graziano@charlie.heurikon.com (John Graziano) (06/14/91)
In article <1991Jun12.171211.2716@cs.umn.edu> brsmith@cs.umn.edu (Brian R. Smith) writes: >I've been toying with the idea of adding audio feedback to a graphical >user interface. Something subtle, to make it MORE intuitive. > >(This stems from watching _Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_. I had >the stunned realization that the computer noises ARE intuitive, even >to techno-geeks who watch too much TV... :-)) > >Some of what I've been pondering. (summarized) > Windows that make a "pop" when they appear, and a "poof" when they > vanish. > > Warning/Info dialogs with some kind of (short) attention signal. > > Foreground windows (only) could emit a "busy" buzz when they're tied > up with computation. And maybe a happy "beedoop" when they've > finished. > > Scroll bars with a quiet "ratchet" click > > Radio buttons and check boxes with a solid "kerchunk" > > these sounds should be: > - Very short. I'd guess at around a tenth of a second. > - Probably synthetic. (Sampled sounds would have background > noise.) > - Low key. Subtle. > - Disabled on demand. They would have to be VERY subtle. I had the displeasure of using a Macintosh that had these kinds of sounds installed - after about five minutes I was ready to throw it through a window. The reason it was so irritating is that it was unnecessary. GUI users already have to process a lot of information. It doesn't make sense to force them to also process a bunch of sounds if those sounds only reiterate what's already displayed on the screen. I think the reason the Star Trek sounds seem so intuitive is that the computer interface is usually audio only - they have no visual cues to tell them what the computer is doing. (Of course, Trek uses the audio interface not because it is more efficient, but because it makes for better TV - think how boring all those bridge scenes would be if nobody had to call out directions, ie: Picard: "Bring us about to 423.746 by 3.4756 mark 7" as opposed to Picard: (Touches viewscreen, Enterprise moves) ) If an audio interface worked in this way, providing new information rather than emphasizing old, I think it would be much more acceptable. Although, you would still need to come up with some examples where audio could provide better information than a simple visual display (aside from information which only exists in audio form; voice mail, music, etc). I'm sure there are some, but I can't think of any at the moment. --graz
yee@osf.org (Michael K. Yee) (06/17/91)
In article <663@heurikon.heurikon.com> graziano@charlie.heurikon.com (John Graziano) writes: > If an audio interface worked in this way, providing new information > rather than emphasizing old, I think it would be much more > acceptable. Although, you would still need to come up with some > examples where audio could provide better information than a simple > visual display (aside from information which only exists in audio > form; voice mail, music, etc). I'm sure there are some, but I can't > think of any at the moment. > --graz I think the most useful audio feedback I have is from my DECstation's noisy DEC hard disk. The hard disk that has my swap partition rattles whenever it is being accessed. From this audio feedback, I know... a. when my compiles has finished b. if my process has been swapped out (rattling when I try to activate buttons/menus in the application) c. if someone is accessing my machine (i.e. login, ftp, or whatever). And, if the disk is rattling for no reason whatsoever, then I know that the system may be having trouble. All of this information from the 'noise' of a hard disk :-). Not bad. =Mike -- == Michael K. Yee <yee@osf.org> -+- OSF/Motif Team == Open Software Foundation - 11 Cambridge Center - Cambridge, MA 02142 == "Live simply, so that others may simply live."