On Mon, Sep 10, 2012 at 3:15 PM, John Maher <jo...@rotair.com> wrote: > I don't 100% agree. I've designed lots of guis. And there were times > users discovered a feature I never intended. And I'm not talking about > a bug called a feature. While true that the programmer has a lot to > think about (fortunately I am one), the gui can be designed in such a > way to empower the user.
I'm not saying GUIs don't work. Just that they are generally a subset of what can be done with commands. > Simply presenting the choices in a list will > speed use by avoiding typing in long paths and the occasional type. You are making some assumptions about scale and locality here. I have most of the world at my fingertips in the form of URLs. > Having a multi-selectable list allows any command ease of application to > many targets with a loop you spoke of. I never have to think of every > possibility the user can enter, just every possibility of a command I > will execute. They are not the same. OK, but if I regularly work with 44 repositories, I'm likely to have their URLs in a file where a script can extract them a lot faster than you can navigate the world in a picklist. > You are right where a script is more suitable for a sequence on many > things. My gui will never be able to compete with that. On a single > operation on many things, if the gui can do it, it will win every time. > I can out-click a very fast typer, probably not the fastest. Let's assume the list of choices won't fit on a screen... > And if it requires a bazillion mouse clicks, it is a poor design. But it can only be a good design after you already now what I'm going to do. Until then you can only offer the bazillion choices. -- Les Mikesell lesmikes...@gmail.com