11 Jun
2004
11 Jun
'04
11:19 a.m.
On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 01:59:41PM +0200, Alfons Adriaensen wrote:
I didn't. What I said was that those who complain because things
do no look as they are used to, are in general the same people that
just do not master the application domain itself. Those that do
will just get on with the job.
My slider design might tell you that I'm not aiming at what I'm
used to (which would be a problem anyway, as I use Windows
and Linux (gnome/KDE) and sometimes Mac). I try not to blindly copy,
but to learn from various uis and to think outside the box a bit.
... If the 'standard' says that a R-click
should popup a context
menu, and I don not need such a menu at all, why not use that for
some thing else that makes sense ?
To not mess up the overall consistency? It should at least be the
last option. Totaly different behaviour on the same gesture can be
very confusing. For example the 3d app Blender uses rightclick for
selection and left for placing a 3d cursor. Makes me try to select
with leftclick in Blender when i havn't used it for a while.
And after using Blender I often find myself trying to slect in a file
manager with rightclick. It's an extreme example, but should make
clear that having to do a mental switch can be very problematic.
Agreed, but that does not imply that everything done
by software
will as by magic become easy. You can always dumb it down to make
it easy, but then very often some of the 'real function' is
sacrified. Allowing you to play out of tune is part of the 'real
function' of a violin. Allowing you to go beyond the conventions
that are observed most of the time is part of the 'real function'
of every interesting creative tool or instrument, be it real or
software.
Usability != dumbing down, but restrictions can help with creativity,
something I learned after switching from just a workstation keyboard
to a pc solution. Having many different apps also means that some
can concentrate on rather common things, while others provide more
freedom. I like modular synths, but they can be counter productive,
making you fiddle around, while the goal might be easily achievable
with a fixed system.
---
Thorsten Wilms