pete@iris49.UUCP (Pete Ware) (03/12/91)
I'm pretty tired of this analogy between the consistency of the UIF for an automobile and the inconsistency of the UIF on a workstation. Why do people keep saying cars are consistent? Sure they have a steering wheel, a break and a gas pedal -- and that's all they ever agree on. Auto inconsistencies: (I may or may not be self-consistent, but that's not what I meant) Standard Item Variations ------------- ---------- Gas pedal size width action (i.e. movement and presure needed) Brake Power Manual Distance from gas Steering Wheel: Power Manual Diameter Thickness Grips (leather, grooves, ...) You probably get the idea. Even with the above most people feel comfortable in just about any car, with some exceptions (my wife hated driving a Volvo I owned because her height (5'3") forced her to peer from under the top of the steering wheel and over the dashboard to drive -- a book to raise her up so she could see over the steering wheel and she couldn't reach the pedals). But what about all those other things that are _implied_ by this analogy -- that's what all these self-righteous people who decry the inconsitencies in GUI's ignore: Isn't a manual transmission versus an automatic transmission a rather major UIF inconsitency? Even for cars with manual transmissions some have 3, 4, or 5 speeds. Some transmissions have the shifter on the steering wheel and some have it on the floor. There are even variations in the pattern used for shifting. The most annoying of all is of course the fact that no two cars seem to have exactly the same timing involved in pushing the clutch some special distance and moving the gear shift to the right position. But cars are user friendly. Then we get down to the details of the UIF. Ever get into a rental car at night when it's raining? Step 1. Determine which key to use to open up the trunk to put your suitcases away. Step 2. Determine which key opens the car door. Step 3. Try to find the ignition for the key. Step 4. Try to find how to turn the interior light on so you can find the ignition for the key (is the switch on the light or somewhere on the steering wheel? does it go forward, backward, or centered to turn on the light). Step 5. Turn key in ignition. Nothing happens. Oops, someone left the transmission in "D" (you know, Drive). Along similar lines, I also tend to turn the key in the ignition as soon as possible. One rental car sometimes would turn over and sometimes it wouldn't until the second try. Very unpredictable. I'd check to see it was "P" (you know, Park). It was. I'd turn the key again and it would start. Hmm. It took a day or two but I finally realized the problem: as long as the seat belt light was flashing, which lasted ~5 seconds, the car wouldn't start. Arghh. Step 6. Search for rear defroster button somewhere on the dashboard. Step 7. Starting turning, pushing, and pulling every nob and handle on the steering until one fortuitously discovers one of: lights, windshield wipers, rear windsheld wipers. Step 8. Turn off all the things you don't need that were turned on in Step 7: windshield fluid (front and rear) (really useful when it's raining, huh?), high beams, cruise control, turning signals. Step 9. Find the parking break and release it Step 10. Get out of the car and close the hood you popped open while searching for the parking break. Step 11. Try to find the adjustment for the instrument lighting because someone has the instrument panel blacked out. So now your driving. Let's look at the instrument panel and the various dials. All cars have a speedometer (mph, kmh or both), fuel gauge and odometer. Of course they are never in the same place. Especially frustrating is the scale the speedometer uses. On our Chevy Sprint, when the needle (some cars have variations on the needle) is vertical, one is doing about 50mph -- so you know by a glance if the needle is near vertical you're somewhere near the highway speed limit. On our Subaru Legacy, if the needle is vertical you are doing about 80mph and the two cars have about the same amount of shaking/noise at that point -- ticket time. Other instruments that may be on the dashboard in effectively arbitrary order: temperature, oil pressure, and tachometer, various dummy lights to indicate errors. Cruise control has all sorts of options from being on the steering wheel to being on one of the myriad of handles on the steering column. So, are there a lessons to be learned from the above? 1. Analogies frequently show up more than intended (or perhaps analogies shouldn't be carried too far?). 2. Most people adjust to inconsitencies. 3. As long as the basic tools are there (menus, scrollbars, buttons, text areas) the form isn't critical. Just a small diatribe you can give to your friends the next time they try to haras you with this automobile vs. GUI's analogy. --pete
ejp@bohra.cpg.oz (Esmond Pitt) (03/13/91)
In article <9103111919.AA07088@iris49.biosym.com> pete@iris49.UUCP (Pete Ware) writes: > I'm pretty tired of this analogy between the consistency of the UIF > for an automobile and the inconsistency of the UIF on a workstation. As a matter of interest, last century when Daimler showed his newly invented vehicle to a group of engineers, they were reportedly horrified with the idea of a gearbox: they viewed it as a nasty kludge to get around his failure to invent a continuously variable drive system. "You'll never train people to use one of those things!". The relevance of this tale is that one of the earliest-criticised features of the automobile has proved to be one of the most enduring. One can agree with the criticism from an engineering point of view; however it overlooks the fact gear-shifting could be fun. We still judge cars on how well the gears shift, rather than on how useful the whole process is. -- Esmond Pitt, Computer Power Group ejp@bohra.cpg.oz D