Comments on: Interface Curmudgeons versus Gestures

By: Mark J

Mark J — Mon, 30 May 2011 12:01:46 +0000

I'm all in favour of better interfaces, and the touch-pad-as-pseudo-mouse is clearly sub-optimal. But maybe it's just my age, but I like documentation! Heck, I actually look up the C++ ISO standard documentation when I'm programming (although I admit the SGI web pages are easier to use if you're working with an old part of the standard library). M

By: Bob Carpenter

Bob Carpenter — Sun, 29 May 2011 20:09:01 +0000

Trial and error. And asking their friends. One of the reasons I switched to the Mac is that everyone else I work with has one.

It’s really amazing watching kids pick up interfaces and also watching them troubleshoot their gadgets.

The gestures on Mac OS X are great for browsing, but it’s really the iPad that feels so great in terms of how gestures work. The one thing that’s problematic is accidentally hitting things you don’t want to. I have the same problem with touchpads on notebooks, too.

By: Mark J

Mark J — Sat, 28 May 2011 00:54:31 +0000

Hi Bob,

I haven’t used a Mac for decades so I don’t know their new interfaces, but I agree with Norman and Nielson that I often find interfaces on new gadgets like phones and TV remotes very hard to use. How do people figure out how to use these gadgets when there’s no documentation and the meanings of the buttons and gestures is context-dependent?

Mark

By: Rich W

Rich W — Thu, 26 May 2011 22:37:17 +0000

I had to chuckle slightly at the hyperlink to “bash gestural interfaces”. Made me think of intuitive gestures I could use while running /bin/bash.