On 26 Jun 2009 at 22:16, Christopher Smith wrote: > On Jun 26, 2009, at 9:16 PM, David W. Fenton wrote: > > > On 26 Jun 2009 at 21:00, Kim Patrick Clow wrote: > > > >> I have several friends that are graphic designers, and I'm in awe of > >> watching them work in Photoshop or Illustrator without having to > >> use the > >> mouse at all. When I asked about it, they told me their > >> productivity would > >> shrink by 3/4 if they didn't have the keyboard shortcuts. > > > > And yet, the actual research on this subject completely contradicts > > that user perception. That is, Apple and Microsoft's usability labs > > have run the tests many times and mousing is faster than keyboarding. > > > > It's counterintuitive to me, but them's the facts. > > Yeah, but mousing is not faster when you start going into menus three > layers deep, and have to aim and click a little button. A single, or > even two or three, keystrokes is faster by far. Plus, the more you > use a certain keystroke, the faster you get at it. Mousing speed > reaches its upper limit quickly.
I would assume (though I can't say for sure) that such a scenario would have been part of the test suite. > It's made up for, though, by the mouse's ability to pick out an item > among hundreds on a screen, and click-and-hold or click-and-drag, > plus all other goodies a mouse GUI brings. THAT stuff is very slow > with keystrokes, which may have skewed the results. > > Let's say that sometimes a mouse is faster, and sometimes the > keystroke is faster. Maybe a mouse is faster ON AVERAGE, but I bet an > experienced user using their own choices can beat the control groups > handily. All I know is what the researchers report, that overall, mousing is faster than keyboard. I don't know exactly how they tested, but the results have stood up over many years of assault from those who didn't believe them. -- David W. Fenton http://dfenton.com David Fenton Associates http://dfenton.com/DFA/ _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
