In this case, there were modes. However! The modes vere visible and it
was
almost impossible to not to see the mode. Why? Because the mode was
indicated
by the mouse cursor.
I would argue that this is not always the case. Raskin, in his book The
Humane Interface, talks about the difference between the _focus_ of
attention and the _locus_ of attention. The focus is where your
mouse/cursor currently is: over a button, in a text field, etc. The
locus is where you are mentally concentrating -- where you are
currently looking at on the screen. Oftentimes these are the same
location, and thus the mouse's icon serves as a good indicator.
However, there are many times when this is not the case. For example,
using indirect manipulation causes a strong disconnect: When using an
interactive color adjustment dialog on an image, your focus of
attention is on the Red, Green and Blue sliders, your locus of
attention is on the image.
From a personal perspective, I have been tripped up by this type of
modal tool-based interface many times. Photoshop is a highly modal
program -- I often find myself editing text, getting distracted, and
trying to use a brush while still in text editing mode. Photoshop is
very good at informing you of the mode you're in via dialogs, but only
after you've tried to do something you're not allowed to do!
Unfortunately, I have been unable to find a good solution to this
problem. Perhaps via a changed mouse cursor _and_ some type of
additional on-screen cue like a darkened background screen while
entering Annotations, or a small strip along the top of the screen that
says the mode you are currently in.
I have not yet seen a good alternative to this problem, but I believe
that Photoshop, and thus Stefan, may have the best solution. I just
wanted to bring up that it's still not a great interface and there
still might be a better solution out there.
J.
