Iconitis

[John Mundt]

In article <17376 at cisunx.UUCP> jcbst3 at unix.cis.pittsburgh.edu (James C. Benz) writes:
>In article <11555 at lanl.gov> jlg at lanl.gov (Jim Giles) writes:
>>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...  The
>>icon interface simply slows down experienced users.
>
>I'd like to put my two kopeks worth in here too.  I found mouse and icon
>based applications infuriating for this very reason.  A word to all you who
>write these things.  I am a *fast* typist.
>....  There are plenty of us out here who have good typing skills and the
>smarts to understand English and even Unix, and by catering to the least
>common denominator, you only cut yourselves out of a large chunk of market
>share.


You should know by now to never let on that you know how to type.  :-)

MOst points in the diatribe against icons are probably valid, and you often
see experienced Mac users going away from icon representations of different
directories with the text version of the same.

But! the point is that "icons" are the coming thing, and with all the
ponderance of a ship sliding into its berth, anyone who gets in the way of
this "fact" are going to get crushed.  

IBM and AT&T are working windows into PS/2 and UNIX V.4.  Whether we like
it or not, icons are here to stay and will eventually take over because 
the market does indeed cater to the lowest common denominator.  

Hopefully, new programs will give the option of using icon or keyboard. 
But I doubt it.  Icons, graphics, and desktop publishing are just too 
much fun to play with and that sells computers.

I am begining to worry that people are now more concerned with the way
the program looks, and the way the output looks to worry much about the
usefulness of the program or the value of the output.

-- 
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John Mundt   Teachers' Aide, Inc.  P.O. Box 1666  Highland Park, IL
john at chinet.chi.il.us
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