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Re: ::scr Dressing up the computer



Chris Heathcote:

In fact, why aren't there graphics tablets which display an image by now?

Because there are?


http://www.wacom.com/lcdtablets/index.cfm

Ah, people have already pointed this out.


Simon et al:


However every new interface that people have tried has always been some
variation on WIMP - Windows, Icons, Mouse and Pointer. Even things like
Lifestreams or the various 3D interfaces.

s/M//


Well the mouse can go to hell (hmm A3 Wacom tablet user since 1996 :) ) but you still have to have some kind of 'pointer' device whether that be voice interaction or eye-saccade tracking. Likewise I'd argue that you need 'Windows' (although whether these act modally or can overlap should be down to user preference) unless we're positing that we use our computers in a Firefoxy manner ("Ng nn ng ng ngnggnggnggg" - printer prints out gloriously rendered but subtle pastiche of the mask of Tutankhamun) and icons too (representations of particular file / group of files - although again whether these are actually just text labels or fuck-off great Aqua monstrosities should just be down to user preference).

Really WIP is good. The only other solution is CLI. Which is good too. In fact I'd say that many unixen brethren are more pointy clicky than some Windows users. I'm tired of people saying that there's some mythical better way. Things can be improved certainly but Lifestreams? It's just live searches / categories / system wide databased meta content with stupid whistles and bells. And is an add-on to the system rather than fully integrated.

I said it before and I'll say it again. BeOS style non-hierarchical filing and transparent auto-versioning of documents are what computers need, not more top-down eye-candylicious monolithic metaphors[0] (oh, and scripting that even an idiot can understand/use). Here I side strongly with the Reverend Cantrell - keep things sparser, don't treat the user as an idiot.

Of course there are unresolved problems about copying of non-hierarchical globs and reconciling other users' versions but these aren't insurmountable problems, rather just difficult to integrate in to today's rigid hierarchical johnnies. When we discussed this last time it looked like we were going somewhere interesting - and then the discussion morphed into data integrity and why databases suck and text being an emperor with no clothes on - or something.


[0] Pie menus would be good I suppose, but really that's just a refinement of contextual menus which to my mind are essentially glorified unixen-style auto-completion. And again, some people prefer straight lists rather than 'silly' spatial representations, benefits of Fitts law aside.