|
|
|
|
|
|
Mouse manipulation
The key to direct manipulation.
|
|
|
|
A human interface is supposed to be centered around
the user. The HI designer should think of what the user
wants to accomplish, and make it easier for the user. In
making the system easier to user there are many "illusions"
that the user buys into. If you have the mouse-driver at the
lowest level of the system it will always update. This means
that no matter what the user is doing the mouse will respond
smoothly. The Mac is testimonial to this philosophy, most of
the time even if your computer has crashed the mouse is
still active and smooth. Microsoft didn't see this as a
necessity. The result is a mouse that jerks and jumps much
more than the Mac, even on machines much faster. (There is
are two exceptions on the Mac; AppleTalk and Floppy Drives
can interfere with the mouse... but in Windows it seems to
be ANY I/O or too much CPU load that will interfere). This
greatly changes the illusion of the mouse and cursor being
one -- and that is the whole premise of a GUI, to make the
user feel connected to the computer, not frustrated at it!
Velocity tracking
Apple decided that the mouse was very important. So the
OS was designed with the mouse in mind. Not only is the
machine fast in response to the mouse, and are targets put
in predictable places, but the mouse is velocity sensing.
This means that the faster you move the mouse, the further
the mouse moves. This goes well with apples targeting,
having the menubar at the top of the screen, and with people
getting used to things along predictable edges/locations.
The results are that the Mac mouse FEELS better, even though
many can't explain why. There are people that are used to
the way Windows deals with the mouse, and they find the
unfettered freedom of the Mac mouse to be too much for them,
so it is somewhat subjective. However, if someone grew up
driving an old slow-big edsel and got into a Ferrari the
first time, they might be uncomfortable as well; that does
NOT mean that the edsel is a better car, even subjectively.
It is rumored that the first time Bill Gates saw the Mac
he asked, "What kind of Hardware are you using for the
cursor". The irony is that the worlds richest software
person didn't think of the Mac mouse being done in Software.
Another important illusion is system response. The user
wants IMMEDIATE feedback (or sooner) on things. This means
that when the user pulls down a menu, or goes to the next
menu, they want immediate feedback. Even if the machine is
technically slower, it will not FEEL slower if it responds
when you want it to. Apple tied their Menu Management in as
a very high priority function. The results are a Menu bar
and menus on an old slow Mac that respond better than
MS-Windows menus on a machine that is 8 times as powerful.
Things like this have contributed to the longevity of Macs,
and are part of the reason why the average Mac has double
the effective life-span of an Intel box. MacOS still runs on
machines 11 years old, while Win95 runs only on 386 or above
(about 6-7 years old), and most people will be forced into
486's or above, but even compared to pentiums I find
application context changes, window redraws, and menu
updates much faster on Macs - even much older Macs.
A reader [Tony Ochoa,
[email protected] ] wrote an amusing observation. He is
a suupport professional and noticed that PC mice seem to die
at the rate of one or two a year per machine, while Macs
have a mouse death rate of about one every 5+ years per
machine (despite higher usage). He hypothetizes that the
reason for the Macs longer life span (10 times+ the PC) is
because of the Macs better UI.
Through observation he has noticed that PC users often
click, and then click again when they miss, and then click
while they are waiting -- and click harder when they are
frustrated (and waiting). The PC has the status hidden on
the bottom of windows, and so they click when the machine is
thinking. The lack of velosity tracking and pinning targets
to intelligent places means that they miss targets more
often (and are more frustrated) -- and so they click even
harder. Then there is often two or three button mice on the
PC, which are more complex and have less plastics/mechanism
to handle the clicking. All this compounded on cheaper
mechanisms and manufacturing of the PC over all - and the
results are that the mouse is a much more enjoyable
experience on the Mac, with a much cheaper support cost.
|
