ollef@osiris.sics.se (Olle Furberg) (05/07/89)
In article <10094@claris.com> krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) writes: > >Our user interface is one of the *best* (cleanest, most consitent, easiest >to learn) I've seen for any Macintosh program. I have my share of problems >with it, but overall I think the people who designed the interface did a >wonderful job. [I wish I were one of those people. Oh well. There's always >the next version.... :-)] > I've got a demoversion of MWII. Obviously I haven't used it very much because it cant print nor save documents. (WriteNow 2.0 has a demo that allows you to both save and print.) When I've played around for some minutes I found that MWII does not follow the Interface guidlines: When I select "Find/Change" I get a small window with 4 rounded buttons, 2 radio buttons and 2 checkboxes. If I check the box named "Case Sensitive" nothing special happens, but when I check the box named "Use Attributes" the whole window is replaced with a new window! This is not in accordance with the MacInterface: "Radio buttons and check boxes are for setting values or properties of something; they should'nt be used to perform an action". The same window has a zoombox in the upper right corner, this box should only be used to change the _size_ of the window. But this window is not resizeable! When you click at the zoombox, once again you get a new sort of window. I would be very suprised if these things are the only violation of the MacInterface guidelines in MWII. I use a lot of different programs on the Mac. I don't have time to read a 300 p manual for every program. When I use a program that does'nt follow the usual interface I always get a feeling of uncertainty. I bought my Mac because of the interface, PLZ DON'T DESTROY THE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE!! OK, this time it was rather small defects. But next time...?
krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) (05/08/89)
From article <2661@osiris.sics.se>, by ollef@osiris.sics.se (Olle Furberg): > In article <10094@claris.com> krazy@claris.com (Jeff Erickson) writes: >>Our user interface is one of the *best*.... I have my share of problems >>with it, but overall I think the people who designed the interface did a >>wonderful job.... > > When I select "Find/Change" I get a small window with 4 rounded buttons, 2 > radio buttons and 2 checkboxes. If I check the box named "Case Sensitive" > nothing special happens, but when I check the box named "Use Attributes" the > whole window is replaced with a new window! > This is not in accordance with the MacInterface: "Radio buttons and check > boxes are for setting values or properties of something; they should'nt be > used to perform an action". > The same window has a zoombox in the upper right corner, this box should > only be used to change the _size_ of the window. But this window is not > resizeable! When you click at the zoombox, once again you get a new sort > of window. As I said, I have my share of problems with our user interface. I've been wondering when this was going to come up. I agree with you completely. The Find/Change dialog is the worst interface in the whole program. Oh, sure it's *powerful*, but I still dislike it. Fortunately, we are investigating more intutive alternatives. (That's marketspeak for "We're workin' on it.") I seriously doubt that the next major revision of MWII will still have the current Find/Change interface. [Of course, you know that's not an official statement, right? Right.] The interface was a first attempt solution to a very difficult problem. How do we present all the information necessary for the user to find and change attributes if he wants to, not clutter up the screen if she only wants to search for text, make the dialog fit on an SE-size screen no matter what, make the window shrinkable (so that after you've decided what to find/change, you can just hit the right buttons), and still keep the interface intutive? Suggestions are welcome. You might want to E-mail instead of posting. Than again, you might not. > I would be very suprised if these things are the only violation of the > MacInterface guidelines in MWII. Me too. They aren't. The next best example is the Tab dialog. It's a movable, modal dialog (it looks like a window, but you have to get rid of it to go back to normal editing). Normally, if you click outside a modal dialog, the system will just beep at you. The Tab dialog, however, lets you click in the ruler and actually drag tabs, as an alternative to entering their postions from the keyboard (which you can also do). If you click anywhere besides the ruler, it beeps (of course :-/). It's really useful. It's also really unintuitive. Reminds me of the MicroSoft Works Page Setup dialog. It's the standard dialog, but you can still pull down the Font menu (for the header and footer text, of course). Useful, yes. Intutive? Not hardly. > I use a lot of different programs on the Mac. I don't have time to read a > 300 p manual for every program. When I use a program that does'nt follow the > usual interface I always get a feeling of uncertainty. I bought my Mac > because of the interface, PLZ DON'T DESTROY THE USER FRIENDLY INTERFACE!! > OK, this time it was rather small defects. But next time...? ...it'll be better. Not perfect, but better. We're trying, honest! -- Jeff Erickson Claris Corporation | Birdie, birdie, in the sky, 408/987-7309 Applelink: Erickson4 | Why'd you do that in my eye? krazy@claris.com ames!claris!krazy | I won't fret, and I won't cry. "I'm a heppy, heppy ket!" | I'm just glad that cows don't fly.