mas@ulysses.att.com (Michael A. Schoen) (06/08/90)
I believe that both sides of this argument have very strong points to make. First, I am sure that there are applications for which warping pointer, palettes, and windows are useful. After all, the Macintosh, while it is designed to be user-friendly, should not get in the way of doing things efficiently. In most cases, the friendly way is efficient enough -- pull-down menu's do sacrifice time, but once the user is comfortable with the application, command keys can be used. Anyway, there should be a way for applications to utilize warping without getting rid of the friendliness. Here is my answer: All applications should be designed to work without warping, in any way. Apple should create a cdev (separate from the control panel) that would allow the user to enable warping in all of its forms. In the future, this cdev would be included with the system disks and fully documented in the manual. If the cdev were not placed in the system folder (as the docs would reccomend to new users), then applications, checking for the cdev/init, would see that the user had not enabled warping and would default to nowarp. And if it were enabled then the application would feel free to warp to its hearts desire. This idea would allow power users to warp and make it less likely that novices would get confused. If anyone is concerned that novices might enable the cdev without reading any docs about it; a slight modification: since Apple probable wouldn't like encouraging warping, someone could write a freeware version with full docs. It would be very simple - the values of enabling could just be stored within itself (or a prefs file). Once a standard freeware program is reached (it shouldn't be to hard, since there aren't really any features; but, for those who think that no standard warp cdev could be agreed upon, all programs could use a "warp prefs" file, so that no matter what cdev is used,the applications would just look for warp prefs), software companies would just have to check the prefs file. Reactions?? Michael A. Schoen ATT Bell Labs, Murry Hill (provided for identification only) mas@ulysses.homer.att.com
bayes@hpislx.HP.COM (Scott Bayes) (06/11/90)
>I believe that both sides of this argument have very strong points to make. ... >Here is my answer: All applications should be designed to work without warping, >in any way. Apple should create a cdev (separate from the control panel) that >would allow the user to enable warping in all of its forms. In the future, >this cdev would be included with the system disks and fully documented in the >manual. If the cdev were not placed in the system folder (as the docs would >reccomend to new users), then applications, checking for the cdev/init, would >see that the user had not enabled warping and would default to nowarp. And if >it were enabled then the application would feel free to warp to its hearts >desire. > >This idea would allow power users to warp and make it less likely that novices >would get confused. If anyone is concerned that novices might enable the cdev >without reading any docs about it; a slight modification: since Apple probable >wouldn't like encouraging warping, someone could write a freeware version with >full docs. It would be very simple - the values of enabling could just >be stored within itself (or a prefs file). Once a standard freeware program >is reached (it shouldn't be to hard, since there aren't really any features; >but, for those who think that no standard warp cdev could be agreed upon, >all programs could use a "warp prefs" file, so that no matter what cdev is used,the applications would just look for warp prefs), software companies would just >have to check the prefs file. > >Reactions?? Yep. Look at how many questions pop up about that strange little U-shaped dooley in the upper right corner of the screen when you press Shift 5 times or whatever it takes. It's Apple's Easy Access. Accidentally enabled, or put in the system Folder, or whatever you do. Just an analogy, perhaps a weak one. I wonder how well Apple tested Easy Access compared to how well they tested the rest of the Interface? I still maintain that any extensions to the paradigm should be user tested for usability, "intuitiveness", and consistency with the current Interface. That will take awhile. What you have expressed is an opinion. I propose taking developer opinions out of the question, and letting user opinions reign. > > >Michael A. Schoen >ATT Bell Labs, Murry Hill (provided for identification only) > >mas@ulysses.homer.att.com Scott Bayes Hewlett-Packard Company The above opinions are my personal opinions and are not an official statement of Hewlett-Packard Company.