This is the tenth article in a series on common usability and graphical user interface related terms. On the internet, and especially in forum discussions like we all have here on OSAlert, 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. Fitting for this rounded number, part X will detail the window.
I can only talk about the apps I use daily (Konqueror, Kate, Kile, Amarok, Kopete, Kontact, KPDF) but I can’t imagine what part of their user interface could be useless. So what exactly do you find useless/bogus?
Also: extravagent -> extravagant
i use KDE and the first thing i do in most KDE apps is turn off a lot of menubars and remove a lot of unnecessary(to me) buttons on toolbars i leave behind.
There is nothing wrong with having options in KDE, its just that KDE seems bloated if all available toolbars and buttons are displayed by default and leave it up the the user to remove what they dont need ..why not have a small set of mostly used toolbars and buttons and leave it to people to add additional functionality as they see fit instead of having on by default everything and leave it to people to remove what they dont need to remove clutter?
Indeed. Though I often change toolbars anyway, even in KDE 4 – but in 4 I generally ADD buttons, not remove them like in KDE 3
From the article:
The Star didn’t have overlapping windows?:
http://toastytech.com/guis/starapp7.jpg
http://toastytech.com/guis/star6085-1.jpg
http://toastytech.com/guis/starscan.jpg
Also, the GUI history of the article goes directly from Xerox to Apple, leaving out a very important, independent GUI player (that predates the Apple Lisa) — the Three Rivers Perq (1979):
http://toastytech.com/guis/perquidoc.jpg
http://toastytech.com/guis/perq.html
That’s a later version of the software on the Star. The first version did NOT have overlapping windows (only dialogs). See here (use your browser’s search function for “overlap”):
http://www.digibarn.com/friends/curbow/star/retrospect/
As for PERQ – that’s an interesting one right there. It’s the work of ex-PARC employees, and is based on the Alto and the D* machines from PARC. I’m not all too familiar with it, though – I’ll gladly admit that I’m no walking encyclopedia, and I don’t know everything. However, I still think this article is pretty much accurate, but I don’t carry the illusion of having covered everything.
Yep, Engelbart would probably be my number one online collaboration and interactive human-computer interfaces visionary guru if I had to choose one. The other important researches in those IT fields often seem to only follow in his footsteps, much after him.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Engelbart
Window managers, windowing systems and their design decisions seem more interesting to me than plain windows in themselves only. For example, stacking or tiling window managers have rather different ideas about useful window management.
At least the tiling window managers for Linux/Unix tend to be very minimalistic and spartan, and would probably turn away most but the more experienced computer users. I wonder how you could better combine some of the tiling window manager features into the easy to use desktop environment idea?
As an example, there’s a tiling plugin for Compiz-Fusion available: http://suasol.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/new-tiling-plugin-for-compiz…
Edited 2008-10-07 19:45 UTC
I think tiling features should be included by default in all window managers. I find myself often having to tile the windows myself when using a stacking wm. If I am pissed enough I restart a session with dwm(dmenu is great, no need to browse menu-of-the-day), but then I miss the taskbar with network, battery, etc.
I seem to remember that Windows 3 could tile windows but maybe it was just MDI children.
Windows up to Vista can tile windows. If you right click on the taskbar, it can tile them Vertically, or horizontally. Vista calls it “Stacking Windows”
I agree wholeheartedly.
Anyway, if you miss better window tiling features and use Compiz-Fusion, I recommend that you give the tiling/grid plugin, that I mentioned above, a try:
http://suasol.wordpress.com/2008/06/28/new-tiling-plugin-for-compiz…
It is really handy and one of the few reasons why using compiz feels actually useful (besides of just offering some visually pleasing effects) to me. The key combinations used in tiling are also easy to remember. I hope Compiz folks will integrate it (or something similar) to the mainline Compiz too.
wasn’t Smalltalk (1974); it was Simula (1967).