- From: Marja-Riitta Koivunen <marja@w3.org>
- Date: Fri, 09 Apr 1999 16:23:08 -0400
- To: Charles McCathieNevile <charles@w3.org>, Prof Norm Coombs <nrcgsh@ritvax.isc.rit.edu>
- Cc: Alan Cantor <acantor@oise.utoronto.ca>, WAI Education & Outreach Working Group <w3c-wai-eo@w3.org>
At 03:07 PM 4/9/99 -0400, Charles McCathieNevile wrote: >It is a trivial issue, but there is a very large group of computer >programmers (probably larger as a proportion than among general users) who >prefer to use a command line (keyboard-based) environment than a >'point-and-click' User Interface). However it would be a fair observation >that the proportion of these people is significantly lower in User >Interface Design than in other areas. I personally believe that this is a >result of marketing priorities, since it has been widely accepted for the >last decade or so that graphical User Interfaces are more 'user friendly', >at least in the 'mass-market'. > >(I am not a touch typist. But I do prefer to use a keyboard interface for >all common tasks, and find it frustrating when there isn't one.) > >Charles McCN > >On Fri, 9 Apr 1999, Prof Norm Coombs wrote: > > I agree that disability is frequently a mismatch between a person and the > environment. > > I also notice that mouse users are usually non-typists. Computer > programmers are not usually typists. They find the mouse easier than > learning good touch typing. Hence they design the interface for their > touch typing disability. > Norman > > The mouse is easier because there is a simple mental model to learn: see, point and click and you don't have to load your memory so much as you can usually see what is available. With typing UI's the user needs to remember the commands and keys to use. Touchtyping ability helps of course by automating the search of characters in the keyboard and making typing faster. Marja
Received on Friday, 9 April 1999 16:22:21 UTC