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List:       kde-look
Subject:    Re: Usability and open source
From:       Paul Oswald <poswald () spyregroup ! com>
Date:       2000-01-31 16:18:13
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Ben Last wrote:

> > From: Tyler Regas [mailto:tyler@regas.net]
> > > * dual mice.  Use one for each hand.
> > Too radical. It takes the element of freedom away from the user by having
> > them use both hands. It's also motion-intensive in that the user would have
> > to move both hands to the keyboard and back. Integrating a BAT-type
> > chording keyboard may be a solution, but the learning curve would be steep.
> But for some tasks it "rocks" (as I believe the Americans say).

I have seen this for 3d work with 2 Wacom tablets. On hand uses a mouse to control
a 3d object (spinning, zooming, etc) while the other hand adds ppints, paints
etc.I thought of a better alternative last night; well, nicked it from Apple.

>
> > Apple developed a 3D navigation system for the web called HotSauce that
> > worked as a plug-in and required some scripting but allowed you to "fly"
> > through the site. Quite inventive.
> True, but 3d interfaces have, in general, not made much of an impact.  I
> suspect this is partly because there's much evidence that we actually see in
> 2-and-a-half-d, where the third dimension is much compressed.
>

3d navigation is an overhyped idea. People think that adding another dimension
will be the next step. Almost all real world work is done in 2d because our
default communication (writing) is 2d.   3d  may seem like a better representation
of data but it is inefficient and harder to visualize. The interface should help
the user make sense of the data.

> > You place the
> > Wizard functionality in a Linuxconf-type environment and you will please
> > newcomers but anger hackers.

linuxconf is a good idea gone horribly wrong. The user interface is far to
complex. Something such as KDE Control Center would be much more appropriate
although I do see problems with grouping such functions in a tree view.

I have an suggestion for look and feel. Sorry if this has been covered already:

 Navigation on menu items is time controlled instead of mouse direction
controlled. I think apple used a system where (e.g. on the K (start) menu) you
would hold your mouse on an item, and it would pop up another menu. you could then
mouse over to the other menu as long as you traveled within a certain triangle.
(one pixel up for every 3 over for example) MS decided to shortcut this by making
it such that you could travel off the current item as long as you hit the new
popup menu within a certain amount of time. This is less intuitive to the user
because the rule is based on time instead of a more tangible thing like mouse
position.  The user is unsure as to why the menu changed (did I move the mouse
wrong or too slowly?). It  seems this is the way KDE does it (easier to code i
suppose =).

-Paul

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