On Fri, 2004-06-11 at 15:09, Thorsten Wilms wrote: > On Fri, Jun 11, 2004 at 01:59:41PM +0200, Alfons Adriaensen wrote: > > > > I didn't. What I said was that those who complain because things > > do no look as they are used to, are in general the same people that > > just do not master the application domain itself. Those that do > > will just get on with the job. > > > My slider design might tell you that I'm not aiming at what I'm > used to (which would be a problem anyway, as I use Windows > and Linux (gnome/KDE) and sometimes Mac). I try not to blindly copy, > but to learn from various uis and to think outside the box a bit. > > > ... If the 'standard' says that a R-click should popup a context > > menu, and I don not need such a menu at all, why not use that for > > some thing else that makes sense ? > > To not mess up the overall consistency? It should at least be the > last option. Totaly different behaviour on the same gesture can be > very confusing. For example the 3d app Blender uses rightclick for > selection and left for placing a 3d cursor. Makes me try to select > with leftclick in Blender when i havn't used it for a while. > And after using Blender I often find myself trying to slect in a file > manager with rightclick. It's an extreme example, but should make > clear that having to do a mental switch can be very problematic.
That mental switches are exactly what describes broken UI designs. If they are inside one application, then the developers of the application have a *real* problem. > > > > Agreed, but that does not imply that everything done by software > > will as by magic become easy. You can always dumb it down to make > > it easy, but then very often some of the 'real function' is > > sacrified. Allowing you to play out of tune is part of the 'real > > function' of a violin. Allowing you to go beyond the conventions > > that are observed most of the time is part of the 'real function' > > of every interesting creative tool or instrument, be it real or > > software. > > > Usability != dumbing down, but restrictions can help with creativity, > something I learned after switching from just a workstation keyboard > to a pc solution. Having many different apps also means that some > can concentrate on rather common things, while others provide more > freedom. I like modular synths, but they can be counter productive, > making you fiddle around, while the goal might be easily achievable > with a fixed system. And this is currently non-existent in linux audio. My point was, modular and freedom will stay, fixed is what's missing. Entirely. Marek