From: tomster@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: More Defense of CLI (there, I changed the subject ... )
Date: 7 Oct 92 11:36:57
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609-2280
	<TOMSTER.92Oct6222702@bigwpi.WPI.EDU>
	<1992Oct7.142810.13778@gvl.unisys.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: wpi.wpi.edu
In-reply-to: dave@prc.unisys.com's message of Wed, 7 Oct 1992 14:28:10 GMT

In article <1992Oct7.142810.13778@gvl.unisys.com> dave@prc.unisys.com (David Lee Matuszek) writes:

   In article <TOMSTER.92Oct6222702@bigwpi.WPI.EDU> tomster@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble) writes:
   >In article <ibhan.718394592@husc8> ibhan@husc8.harvard.edu (Ishir Bhan) writes>
   >   >Well, I won't go into all the reasons why it's impossible to 
   >   >time yourself in an experiment like this -- I would have thought
   >   >that was obvious.  However, if you set up a proper experiment,
   >   >with an unbiased subject and unbiased observer, you will probably
   >   >find the same thing as everyone else who has performed this experiment:
   >   >using the menus is faster, although, to the user, cmd-C and cmd-V
   >   >*seem* faster.
   >
   >Oh, really?  Is that what they found?
   >I think it's time to bring up the list of survey results.  Seems to me there
   >were just as many surveys saying the opposite as there were supporting your
   >statements.

   There is a difference between a "survey" and an "experiment."  A
   "survey" is when you ask people what they think; an "experiment" is
   when you measure what is actually happening.

Okay.  Point taken.  What I should have typed was 'I think it's time to bring
up the list of actual experiments conducted we compiled the last time this
question was given.'  The last time the question was given was a few weeks
back, in the form of a survey.

   You are correct in that there are surveys showing that users think
   using command keys is faster.  There are also experiments showing that
   mousing is faster.

As there are experiments showing keyboarding is faster.  It all depends on
the subset of commands you use -- if you use a subset of commands the GUI
programmer anticipated you would use, therefore putting them in the top
slots of all his programs, you will mouse very quickly and efficiently.
But if you have to search for these commands -- say they are at the bottom of
the menu list, or at the bottom of a heirarchial menu system -- you will
not mouse very efficiently at all.  Alt-<FX> is just as easy to type as
Alt-<FN>.  the 'New file' option on the File menu is much easier to hit
than the Exit menu item, because the 'new' item is highlighted already when
I click on the 'File' menu.  Thus, there is a difference in experimental
results, which we must weigh accordingly.

   In his book on interface design, Tognazzi writes: "We've done $50
   million of R&D on the Apple Human Interface.  We've discovered, among
   other things, two pertinent facts:  1) Test subjects consistently
   report that keyboarding is faster than mousing.  2) The stopwatch
   consistently reports that mousing is faster than keyboarding."

In the MacOS?  Of course mousing is faster.

   There may be some argument for preferring keyboarding because it seems
   faster.  After all, subjective values are important.  The feeling of
   speed is important to some people; that's one of the reasons for the
   popularity of sports cars.  However, if you wish to claim that
   keyboarding is _actually_ faster than mousing, the ball is in your
   court; let's hear about the _experiments_ that show this.

Well, that's what I just asked for, now, wasn't it?

If anyone kept the articles debating this issue, please start reposting the
results.

     --dave

   -- 

   It isn't pollution that's harming the environment.  It's the
   impurities in our air and water that are doing it.
		   -- Vice President Dan Quayle

		---- tomster@wpi.wpi.edu
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