lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Relaxing in the Mad-City) (12/22/89)
davidsen@crdos1.crd.ge.COM (Wm E Davidsen Jr) writes: >In article <462@uwslh.UUCP> lishka@uwslh.UUCP (Brain-fried after too much hacking) writes: >| Yes, I agree with this completely! Now let see, does >| control-middle-mouse pop up the terminal menu in xterm and >| control-left-mouse the signal menu, or is it the other way around? > But this is as easy to remember as shift-option-click-click. And >shortly you continue to agree with me... A "feature" I like even less than three-button mice is having to press an extra control button on the keyboard while doing so on the mouse. This gets ridiculous in X-windows, where one can shift-click and control-click (or shift-middle-click, control-right-click, etc.). Of course I also have trouble remembering the combinations of control/meta/shift keys to do emacs commands (is query replace control-shift-5 [i.e. control-%] or meta-shift-5?). And I have been using windowing systems, mice, and emacs for years. How is one to keep this all straight. My personal preferences are for simplicity: a mouse with one button, and *NO* keyboard presses should be required while hitting the mouse button. If extra features are needed, put them in menus or activate them with icons and visible gadgets (scroll-bars, front/back gadgets, etc.). > I don't see why this can't be done in X, actually, it just takes some >consideration of the user. The same rules hold for clicking convensions, >such as click to take most common action, push and hold for menu. You've hit the nail right on the head. Design for the user! Make it as transparent and obvious as possible. I wish more user-interface designers would read Donald Norman's book _The_Psychology_of_Everyday_Things_. I don't think we would be having as much problems with mice/keyboards/UI's if they did. >bill davidsen (davidsen@crdos1.crd.GE.COM -or- uunet!crdgw1!crdos1!davidsen) Happy holidays, -- Christopher Lishka ...!{rutgers|ucbvax|...}!uwvax!uwslh!lishka Wisconsin State Lab of Hygiene lishka%uwslh.uucp@cs.wisc.edu Data Processing Section (608)262-4485 lishka@uwslh.uucp "... This week, Shane and Rebecca meet some squirrelly country boys. Steve and Kayla grow further apart, while Cal and Kim come closer to finding Arthur. Justin and Adrienne declare war." -- from TV Guide's "Soap Opera Guide"