IMHO, it depends upon the frequency of use over a long period of time. If something is going to be very regularly used and (as Caroline pointed out) can save work by being scripted, users will often invest the time needed to learn a CLI. Jobs like system administration can be made a lot easier with a CLI. As I said in another thread, a former lecturer of mine mentioned some research she did way back when which showed sys admins performing more efficiently with a CLI than a GUI.
On the other hand, people will often stick to inefficient strategies even when a much more efficient one is demonstrated to them. One colleague of mine tested this and found that there was a trade-off in terms of mental activity - users were sometimes willing to give up time to use "think" less. Another (purely anecdotal) example featured people being shown how to use Excel to add up a list of numbers and then reverting back to a calculator when asked to do it again with a slightly altered list. So quite often, users will prefer a GUI even when there are known advantages to learning a CLI. As designers, we have to remember that the most efficient design in (say) terms of the KLM doesn't always meet user's needs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Posted from the new ixda.org http://www.ixda.org/discuss?post=40758 ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [email protected] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
