From: bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: IBM Funny
Date: 6 Oct 92 18:46:32 EDT
Followup-To: wpi.edu>

Organization: Hayes Microcomputer Products, Norcross, GA

In article <TOMSTER.92Oct3231352@bigwpi.WPI.EDU>, tomster@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble) writes:
> In article <6111.2acc6999@hayes.com> bcoleman@hayes.com (Bill Coleman) writes:
> 
>    Remember, having more doesn't necessarily mean it is better. If you think
>    having three mouse buttons is better than one, why not have six buttons?
>    Ten? A hundred? Two thousand?
> 
> Now that would be stupid.  More than two buttons do not make sense -- certainly
> more than five buttons would not make sense.  Let's work back from there.
> The 'pinky' and the 'ring finger' do not operate independantly of each other,
> therefore four buttons is the max.  Since the thumb is intuitively used
> for stabilization, and is slower in reacting to nerve stimuli than the other
> fingers, a thumb button would not be ergonamically correct.  

I wonder where this leaves thumb-operated trackballs. Hmm.

> Three buttons is our max.  From here in, the issue gets fuzzy.  
> Notice that the middle finger is not entirely muscle-independant of the 
> ring and index fingers. 

Finger 4 (ring) is inherently weak. (Let me tell you, I'm learning to play
piano at 3) This leaves us with buttons on 2 and 3.

> Two buttons would therefore work slightly better 
> than three.  Here, however, we have to notice that this one-button
> sacrifice is not entirely free.  We lose much functionality.  

Do we? Notice that Windows, OS/2, NeXT and perhaps the Amiga all have 
mice with two buttons, but the operation of the second mouse button is
optional.

The second mouse button is therefore superfluous. 

Further, removing all but one mouse button relieves the COGNITIVE confusion
over which button to press. 

> Going one step further, giving
> yourself only one button, you lose two-thirds of the functionality of the
> mouse.

Disagree. The creation of several graphic interfaces dependant on a single
mouse button proves you wrong.

> From what you have written, the only argument against the second button is
> that *you* don't know what it does all the time.  So don't use it!  You can 
> pretend *your* mouse has just one button by using *just* that one button!

Exactly. Hence the second button is superfluous. Rather than create 
confusion and/or additional required learning to use it, let's remove it once
and for all. Much better.

> 
>    Alt- shortcuts will work as long as the menu is on top. They won't work
>    in an dialog box, because the menu is inaccessible from the dialog. You have
>    to use the alternate shortcuts. (See below)
> 
>    So, if you get used to using the Alt- shortcuts (as painful as they are),
>    as soon as a dialog pops up, wham! your carefully learned shortcuts go out
>    the window. ARGH!
> 
> This sounds intriguing.  When would you want to use the menus while in a
> dialog box?  Please give an example.

I'm working in a document. I want to search for an obscure word I have trouble 
typing. So, I select the word and copy it, meaning to paste it into the Find
dialog. Whammo.

>    >    You have to use Shift-DEL, Control-Ins and Shift-Ins for Cut, Copy and Paste,
>    >    respectively. These will actually work in the dialog box.
> 
>    What's worse, MS changed the spec! The latest Windows guide stays to use
>    Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V (I wonder where in the heck they came up with
>    those choices? They aren't mnemonic at all....)
> 
> I have no idea.

They stole them from the Mac. (What? You are reading a Mac advocacy group
and you don't even know what cut copy and paste are on the Mac?)

>    "Ctrl" is a terrible choice for a shortcut, cause it won't work
>    properly with terminal emulation software. ARGH!
> 
> Exactly.

ARGH!

>    >    You proved my point by demonstrating the inconsistant behavior of Windows.
>    >    QED.
>    > 
>    > He did?
> 
>    Yup. He (and you) got the shortcuts wrong. That proves the inconsistancy of
>    Windows.
> 
> Which shorcuts did I get wrong?  I checked Alt-<ET>, etc, on an actual,
> running copy of Windows and can find no error there.

But you can't use those shortcuts in a dialog.

-- 
Bill Coleman, AA4LR                ! CIS: 76067,2327    AppleLink: D1958
Principal Software Engineer        ! Packet Radio: AA4LR @ W4QO
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Disclaimer: "My employer doesn't pay me to have opinions."
Quote: "The same light shines on vineyards that makes deserts." -Steve Hackett.

Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy