Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!ll-xn!mit-eddie!mit-amt!abr From: abr@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac Subject: Re: Control Panel vs. Chooser Message-ID: <1335@mit-amt.MEDIA.MIT.EDU> Date: Sun, 5-Jul-87 15:10:51 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-amt.1335 Posted: Sun Jul 5 15:10:51 1987 Date-Received: Sun, 5-Jul-87 21:26:33 EDT References: <1170@k.cs.cmu.edu> Reply-To: abr@media-lab.MEDIA.MIT.EDU (Adam B Rosen) Organization: MIT Media Lab, Cambridge MA Lines: 50 Keywords: control panel, chooser, print dialogue box In article <1170@k.cs.cmu.edu> wrs@k.cs.cmu.edu (Walter Smith) writes: >It seems to me that since the Control Panel is now fully extensible (nice >job, by the way), the Chooser is superfluous. Why isn't there a "Printers" >cdev that lets you set the current printer (which darn well tells you what >printer you're already using, unlike the Chooser) and other cdevs for >whatever file servers, mail servers, or other weird stuff you install? > >It seems that the difference in functionality between the Chooser and the >Control Panel is not at all well defined. How does one decide where things >like "Startup Device" go? You're choosing a startup device, right? The >cdev just displays a list of startup devices, from which one is chosen, >right? Sounds like a Chooser task to me. Choosing which file server to use >seems just as valid in the Control Panel as in the Chooser. When I first >used AppleShare, I wandered around for about five minutes trying to figure >out how to log in. Never occurred to me to look in the Chooser. > >The Chooser is a bunch of AppleTalk stuff added to Choose Printer, retaining >the serial port assignment task and adding near-arbitrary extension >capability with which all sorts of strange things are being added. It seems >like these two extensible configuration-changing DAs are competing with each >other for functionality. Remember when turning AppleTalk on and off bounced >around between the Control Panel and Choose Printer/Chooser? > >Having both of these things seems like unnecessary confusion and, less >importantly, waste of the precious, arbitrarily limited DA space. > This is a good point. Before I acquired my own Mac and began using it extensively I was often confused as to where to set the various things necessary to print something out. The chooser always seemed to be the most undefined DA that one HAD to use if they switched between ImageWriter and LaserWriter. Having had a fair amount of experience using various different kinds of computers and still being puzzled over this at first made me wonder how many non-technical people struggled with this too. Putting both Control Panel and Chooser functions together seems logical, and the Control Panel seems the best place; from here you set all the switches the machine requires. Also, I think the Print option should be somewhat standardized among applications. There should be a line that says "CURRENT PRINTER IS: {ImageWriter, LaserWriter, etc} in the usual ImageWriter, LaserWriter dialog box, and then a click-button which says "CHANGE PRINTER". Choosing Change Printer would automatically invoke the Control Panel DA, with Choose Printer module selected, and, after you made your choice, you would be returned to the chosen printer's dialog box. The AppleTalk on/off switch could be in the printer module also. Something along these lines would obviate the need for Chooser, make things easier all around and build upon the new (and improved) modular Control Panel. Adam B. Rosen