes and keyboard
commands were *all* redefineable - the user could shape the interface into anything
they wanted to.  I have never used an application since that went to such great lengths
to provide users with an interface that everyone could be productive with.

  And now, on to VI wars...

  After working here at Boeing for about 1 year (and using a mouse based editor exclusively),
we had a Sun technical person come in to fix something that was wrong with my Sun.  He had
to edit a couple of files, and used vi.  I had never seen anything like it in my life.  This guy
edited about 3 or 4 files, making major changes in each so fast that my eyes could barely
keep up with the cursor.  I was astounded.  Now I use VI exclusively.  People see me using
VI nowadays, and say "WOW!  What kind of editor is that - it's so fast."  "Vi", I reply.
"Oh, yuck", is usually their reply.  I just kind of smile.

  BTW, when I was learning VI, I cursed it time and time again, and almost came to the
point of erasing from my disk a few times, but then I'd think back to that Sun guy, and
I'd convince myself that it'd be worth it in the long run.  It was.


-- 
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~ David Geary, Boeing Aerospace, Seattle                 ~ 
~ "I wish I lived where it *only* rains 364 days a year" ~
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