On Fri, 2003-02-21 at 18:23, Jeff Waugh wrote: > <quote who="Alan Horkan"> > > > the most important idea in it to me was that you can have much more > > options if you organise them better, organisation is the bigger problem > > than too much choice. > > I'm considering writing a proper rebuttal of his rebuttal, but I'm not sure > I could be bothered. Would like to have a fairly non-partisan approach to > the debate anyway. > Anyway, organisation doesn't win you much. If there are too many dials and > buttons for people to comprehend it all as a simple system in their heads, > then there are simply too many. > > Put it this way: Do you understand your microwave? When we got our first > microwave, it had a very simple interface. There were a set of buttons > labelled LO, MED and HI, a large round dial with single and five minute > increments labelled and an OFF position at the bottom left, and a big button > labelled "OPEN DOOR". > > This is a really simple system, and I can keep the entire model in my head > at one time. One of my friend's microwaves has 34 flat buttons on the front > panel, and a big button labelled "OPEN DOOR". I am yet to understand more > than about 6 of those buttons and the modes they put the microwave into as > you're setting up what you want to cook. > > If organisation helped, surely KDE's searchable control center would be > unarguably the best configuration interface ever. Is it? I personally don't > think it is, but I'm not about to tell them they're "wrong". Mosfet's tone > is very different to Havoc's. :-) > > Here's a quick quote to summarise why organisation doesn't help: > > "It's not sufficient to 'use simple words to explain things'. Things must > actually *be* simple, which is much harder." - Martin Pool > > - Jeff If you're used to flying a Cessna and walk into the cockpit of a 757 do you know what's on from off? Left from right? Intercom from emergency broadcast? Probably not, organized or not; but you do have a slight idea on how to fly such a beast because the stick is sitting there and you've used that before. The recommended behavior wouldn't be to touch buttons you don't know much about. In relation to the user the same should be true but in this case the programmer has the power to make those options available or not. IE: some of the items/features, past just the steering and control of the plane, in the 757 are useful and for pilots that know how to use them they should be made available. A little dial labeled LO/MED/HI as in your microwave example makes sense. This way you don't turn a feature full and useful 757 into nothing but a bigger Cessna. -Christopher Warner
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