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Subject: Re: [docbook-apps] oXygen 9 beta with WYSIWYG-like editing supportforDocBook
Pedro Pastor wrote: > Hi, > > My previous message was sent in parallel with some other responses and I'd > like to make two points to some of them. > > Making clear that my opinions come from my real live experiences: > > 1) I agree with Elliotte that "too many icons spoil the soup" ;-). It's been > proved that keying commands is faster (and more productive) than moving the > mouse, no matter if it's for selecting a menu option or clicking an icon. > I'm afraid I now have to disagree with you agreeing with me. :-) I never said and certainly don't believe that keying commands is faster (and more productive) than moving the mouse, no matter if it's for selecting a menu option or clicking an icon. In fact, I believe very much the opposite and would be curious to see the proof you believe exists. On my side I would refer you to Tog On Interface, Addison-Wesley Professional, 1992 as a good starting reference to the relevant research. What I believe is that for most actions a *non-keyed* textual description is more comprehensible than an iconic representation. For instance, a button that says "Emphasize" is better than a button that ha some stange little picture on it. However it is usually faster to click the button with the mouse than to key in an emphasize command, and it is definitely faster to select the Emphasize command from a properly designed menu structure than to key it in or click the button. There are two factors at work here: 1. It is faster to see and choose than remember and type. 2. Fitt's Law, Actually #2 only applies on the Mac because other platforms put the menu bar in the wrong place. But number 1 alone is enough to explain why remember and type interfaces have gone the way of the Dodo (or at least the Whooping Crane). -- Elliotte Rusty Harold elharo@metalab.unc.edu Java I/O 2nd Edition Just Published! http://www.cafeaulait.org/books/javaio2/ http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596527500/ref=nosim/cafeaulaitA/
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