Re: [Usability] Re: A bunch of UI issues

[lukekendall optushome com au]

On  8 Feb, Bruce Ingalls wrote:
>  If you drag the thumb to the middle, you move to the middle. If you drag  
>  the thumb to the end, likewise. 
>  I'm not sure how this is any worse. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to add  
>  shift-click, in addition to PgUp PgDn 
>  keys. 

A drag is a more difficult operation than a click.  While this is a
minor element of what I could call `friction' in a user interface, for
disabled users it's much more of an issue I would have thought.

Since if you click down in one spot the scrollbar jumps there; if you
hold it down too long the thumb doesn't race past ((e.g. netscape) or
run towards the point (Windows).

>  Just keep in mind 
>  1) This is not compatible with existing practice (CUA and its defacto  
>  extensions) 

Absolutely, and that's a significant drawback.  It's certainly easy and
fast to learn, and use, however.

The only reason I suggested it was because I've used it and found it to
be a significant UI improvement.  But that's not to say that it might
just suit my personal taste,

Ideally it would be an option.  If you shy away from new UI ideas
because it differs from accepted practice, that's sad.  But one
shouldn't try to force ideas onto people either.  More work to make it
optional, though, obviously.

The right way would be to wrap up all the scrolling behaviours via one
function or method, and just provide the events as input.


>  2) Handicapped users might not be able to reach both shift & mouse keys. 

I assumed that the same solution mentioned for allowing handicapped
users to do Ctrl-X etc., would apply to mouse events...

If the behaviour was optional (i.e. teleport could either be by
Shift-click -- the default -- or you could change your preference so
that a simple click == teleport), that would also solve the problem.
 
>  Maybe you don't care about widespread existing practice. However, if you  
>  cannot make a good case for 
>  what you consider to be an improvement, then you shouldn't be  
>  disappointed by resistance of mass adoption. 

Well said.  Accepted practice is very important.  I honestly don't know
whether I rate it higher than ease of use...  Hmm, probably not, if I
think about it.  But *that* is just a personal preference, certainly. 
I think most people prefer not to have to learn new stuff that they're
not interested in.  (Which is fair enough!)
 
luke