On Mar 23, 2006, at 9:43 AM, Anselm R. Garbe wrote:
It is ideal to have only a single way for each feature and not plenty ways.
I think this is an overgeneralization. I generally think that *conceptually* there should be a single method, but I have no issues with multiple convenient methods of accessing that concept.
For example the WIMPish environments have menu entries, shortcuts and toolbars connected to the same function often. This is annoying, because it forces the user to choose between several usage paths (and often users aren't able to fixate their usage patterns because of this choice of usage paths).
I've been a Mac user for life, so I may be biased, but I take issue with this. Generally on the Mac, there are two or three ways to do something. Way one is selecting an item from the menu bar. Way two is to use a key command which activates a menu bar item. Way three, which is not always there, is clicking some sort of toolbar button. (I'm ignoring contextual menu items for now, which I have mixed feelings about.)
The menu bar method is useful because it allows you to hunt for commands -- On Mac software, EVERY ACTION is supposed to be in the menu bar, and hence it serves as a form of documentation. Using the menu bar also teaches you key commands. Key commands are useful as they are very fast, but they'd not be so useful without the menu bar around to teach you the shortcuts. The menu bar and key command combination is near-perfect I feel due to fact that it lets you fall back to a slower method when you don't know the faster one, and the slower method teaches you how to use the faster one.
The toolbar is useful for not having to switch to the keyboard. I turn the toolbar off in most applications, but in my browser I leave a minimal set of buttons visible. I don't like having to switch to the keyboard juts to go back a page sometimes. Often this is just due to laziness as I have to pull my hand out of my lap to hold the correct modifier key, but still, I find it easier to use the mouse and so I should be able to.
While in this case I agree with you that border resizing with the mouse is slow, I couldn't let you get by with any menubar hatred. ;-) The unified menu bar is the reason you never have to read a manual or look at a key command sheet to learn to use a Mac application, and the act of using it teaches you the key commands to do the same actions faster. I feel this is a great way of ending up at the same point (fast keyboard interaction) while making the learning curve much less steep (you can use everything perfectly fine without knowing any key commands initially, it is just a bit slower).
Remember, reaching for "maximum speed" is what gave us vi. :-) - John _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://wmii.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/wmii
