Re: UI: "Direct manipulation" is in conflict with "Forgiveness"
Re: UI: "Direct manipulation" is in conflict with "Forgiveness"
- Subject: Re: UI: "Direct manipulation" is in conflict with "Forgiveness"
- From: James DiPalma <email@hidden>
- Date: Thu, 19 Sep 2002 20:12:01 -0400
>
From: Matt Neuburg <email@hidden>
>
>
Everyone was driven mad at first by the new
>
dialogs when you try to shut down or restart your computer in Jaguar,
>
but
>
then they realized that you can bypass this with Option and resigned
>
themselves to it.
Everyone? Please don't put words into my mouth and please respect that
some users have never seen Mac OS 9; they may never know the speed,
efficiency and carelessness of non-confirming,
unstoppably-time-consuming, and shockingly-abrupt actions placed so
innocently next to other menu items (that happen to use confirmation)
like empty trash on OS 9 or logout on OS 10.0.
Why did Apple decide to ask a user if it was OK to logout, but happily
shutdown or restart without any confirmation? Because that is how OS 9
behaved. Thats it, no reason, no logic, no desire for consistency, no
user testing (*). Imagine my surprise when a minor mouse error (not
uncommon with a laptop especially when used on mass transit) changes a
"would you like to empty the trash" dialog into a 5 minute user
experience meltdown.
I have accidently hit shutdown more often than I actually use shutdown;
I am grateful that Apple has decided to use a confirmation dialog.
However, you use shutdown and restart so often that you have developed
an action pattern to hold down option when doing so. Maybe its a habit
from using OS 9 for so long?
Maybe I'm the only Mac user that can admit having trouble using a mouse,
it seems that many of Apple's UI decisions rely on accurate and precise
mouse dexterity; but, with this trackpad, some things are hard: avoiding
text dragging after improper text selection, window resizing, and
avoiding shutdown/restart menu items. I do not understand why these
features get championed as part of a UI designed and refined for novice
users like grandparents and elementary school children.
Mac OS <10 has been pulled together during a decade of incorporating
shareware functionality, rogue UI deviations, and a series of catering
to existing users' experiences. Your comments show how challenged OS 10
is to brave differentiating itself from this storied past (that started
well and has suffered with age) and try developing a second generation
user experience.
-jim
(*) When I discussed shutdown confirmation with them, Apple justified
their decisions simply because Apple had more customers than NeXT and
therefore any difference in behavior would always have more Apple
customers expecting their existing experience. If someone at Apple had a
different or additional reason (user testing, logic, study, whatever),
they didn't use it to justify this decision to me (which doesn't confirm
that they didn't have another reason).
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