Re: [Usability] Civilised user interfaces

[Calum Benson <Calum Benson Sun COM>]

On Thu, 2004-08-26 at 15:51, Bryan Clark wrote:

> In a psychology oriented paper that I read a while back, which I can't
> find now, it mentioned how this type of interface was probably more
> detrimental in the long run.

Without having read the paper, I'd also be somewhat wary, given that a
game was used for the study.  When you're playing a game against (or
even just with the aid of) a computer, human-like interactions are
inevitably going to be more acceptable, because gameplaying is generally
a social activity, and the computer is usually trying to simulate the
role of one or more other people.  I'd expect rather different results
had they tested with accountants using spreadsheets, for example. 

Cheeri,
Calum.

-- 
CALUM BENSON, Usability Engineer       Sun Microsystems Ireland
mailto:calum benson sun com            Java Desktop System Group
http://ie.sun.com                      +353 1 819 9771

Any opinions are personal and not necessarily those of Sun Microsystems