Comments on: That user-friendliness thing again http://www.thetlog.net/2006/11/02/that-user-friendliness-thing-again/ Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:23:40 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Pedro Timóteo http://www.thetlog.net/2006/11/02/that-user-friendliness-thing-again/#comment-11083 Pedro Timóteo Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:22:18 +0000 http://www.thetlog.net/2006/11/02/that-user-friendliness-thing-again/#comment-11083 You'll note that I refrained from saying anything bad about OS X, as I have no personal experience with it (though it's weird how so many people in <a href="http://planeta.asterisco.pt/" rel="nofollow">P*</a> seem to worship it almost religiously...). My post wasn't simply a reply to your comment... in a way, it's also a rant. I really don't like the current attitude of "it <i>must</i> be made easy to use, even if it stops being useful at all"... or the harming of advanced users to pander to ... I wouldn't even say newbies, they're worse than mere newcomers. If you <i>do</i> know about middle-click, the X button is annoying, to say the least. In a couple of days, I've already seen a lot of blog posts and comments complaining about it. At the very least, there should be an option inside Edit->Preferences to turn it off (which, incidentally, would also tell people about the magic of middle-click as an easier way). About middle-click, while I'll agree that most people don't know about it, it <i>is</i> pretty easy (compared to most other things) to tell people about. :) You’ll note that I refrained from saying anything bad about OS X, as I have no personal experience with it (though it’s weird how so many people in P* seem to worship it almost religiously…).

My post wasn’t simply a reply to your comment… in a way, it’s also a rant. I really don’t like the current attitude of “it must be made easy to use, even if it stops being useful at all”… or the harming of advanced users to pander to … I wouldn’t even say newbies, they’re worse than mere newcomers.

If you do know about middle-click, the X button is annoying, to say the least. In a couple of days, I’ve already seen a lot of blog posts and comments complaining about it. At the very least, there should be an option inside Edit->Preferences to turn it off (which, incidentally, would also tell people about the magic of middle-click as an easier way).

About middle-click, while I’ll agree that most people don’t know about it, it is pretty easy (compared to most other things) to tell people about. :)

]]> By: Bruno Rodrigues http://www.thetlog.net/2006/11/02/that-user-friendliness-thing-again/#comment-11080 Bruno Rodrigues Thu, 02 Nov 2006 22:11:01 +0000 http://www.thetlog.net/2006/11/02/that-user-friendliness-thing-again/#comment-11080 1st, Mac OS !== Mac OS X. 2nd, my "triple-click-control-middle-abcde-enter-enter-space" was not meant as a "strawman attack", but just to show that some weird and unknown combination of keys or mouse buttons aren't the best option for something as simple as closing something. (I mean, aren't good for general usage, but perfect for "vi" users like us) 3nd, we've been educated for too many years to close windows through a "close button". Then microsoft educated users about windows inside windows (a.k.a. MDI, yes, because tabs are just maximised MDI sub-windows). So, how do a user close a window? Right, with a close button near the window. Not with a close button somewhere else in the screen, nor without any weird mouse button. 4st, what is a middle button? As I said, most users don't even know about right button. The other part have crappy mouses with the middle button on the same place as the scroll wheel, meaning that a click can mean a inconscient scroll, or vice-versa, and thus they get afraid of using it. 5st: did you know that the middle button started being used because there's no coherent copy/paste key combination in unix/linux? >:) kidding! 6st: it's not that "if apple did it, it's good", but instead "if it's good, apple used it", which can also be said as "if it would be bad, apple wouldn't have used it". 1st, Mac OS !== Mac OS X.

2nd, my “triple-click-control-middle-abcde-enter-enter-space” was not meant as a “strawman attack”, but just to show that some weird and unknown combination of keys or mouse buttons aren’t the best option for something as simple as closing something. (I mean, aren’t good for general usage, but perfect for “vi” users like us)

3nd, we’ve been educated for too many years to close windows through a “close button”. Then microsoft educated users about windows inside windows (a.k.a. MDI, yes, because tabs are just maximised MDI sub-windows). So, how do a user close a window? Right, with a close button near the window. Not with a close button somewhere else in the screen, nor without any weird mouse button.

4st, what is a middle button? As I said, most users don’t even know about right button. The other part have crappy mouses with the middle button on the same place as the scroll wheel, meaning that a click can mean a inconscient scroll, or vice-versa, and thus they get afraid of using it.

5st: did you know that the middle button started being used because there’s no coherent copy/paste key combination in unix/linux? >:) kidding!

6st: it’s not that “if apple did it, it’s good”, but instead “if it’s good, apple used it”, which can also be said as “if it would be bad, apple wouldn’t have used it”.

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