RE: fundamentals of the gnome user interface

["Wesley Felter" <wesf cs utexas edu>]

> > this person expends the least amount of time figuring out
> > how to operate the equipment, completing the task they need to complete
> > and not thinking further about the potential of his tool. he is a
> > productive person because he completed the task with the tool at his
> > disposal in a short amount of time.

> The same should go for any style guide. Construction guidelines for user
> interfaces should NOT be written in such a way as to dumb-down the user's
> ability to utilize a specific tool. One button mice, and single-tasking
> OS'es are the hallmarks of that mode of thinking. *hint hint*. :)

Well, well, Bowie's back.

While I fully agree with the single-tasking comment, I have to take issue
with the mouse comment. I have sat and watched DOS users use Windows (and
thus a mouse) for the first time, and in many cases it took them hours to
figure out which button to use. This is contradictory to a self-documenting
interface (although in this case we're talking about hardware and not
software). The problem with single-button mice is that you have to go buy a
new mouse if you want to right-click conveniently.

But that brings up a good point: Some GNOME users either will not have a
multi-button mouse (e.g. Apple hardware) or will not understand (and
possibly not wish to understand) the difference between the mouse buttons.
Therefore every GNOME app MUST be operable using only one mouse button. (By
"operable" I mean that the user should have access to every feature of the
application.) Somebody (Nils?) write this down, quick!

Wesley Felter - wesf@cs.utexas.edu
"Maybe I should put a bucket over my head and a marshmallow in each
ear...and you can go your way, and I can go my way" -- Ani DiFranco, "Fuel"