::scr Dressing up the computer

[Alex Robinson]

  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.