CMP.WERNER@R20.UTEXAS.EDU (Werner Uhrig) (03/21/86)
> Sat, 15 Mar 86 21:41 pst "pugh jon%e.mfenet"@LLL-MFE.ARPA > Servant Addendum... > > Second, Andy is planning a new way of opening things that I think is a > marvelous idea (stolen from Xerox, I suspect). When you double click on a > document, it is not at all clear what program you are running. This is > especially true for text documents which can go through editors and > compilers. What he proposed was to drag a document into an application and > it would open it with that file. That sounds to me like a major > improvement. It took me the longest time to realize that the c compiler > would only show files with a .c extension. It ain't very Mac-like. While I agree that a problem exists (which I'd like to see addressed also), I disagree with the suggested solution: Having to drag the icon of a document into the icon of an application requires that both are visible on the desk-top at the same time; as a matter of fact, one would probably want *ALL* feasable applications available on the desk-top most of the time (what clutter). Otherwise, you have to open and close hierarchies of folders all the time, especially with a hard disk, a procedure I detest. (remember that after you are through with an application you'd find the desk-top cluttered as you left it when launching - except in the case of write-protected floppies, of course) While I would not mind having the suggested feature implemented and available to the user who wants it, I'd prefer that after double-clicking a document I'd be presented with a "Selection-Menu Window" of applications to chose from, with a highlighted default-one already selected, of course, so I could simply hit RETURN if I'd want to go with the default. Actually, I don't even want to be forced to double-click on a document-icon on the desk-top, but rather would like to have the option to use the command OPEN under the FILE-item in the menu-bar to "OPEN a document" as well as to "OPEN an application" without even having to select *ANY* file (application *OR* document) first. But then again, I believe that the advanced user stays away from the desktop anyway, and works exclusively inside SWITCHER and SKIPFINDER (or equivalent). But whatever may be your prefered working-environment, I believe that there are reasons to improve the user-interface in this area, one way or another. I *HOPE* that Apple has some wizards knowledgable in both UNIX and MAC (in lack of a better word for the unnamed OS on the Macintosh) working on the *NEXT* operating system for the *BEST* of us (which is what *SOMEONE*'s new machine" will be targeted for, I hope) - at least, I hope they don't neglect including something like the "Environment-variables" on UNIX, which make personalizing one's working-environment such a joy (once one finds out enough about it) [ please forgive the heavy puns of NEXT&BEST above - they came natural and faithfully represent my state of mind (or lack thereof). "Arrghhh, go get a some coffee and get decent" someone just suggested .... which I'm now off to do ... Have a nice day: here, it's 58 degrees going on 70+, blue sky, sunny, and I'm watering the lawn already. The roses are blooming, the birds are playing by the bird-bath and otherwise having fun building nests.... ... just to change the mood a little and give you something to look forward to ....] -------