eugene@eos.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (08/27/89)
Good discussion about map reading.
I see icons as simplified models.
The problem with most computer icons is that they are Mac-based.
These are all mostly static, and don't interact very well. I think
this is largely due to the limitations of the Mac, its OS, hardware, and
the model which it was built on [incomplete Xerox].
Many of the original Xerox tools had more dynamic metaphors. The icons
were miniature models of the things they represented. They changed their
state independently of one another and they acted in concert. This
might be hard to describe without see some of it. E.g., if icon B
was in some way dependent on icon A, and you manipulated A, then changes
get propagated to B. You can call this "Object-Oriented" but it was more
than that.
Another gross generalization from
--eugene miya, NASA Ames Research Center, eugene@aurora.arc.nasa.gov
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