[ge-talk] glasselevator: User Interface

[Ari Haviv]

ok I asked Tog:

>Hi.
>I'm working on a new operating system and debating UI proposals.

>I don't understand how the Mac's global menu is in accordance with Fitt's
law. Yes, it is definitely true that you can reach the menu faster, but now
it becomes harder to go back to the original place in the application!

The menu acquisition speed gain more than compensates for any longer return
path.

>This becomes more of a problem with large monitors...

I ran my studies on the equivalent of around a 32 inch monitor.  (It was
actually two monitors, a 12 inch and a 20 inch, with the window open on the
12 inch and the menu bar on the 20 inch—actually a significantly more
confusing path.)

 >...and many windows open at the same time.

This tends to be a problem for Windows users moving to the Mac for around
two weeks, while they get used to it.  After that, they seem to develop the
ability to know what window is in front and have no particular problem
returning to it.

>It's also a problem for laptops that rely on touchpads.

Actually, these users get the greatest benefit of all:  First, touchpads
take twice as long to zero-in on a small target than do mice, so having an
infinitely-deep target like the menu bar is a real win.  Second, unless the
user has one of the new "super-sized" portables, with a giant screen, the
user's currently-active window is typically at the top of the screen, in
fact, filling the screen, so when the found menu item is released, the
pointer is already back inside the active window.

>(ref: http://www.asktog.com/columns/022DesignedToGiveFitts.html)<http://www.asktog.com/columns/022DesignedToGiveFitts.html%29>

>I wasn't so crazy about the pie menu idea. What happens when you are at the
screen's edge? Part of the circle will be cut off.

If you open a pie menu at the screen's edge, both the menu and the pointer
should animate away from the edge so that the entire pie is exposed.  The
pointer should then be restored to an appropriate place when the menu is
closed, chosen to minimize the user's need to lift and reposition the mouse.


If a touchpad were known to be the pointing device, I might experiment with
moving the pointer back to where the user was before he or she moved the
mouse to invoke a particular pie menu.

Given that the touchpad is such a poor device, I find it amazing that so
little has been done to use the advantage of the touchpad.  The mouse must
be periodically reoriented relative to the actual surface on which it sits,
such as the user's physical desk.  That makes it a problem to have the
software move the mouse to, for example, the OK button in an alert.  That
problem goes away with a trackpad, yet no one takes advantage of it.


Bruce Tognazzini
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