VanLUG Email Archive
Brian Bray (brianbr@ibm.net)
Tue, 26 Jan 1999 13:14:21 -0800
Curt Sampson wrote:
>
> On Mon, 25 Jan 1999, Brian Bray wrote:
>
> > Focus follows mouse works just fine if you are using X just to multiplex
> > xterm's, but it prevents really productive use of true GUI apps.
>
> On the other hand, click-to-focus-with-automatic-raise tends to
> prevent effective usage in a windowing environment, too. I can't
> even begin to count the number of times in MS Windows I've wanted
> to look at something in one window while typing into another, and
> have been unable to because the other window covers up things I
> need to see when it comes to the top.
>
Alt-Tab is your friend.
You can switch back and forth between the two applications without
moving your hands off the keyboard. Fast and easy...
Certainly there are tradeoffs involved and everyone has a different
style based on their past experience. I've seen and experimented with
these styles on Linux and Windows:
1) Terminal centered: Always have an xterm or command window open.
Start everything from here.
2) File manager centered: Always have a file manager open. Start
everything from here. Use a mix of mouse and keyboard controls.
4) Mouse centered: Hand rarely leaves the mouse. Use desktop icons and
menus to start applications. This is the style encouraged by GUI WWW
browsers. Use the mouse for everything except typing text.
3) Expert GUI: Hands rarely leave the keyboard. Start everything from
the start menu, root menu or hotkeys. Xterm, the command window, and
the file manager are just applications used for some tasks.
Terminal centered is the usual style for "old hands". New users find
this interface completely foreign. I was shocked the first time that I
encountered someone that didn't understand a "terminal" -- they typed a
command, read the output, and then waited for it to change. Rerunning a
command was a foreign concept. Explaining was a problem because they
had never used a real terminal, let alone a TTY.
It is *really* informative to force yourself to try another style for a
while. It takes some time to learn the tricks and tips that make a
style effective. On both windows and Linux, some extra configuration is
needed to support some styles. It took me several months to wean myself
from the command window when windows 3.1 came out.
Windows has a weak default command interface, but supports the other
styles well. Installing a UNIX style shell really completes the picture
here.
Linux has the potential to support all styles well, but it has a long
way to go. The terminal centered style is the default. Many
applications only support a single style. You can spend months
adjusting configuration files trying to get a consistent set of keyboard
controls to work. I eventually gave up. A true development jihad is
needed before the expert GUI style will be possible.
We should hang our heads in shame that a HOWTO on the delete and
backspace keys is necessary.
-Brian
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.0b3 on Tue 26 Jan 1999 - 13:19:10 PST