Subject: Re: [linux-audio-dev] what's wrong with glame
From: Richard Dobson (RWD_AT_cableinet.co.uk)
Date: Fri Jul 27 2001 - 21:58:51 EEST
Patrick Shirkey wrote:
>
> Taybin wrote:
>
> >But that menu would be rearranging, so it would be slower to use it. Now,
> >I would suggest connecting the redo, or some "do again" command to the
> >last action taken. The user always knows what he did, and always knows
> >where the "do again" command is located. This would be most helpful if
> >the previous command was buried in submenus.
>
> But then if I shutdown the app I loose that usability. Also if I use an
> obscure command that becomes the default.
Thats a design issue. True, undo-redo lists are generally discarded
when a session is closed, but there is no reason in principle why a
command history cannot be saved with a session - perhaps like a CVS/RCS
system. You might have a menu command "Save Suspended", which retains
the undo-redo list. Or a dialog pops up asking if you want to keep the
list, or....
If you use an obscure command, it should merely get promoted to the
default display; the vertical ordering of items in a menu shouldn't
change.
> Maybe this argument is better for the gtk List. It is really just an
> aside. Why should we concern ourselves with making the menu run more
> efficiently?
We aren't, as such (well, I'm not, anyway :-) ); the issue is of
transparency of functionality (aka intuitiveness?), and overall
efficiency for the user, where the metric is minimum user actions for
the most often used tasks. Menu compaction is merely one aspect. It is
easier to access a menu item in a list of six, than in a list of twenty,
even if you know where on the screen it will be. It is quicker to access
menu item close to the previous menu item, than to ones half-way down
the screen. I read one HCI study (sorry, can't remember where now - it
was in a bookshop) which reported how a user orbits a menu item with the
mouse, sometimes scanning a menu several times even though the item is
visible and they know where it is; they don't always go straight there
as you might assume. This is because using a mouse is not so far removed
from playing a muscial instrument, or knitting - you want to get into a
rhythm with your movements. Get the rhythm wrong, or try to work just a
tad too fast, and click the wrong item....
And in case you think this is fanciful, I saw a lot of demonstrations
using music software, at a recent conference, and I saw just this
behaviour, with due variation in style, most of the time!
Richard Dobson
> --
> Patrick Shirkey - Manager Boost Hardware.
> Importing Korean Computer Products to New Zealand.
> http://www.boosthardware.com - Cool toys to fufill every geeks fantasy.
-- Test your DAW with my Soundcard Attrition Page! http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masrwd (LU: 3rd July 2000) CDP: http://www.bath.ac.uk/~masjpf/CDP/CDP.htm (LU: 23rd February 2000)
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b28 : Fri Jul 27 2001 - 21:57:41 EEST