> On Wed, 05 Jan 2005 11:04:39 -0500, Jerry Johnson > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > Imagine a 3d desktop that includes different rooms of storage. One room > is long-term storage, where older files are archived as zip files if not > used in a while. There are catalog draws full of table of contents from > all my external CDs and DVDs. There is a map drawer, a TV, a stereo. A > safe with a combo lock. photo albums. And, of course, little roomba bots > cleaning up after me.
Yes! And they'll call it "MS Bob". ;^) (Sorry - couldn't resist.) But seriously, one of the most common mistakes of UI design is overusing the "physical metaphor". The idea is sound - translate knowledge of one interface (a chest of drawers, the rooms of a house, a rolodex, whatever) to another. The problem is that in nearly every case you end up with an interface that is hindered by the metaphor more than helped. In other words the metaphor is taken too far and hurts the experience. For example "Bob" was an early attempt at this - and it was neat and really ahead of its time - but it was harder to use. It used a "house" metaphor: you went to the playroom to play games, the office to do bills and such and so forth. However to get to another room to do something you were hindered by the physical metaphor of the house: you had to go through the hallway to get to another room. In any modern 2D interface you can change tasks much, much more quickly. The same goes for a lot of simpler interfaces as well. The "Rolodex" metaphor seems great for contact management, but begins to fall down when you get into things not supported by the physical metaphor (virtual groups, information that won't fit on a "card", etc). I can't think of a really successful physical metaphor. It seems like they all limit what you can easily do on a computer by enforcing physical rules. Of course the issue here is that easy 3D in the OS will breed bad physical metaphors like files. The "CD rack", the "Bookshelf", the "Library", the "checkbook" and so forth. I predict we're going to see a HUGE surge of these things after the release of Longhorn. MacOS X is having similar, but small scale, issues with this now. Jim Davis ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Get the mailserver that powers this list at http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=17 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:141621 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
