This is the sixth article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms [part I | part II | part III | part IV | part V]. 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 VI, we focus on the dock.
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Member since:2005-09-30
Where it reads:
should instead be read:
the window itself isn't the app.
Of course, it emulates the behavior of Mac...
BTW GIMP and usability even if at the same paragraph doesn't mix...
You know, Menu happens to be there already...
[/q]By the way, a target isn't easy to hit just because you put it on the edge of the screen -- try hitting on the edge of the screen an "infinitely large" target that is one pixel wide. [/q]
How do you know, you obviously doesn't use it.
No Mac fan boy, altough I've been using the menu system system since the dawn of the times (ie- Amiga) I know what feels better and Fitt's law just happen to show I'm right.
[p] So, with the Mac menu-bar always at the top of the screen, the targets are always the furthest distance away from the work -- an OSX detriment. [/q]
Although far it is reached faster, and it's not even me saying it, usability tests are...
My corners are working fine thank you very much, it only seems that you haven't work with all MacOSX has to offer...
cheers
Member since:2006-11-12
No Mac fan boy
Sure you aren't. Nobody is a Mac fanboy.
Of course, it emulates the behavior of Mac...
Perhaps you would care to be specific on exactly how the window configurations of Windows Photoshop and the Gimp emulate the Mac.
BTW GIMP and usability even if at the same paragraph doesn't mix...
Not really. The Gimp just gets a bad rap because a lot of people who try it are already conditioned to Photoshop, and, perhaps, because it lacks a few features. Often, one assumes that a new application has inferior usability, because that application doesn't work like the one with which they are familiar.
So, if you really want to take advantage of the "infinitely large" targets on the screen edge, put the toolbars and pallet buttons there (some *nix WMs/desktops allow this configuration with certain apps).
You know, Menu happens to be there already...
In OSX, you are correct -- almost everything has already been decided for you and you cannot change it. However, with *nix and Windows, one has many more choices.
I've been using the menu system system since the dawn of the times (ie- Amiga) I know what feels better and Fitt's law just happen to show I'm right.
What are you right about? You never seem to make any specific claims.
By the way, GUI menus appeared in the Xerox Alto over a decade before the Amiga. I am not going to bother linking another screenshot -- look at the ones posted earlier in this thread.
So, with the Mac menu-bar always at the top of the screen, the targets are always the furthest distance away from the work -- an OSX detriment.
Although far it is reached faster, and it's not even me saying it, usability tests are...
Perhaps you could reference these tests. Did they test varying distances between the starting position and the targets on the screen edge?
By the way, a target isn't easy to hit just because you put it on the edge of the screen -- try hitting on the edge of the screen an "infinitely large" target that is one pixel wide.
How do you know, you obviously doesn't use it.
Well, how about if I put it another way:
I will bet you US$1000.00 that nine out of ten random people cannot, in a single attempt, click on a white, 1-pixel target centered on the top edge of a black, 1024x768 screen, given a standard pointer positioned on the bottom edge of the screen and two seconds (a usability eternity) to accomplish the task.
Care to put your money where your mouth is?
Edited 2007-11-21 20:22
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Member since:
2006-11-12
Mac Menu bar isn't detached from the application
Really?
the window itself isn't the window
If that statement were actually true, OSX might have a slightly bigger usability problem than the detached menu-bar.
just look at photoshop, dreamweaver, etc to look what apps looks alike, even those finder windows aren't applications by themselves why would you repeat one menu for each one?
With the menu-bar attached to the window, menus don't have to be repeated in multi-windowed applications -- look at how multi-windowed Photoshop is handled in Windows, look at how multi-windowed Gimp is handled in *nix. And even if a menu is repeated, there is no usability conflict, nor will the computer explode.
Giving the function remain the same, it should be on the same spot so users knows where to look for when they want to perform the action they want, in the same way that once you learn how to drive you do it automatically, no need to search for the wheel because things are where expected to.
Yes. Yes. The subject of spatial memory and conditioning has been covered ad nauseum in this thread (and elsewhere), and the Mac GUI does not have an advantage in that regard.
Given that where better to place it then on one of the edges of the screen where you can bump right into it with mouse?
Having the menu bar on the edge of its application window is better -- it prevents a lot of confusion/disorientation, which is usually more important than occasionally taking a split-second longer to hit an application menu.
Often, users interact with the content, window buttons and window borders more than the application menu. Application toolbars and palette buttons can get even more interaction. So, if you really want to take advantage of the "infinitely large" targets on the screen edge, put the toolbars and pallet buttons there (some *nix WMs/desktops allow this configuration with certain apps).
By the way, a target isn't easy to hit just because you put it on the edge of the screen -- try hitting on the edge of the screen an "infinitely large" target that is one pixel wide.
I don't want to go on your job but when invoking a title of 'product designer' without knowing even the fitt's law just makes me wonder how did that happen...
Please stop. The last thing that a forum such as OSNews needs is one more Mac fanboy incessantly barking the term "Fitts' Law" like a flipping, hyperactive Jack Russell Terrier.
Most Mac fanboys who reference Fitts' Law don't really understand usability nor the psycho-motor model postulated by Paul Fitts in 1954 (when there were no computer graphical interfaces).
The notion that the Mac menu-bars are detached at the top of the screen to "comply" with Fitts' Law is "BS." According to Fitts' law, distance to the target is also a direct function of the aiming precision required. So, with the Mac menu-bar always at the top of the screen, the targets are always the furthest distance away from the work -- an OSX detriment.
And if Apple was really concerned with making it easier to click on targets, it would enlarge the clicking area of more of its widgets, for instance, the click-able area of the "jelly-blobs" should encompass the full window border outside of the "jelly-blob."
Unlike OSX, some OSs/desktops/window-managers are actually designed to take advantage of the screen edge/corners, such as SymphonyOS's Mezzo desktop (note the corner and edge widgets in this screenshot): http://www.symphonyos.com/ss/sos-2007b.jpg
Photoshop is still different from Cinema4d from DreamWeaver, from iDVD, Pages... Things which are the same should remain the same and not implemented in multitude of ways just for the sake of it.
Okay.
Edited 2007-11-21 03:51