Le 11 mai 07 à 01:06 Matin, Terry Ford a écrit: > On May 10, 2007, at 3:12 PM, Arnaud Nicolet wrote: > >> A new user has no reason to think the return key and enter key do the >> same action. I always wondered why they should make the same action. >> An "old" user can learn quickly. > > But on PC keyboards they are both labelled "enter".
Really? But, isn't this discussion (enter key for push button and return key for end of line) about Macs? I assume the PC version of RB makes the same action with both keys, isn't it? > Wouldn't a naive > person assume they did the same thing? Of course this is not the case > in every circumstance but it is easy to understand when it comes to > first impressions with many people. Yes, you're right. In my opinion, I would not recommend Win32 to learn using computers, though. > Most times it is up to the software to determine the end result. When > a person sees a default key and pressing either enter key triggers > it, is it not common sense to assume that that should always be the > case? I can't answer; I'm in the habit of return=new line, etc. In my opinion, things are correct now. > When one action in an application's default button is not the same as > another, is it correct to assume that a user will automatically > understand the difference? True, by trial and error they will > eventually learn. Yes, as an usual rule, we learn by trials and, maybe, errors. I think you can't say "the user who uses a computer for the first time will automatically press the return key to close the window". Someone, or himself, will have to teach him that. > In my recent job of 27 years, a simple error in typing or a mouse > press could result in a loss to the company of many thousands of > dollars in a matter of seconds. I spent many hours and much personal > time to help the "techs" writing the software that ran the operation > to make it more user friendly and safer, from a financial aspect, for > the company. I have earned a great respect from management for doing > this. Yes, I understand. In my opinion (again), the mouse is less precise than a keyboard. You immediately know what you type and what it does. For the mouse, aiming the target is slow (you have to think where is the mouse, the target and think to graphical coordinates to move from one to the other). > I guess that is why I question RS's dismissal of such a simple > problem so quickly. What seems natural to one who knows is not > necessarily what one who doesn't know would do automatically. > Impressions are made when one works with an application based on > their experiences, not by what another feels is a correct way to do > things. Since the economy runs more on impressions than logic, is it > not prudent to eliminate anything that can create unfavourable ones? I understand, but every application that I know has a default button when in a dialog with multilines edit fields. > Just my opinions. I know what you mean ;-) > PS. No use flogging a dead horse either. ;-) It's certainly funny, but I don't know much about expressions in english (not my natural language). I would like to laugh, though ;-) _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
