Re: [GnomeMeeting-list] I want my users advice

[Christian Rose <menthos menthos com>]

lör 2002-02-02 klockan 23.43 skrev OverrideX:
> > > > Yes it is. An unconventional setup is always a bad thing, since it
> > > > requires re-learning. This is a fundamental principle, I don't know how
> > > > you can dispute that.
> > > 
> > > I don't think 5 buttons will cause a huge learning curve.
> > 
> > This was about the vertical toolbar, not the buttons themselves.
> 
> I still don't see why the orientation of the bar makes any difference. A
> toolbar is a toolbar, it looks like a toolbar, it works like a toolbar,
> I don't see why many people would have to relearn that just because of
> it's placement.

Again, yet another fundamental principle from cognitive science. People
recognize objects basically by their shapes (or what we believe to be
their shapes), their position, their surface, their sound, their smell,
and so on (of course, sound and smell usually don't apply to most
interface widgets).
Once we have recognized and learned how the objects work, we remember
them not only by their visual properties, but usually also by their
function.

When we first learn a graphical computer interface like GNOME or
Windows, we usually first learn to recognize a toolbar by it's
fundamental properties. Usually these are: A long horizontal field
(shape) directly beneath the menu options (position) with a small thing
to the left and many small pictures side by side on it (surface) that
act as buttons when clicked (function).

When you rotate a widget 90 degrees, it is bad because you don't
immediately recognize it anymore. You might still recognize it, but you
have to think about it for a short while. Some times this "while" is
short, for some users it is longer. You might find that the time is
neglectable for you, but it all adds up and distracts from the issue at
hand, and requires re-learning because you have to refine your basic
knowledge about the widget.

As an experiment, fire up glade, place different widgets on an empty
window, make a screenshot and then try rotating some random widgets and
try to realize how confusing an unknown application with rotated and
regular widgets in the same interface can be.


If you are still disagreeing, that's fine. The rotation is not that bad
by itself. What's more problematic with the toolbar problem in this case
is that not only is it rotated, it also shows up in a different
location. It is no longer below the menu options, but moved to the side
of the window. Thus a lot of people who are used to toolbars appearing
below the menu options will spend significantly more time locating it,
if they ever do it.

Combine these two problems, and you have violated a lot of the basic
aspects of a toolbar: shape and position. The only remaining way that
someone can be able to recognize it as a toolbar is by it's surface.
Thus you have removed 2 out of 3 useful hints. Considering that we all
remember and recognize things differently and all of these need not
necessarily apply, you may have removed all the effective properties of
the concept of "a toolbar" for some people, and these won't even realize
that there is a toolbar also to the left, or that the thing to the left
is also a toolbar.


Christian