From: tomster@bigwpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.advocacy
Subject: Re: More Defense of CLI (there, I changed the subject ... )
Date: 9 Oct 92 21:27:41
Organization: Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA 01609-2280
	<TOMSTER.92Oct6222702@bigwpi.WPI.EDU>
	<1992Oct7.142810.13778@gvl.unisys.com>
	<TOMSTER.92Oct7113657@wpi.WPI.EDU>
	<ewright.718490168@convex.convex.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: bigwpi.wpi.edu
In-reply-to: ewright@convex.com's message of Wed, 7 Oct 1992 20:36:08 GMT

In article <ewright.718490168@convex.convex.com> ewright@convex.com (Edward V. Wright) writes:

   In <TOMSTER.92Oct7113657@wpi.WPI.EDU> tomster@wpi.WPI.EDU (Thomas Richard Dibble) writes:

   >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.  

   Any halfway-competent software designer, though, will put the most
   frequently used commands near the top of the menu and minimize the
   use of hierarchical menus.  The ones at the bottom are infrequently
   used items, which would send you scurrying to the bookshelf to look
   them up in a CLI-based system.

Correction:  the ones at the bottom are the ones *the programmer* thought
would not be used very often.  Look at programs which have been out a few
years.  Many times, they are being used for things quite different than
what the programmer had envisioned.

   >Alt-<FX> is just as easy to type as Alt-<FN>.  

   I don't consider either of those easy to type.  Neither, I'm sure,
   do most touch typists.

Well, I consider myself a touch-typist.  I don't consider the ALT key
to be the *easiest thing to hit, but it definitely isn't incredibly
difficult, either.  I hit it with my thumb.

   >the 'New file' option on the File menu is much easier to hit
   >than the Exit menu item, 

   Especially since there isn't an "Exit" item in the file menu. :-)
   Haven't used a Mac much, have you?

Great.  Through THIS again.  Listen:  in MS Windows, it is called 'Exit'.
On the Mac, it is called 'Quit'.  Which should I reference it as?  As
far as I can tell, we were talking about Windows here, since the Mac
doesn't have an Alt key, much less menu-based shortcuts.  I think I was
right in calling it 'Exit' rather than 'Quit'.


   >In the MacOS?  Of course mousing is faster.

   Bingo.  We have a winner.

   Yes, the Macintosh was specifically designed to be faster than
   a keyboard-based system.

I didn't mean the MacOS was faster than equivalent os's.  If you hadn't
cut out a significant chunk there I would have shown you more descriptively.
I meant that mousing on the MacOS is inherently faster than keyboarding
because there is no extensive system of keyboarding on the Mac.  Many,
many, many things can not be done on a keyboard.  I consider this a bug, not
a feature.

		---- tomster@wpi.wpi.edu



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