Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 4th Nov 2007 19:24 UTC
This is the third article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms [part I | part II]. On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSNews, it is almost certain that in any given discussion, someone will most likely bring up usability and GUI related terms - things like spatial memory, widgets, consistency, Fitts' Law, and more. The aim of this series is to explain these terms, learn something about their origins, and finally rate their importance in the field of usability and (graphical) user interface design. In part III today, we focus on the desk accessory, popularly known as the widget, applet, mini-app, gadget, or whatever the fashionable term is these days.
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Member since:
2005-12-31
> I'm still not sure what I think of Dashboard and the like. Is the
> Dashboard calculator really more convenient than hitting the calculator
> key on my keyboard and having a regular (tiny) windowed app appear,
> one that I can switch to and from with the window manager's normal
> methods?
Certainly not, and the same could be said (in one way or the other) about all dashboard widgets. But then, you can re-arrange them on dashboard as you wish, but you won't rip out the keys on your keyboard and stick others in their place. (There was a keyboard announced which claimed to change it's keys on demand, with tiny OLED displays on each key, but so far it's vaporware).