Hooman,
I agree. However, I need to clarify a few things. I like a design
process that is based on principles. Here are the steps (of a design
process that I like):
1) Lay a few underlying design principles.
2) Try to come up with designs that follow (if not too closely) the principles.
3) Implement the designs.
4) Test the implementations.
Of course, there are many important issues that are missing from the
above picture, mainly the fabric of the design group, or in other
words how the design group is shaped and works.
For this specific design, here are the main principles in order of importance.
- ease of use
The design should consider a wide variety of users. e.g. users who are
introduced to computers and bidi text input at different levels. At
one end we may have people who are using a computer for the first time
and cannot read Latin characters; to people who are so used to mo-di
(as opposed to bidi) text input who like to see exactly the same
semantics at work for bidi text input; to people who have no problem
with the current bidi input system(s).
The input semantics hence should try to accommodate all these users.
The semantics that work for me as a user (versus a designer) are:
o Keystrokes should have a visual effect on screen.
- I should be able to see what I have typed so far.
- I like to see all control characters when typing as well.
o Cursor, or in general, visual cues should provide information to me
on what happens when I enter certain keys on keyboard. \footnote{A
design may implement two cursors when the (visual) position of the
next character is not unique}
o Arrow keys, I like the arrow keys move in visual order.Even if that
means I cannot place the cursor between some characters.
o Pointing device should allow me to perform functions I am used to
currently, like selection, copy+paste, and moving the text insertion
position.
o Selection, I like the selections to be continuous looking on screen.
In case, the selection looks fragmented, I like to be forced into
selecting a bigger part of text that is not fragmented.
- implementability
The design should consider the limitations of current platforms. For
example, the design should assume the input devices are a pointing
device and a standard keyboard, and the output device is a small area
of the screen. The designer should also consider implementability of
the design inside current platforms.
- completeness.
The design should allow to the user to input all possible bidi texts.
On Thu, 10 Jun 2004 10:53:43 +0430, Hooman Mehr <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Also, note that this issue is one of the single most important issues
> we need to solve in order to make using computers as easy for bi-di
> users as it is for Roman (or Latin) Script users.
>
> There is a lot of depth to this issue, don't try to come up with a
> quick idea and immediately think that you have solved it. It takes an
> expert in human computer interaction design. Someone in the same class
> as experts like Jeff Raskin, Bruce "Tog" Tognazzini, Donald A. Norman
> or Jakob Nielsen. Even then, we need extensive prototyping and user
> testing to refine the solution and select the best alternatives.
>
> Alright, I know, we don't live in an ideal world (or Iran) and we
> really can't expect to go after this issue in a really systematic way,
> but lets try to deal with it the best we can.
>
> - Hooman Mehr
>
> [1] If you have missed that post, look for "Persian GUI Design
> Specifications & Guidelines" in the list archives.
>
> On Jun 9, 2004, at 3:01 AM, Ordak D. Coward wrote:
>
> > Please ignore this while I can successfully prepare a long e-mail with
> > gmail :(
> >
> > On Tue, 8 Jun 2004 17:08:53 -0400, Ordak D. Coward <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
>
> > wrote:
> >> Following up the old thread, here is my attempt to understand the
> >> problem. We may then agree on a desired behavior, and then on an
> >> implemenation.
> >>
> >> The problems appear when typing a text in a BiDi enabled editor. it
> >> seems to three categories of concren.
> >>
> >> 1) When typing a bilingual text, the cursor jumps unexpectedly. An
> >> example, is when I type "HERE IS SOME RTL TEXT", (where UPPERCASE
> >> stands for RTL characters), in notepad or any input line, the cursor
> >> (denoted by |) and text appear as follows:
> >> |
> >> |EH
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > PersianComputing mailing list
> > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> > http://lists.sharif.edu/mailman/listinfo/persiancomputing
> >
>
>
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