Subject: Re: NeWS and X

From: [email-masked] (Derek Fluker)
Date: Wed, 20 May 87 05:51:42 EDT

Date: Tue, 19 May 87 08:10:38 mdt
From: umcp-cs!seismo!hao!nbires!derek (Derek Fluker)

The Mac does have a very good user interface but if you have used and/or
programed under MS/Windows you will not that they did an equally fine job
if not better.  They provide facilities and standards that allow for driving
the system with the keyboard OR mouse OR both on an equal and consistent
basis.  The Mac does lack this ability.  Yes, there are people in this
world who perfer a key based interface and task that are done more
efficiently with one; so supporting both equally is the proper route,
especially in the commercial marketplace.  When driving certain types of
mouse based interfaces, it is often less efficient to only have one mouse
button.  This is often requires more motor actions from the user to perform
actions needed to switch between context.  As an example of this look at the
many Mac programs that put glyphs on the screen to denote which mode the user
is in (MacPaint and MacDraw have glyphs on the left hand side that denote
what operation the user is allowed to perform; what mode he is in.  This
requires constant moving over an pressing the glyphs to change allowable
operations.)  If the number of number of descrete mode need is three or less,
is it not better to asign them to specific mouse buttons allowing the user
to change context with a minimal amount of motor action?