On Oct 4, 2007, at 23:10, Gerry Creager wrote:
GUIs are not designed to make anything easier, necessarily, for
the user. That's a fiction we foist off on users to make them think
programmers are their friends. GUIs are designed to limit most
users to be able to do just what the GUI programmer wanted them to
do. [...]
One thing to consider is this: I spend my life, now, in Linux.
Most of it is spent at the command line save for the specific
applications I am using that require some form of graphical
interface because of their overall complexity. I'm a dinosaur. I
LIKE the command prompt.
Perhaps it is because of your latter comments that you make the
first. But I would like to disagree with you 10,000%. GUIs _are_
designed to make things easier for folks. Most folks would never
touch a computer at all if CLI was the only option. Most folks are
dangerous in a CLI. Some of us are successful at CLI and can make it
sing, but we are the rarity, the oddity, the unusual. GUIs restrict
users, but that is more of a consequence of the programming than a
goal of the programmers. A good programmer can give the GUI nearly as
much power as the CLI, yes, it is possible. An elegant GUI is
magnificent, and rare, and frees us from having to think about what
we're doing or worry about syntax.
I tip my hat to the programmers who make GUIs possible. I thank them
for their struggles in the name of making my life easier. As some one
who routinely tries to help users struggle with understanding
programs, I have a deep appreciation for how difficult it is to
design a truly user friendly GUI.
73,
--de Chip (N1MIE) FN41bn
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