MRAB <pyt...@mrabarnett.plus.com> writes: > John Bokma wrote:
[..] >> Can't think of why not. Of course not all operations are shared by each >> OS, but /I/ know that I can't do chmod on Windows. But it doesn't mean >> that on Windows I can't make a file only readable by me. Just give me >> the Windows security options on Windows, and chmod on *nix and I would >> be very happy. >> > On Windows the root folders of the different drives could be treated as > subfolders of a 'root' folder. Yup, instead of a single tree there is a forrest. Wouldn't confuse me, and I doubt anyone else. >> Especially if all can be done via a context menu a la RISC OS. >> > Ah, RISC OS! :-D. > <rant> > I'd heard how user-friendly the Mac was, but when I was first introduced > to the Mac (circa MacOS 8) I was very surprised that even it still used > old-fashioned Open and Save dialog boxes with their own little file > browsers like on a Windows PC instead of drag-and-drop like I'd become > used to on RISC OS. And that menu bar not even at the top of the window > but at the top of the _screen_! And the way that bringing one Finder > window to the front brought _all_ the Finder windows in front of the > other windows! I was distinctly underwhelmed... :-( > </rant> It's on top of the screen because of Fitts's law: it's easier to move accurately to the top of the screen than to the top of the window (unless it's located in the top or bottom of the screen). However, personally I think that a context menu even scores better: it's easier to click a mouse button than to roll up and then move to the correct menu entry. Yes, RISC OS has some very good ideas: 1) context menus instead of menus at the top of the Windows/screen 2) clearly defined operations of each of the three mouse buttons: left = select, middle = context menu, right = adjust 3) the ability to select items in a menu and keep the menu open 4) drag & drop saving/loading (including between applications) 5) direction of scrollbars depends on mouse button: left = expected direction, right = reverse. Based on this I would say that the designers of RISC OS understood Fitts's Law way better. I am aware of ROX but haven't checked it out yet. -- John Bokma j3b Hacking & Hiking in Mexico - http://johnbokma.com/ http://castleamber.com/ - Perl & Python Development -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
