Ditto on what Dana said about the SL interface. Varying opacity of UI elements is hardly confined to Mac OS and SL, though. In fact, a Windows customization system I used back in 2000 on Win NT 4 (Desktop X) used opactiy/transparency all over the place, in windows, menus, widgets, etc. I think Amiga might have used it, too. Doesn't Vista's Aero interface use a lot of varying opacity?
My post honestly was trying to emphasize Windows as weak and that Unix-based OSs are a better (more secure) alternative. That Mac OS X is Unix-based is just gravy for me. I've also used Ubuntu and Knoppix and enjoyed both of their environments. In fact, I've been looking seriously at cheap Windows laptops that I would immediately turn into dual-boot Ubuntu/Windows machines, using Ubuntu for anything involving the internet and isolating Windows from the internet as much as possible but using it in protected environments when absolutely necessary. I can lay hands on a decent new Core 2 Duo system for around $600. And it might even run my preferred OS. :) Has anyone on list used Windows 7 Beta? Any word on its security? The propaganda I've seen says that it will ship with much better security and more doors closed by default. On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 6:35 PM, Dana Paxson <[email protected]> wrote: > I'll bite on that one. > > Eric Scoles wrote: > > ...If someone can explain to me the usability benefits of transparent menus, > I'm all ears... > > I never thought that transparent (translucent?) menus were anything other > than digital dittybop until I fell into Second Life and saw them at work in > there. SL has menu and window overload. But when I could switch from one > menu window to another and see a hidden menu underneath the one I'd just > left, it made navigation a lot easier, and I came to rely on "seeing > through" one inactive menu to find another one I needed. Of course, that's > SL: inventory menu, object window, chat window, navigation buttons, map and > mini-map, avatar information window, texture sub-windows, landmark display > window. All of these overlaid by the SL browser atop the virtual terrain > where one's avatar is supposed to be navigating. Then there are the > heads-up displays... > > Without some measure of menu/window "see-through", everything in SL would > take longer and be harder to manage. I don't know how or why it's done in > the Mac world, though. Pure religious fervor? > > Dana > >> >> >> -- >> eric scoles ([email protected]) > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "R-SPEC: The Rochester Speculative Literature Association" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/r-spec?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
