[thelist] Re: UI Standards

[Tom Dell'Aringa]

--- ".jeff" <jeff at members.evolt.org> wrote:

Speaking as someone who was a BIG Mac user for years (from
1993-current professionally) but now uses pretty much Windows
exclusively, this is interesting. While I have always been a big mac
"evangelist" I have recently come to a slightly different view on
things, and I very much enjoy Win XP.

> speaking of things i dislike about the mac interface.
>
> i find it much more difficult to get an accurate sense of what
> applications/windows are open when using a mac because they're
> hidden in a dropdown menu top right.  this leaves the bulk of the
> bar across the top open, which apple inconveniently uses for the
> menu options for the active application.  i much prefer having
> buttons that represent the open applications/windows.

I believe this has changed with OSX. Everything should be available
in the dock - which I HATE. As for the application menus at the top,
there are studies (I know Bruce Tog has them on his site somewhere)
that show how much more efficient those menus are compared to windows
menus, for the simple reason that they reside at the top of the
viewport. You don't have to worry about slowing down to hit a menu,
you just zoom and nail it.

> i constantly have the contents of the desktop visible to one degree
> or another distracting me from what i'm trying to do in the active
> application/window.  there isn't any way to completely maximize the
> window so all i see is its contents.  there's a button with a very
> non-descript symbol in it that performs not two, but three resize
> actions when i click it in succession.  i've never really grasped
> what it's trying to do and i've used macs off and on for over a
> half dozen years.

I'm not sure what you mean here - I always maximized my app windows
when working in a mac by pressing the middle button. Actually, it
seems to me that lots of windows users work by having their app
windows minimized to some degree so they can grab them at will. Maybe
this is a programmer thing, I don't know. I have never worked that
way, even in windows, I like to have one maxed window. But it doesn't
work quite the same as windows, I'll give you that.

> if my window is small and doesn't happen to be near the top of the
> screen, i have to move my mouse all the way to the top of the
> window if i want to activate a menu option.

I'm missing how that is different from a windows ui?

> keyboard use seems to be next to impossible, from my experience.  i
> hate how the cmd and option keys are the exact opposite
> functionality from what i'd expect them to be based on their
> placement and my experience with windows

This is simply what you are used to though - imagine when I started
using Windows exclusively, I had the exact opposite experience.
Neither is really "right".

> despite all the things i dislike about the mac interface, there is
> something i like about it alot -- the ability to roll the window up
> so it's just the titlebar.

I agree...I miss my mac!
>
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
> > Would love to hear others' thoughts. Interesting topic.
> ><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><
>
> agreed.  i hope i haven't strayed too far into the os zone, but i
> think it's tangentially related to how web-based applications are
> designed.  if you're building a web-based app for a primarily mac
> sporting user base, you'll probably want to try to think like a mac
> user when designing it.  the same would hold true if the majority
> of your users are windows users.
>
> my 2/100,
>
> .jeff

Tom

=====
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