Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!cmcl2!nrl-cmf!ames!pasteur!agate!bionet!ig!arizona!rogerh From: rogerh@arizona.edu (Roger Hayes) Newsgroups: comp.cog-eng Subject: Re: subliminal feedback Keywords: feedback windowing interfaces Message-ID: <8134@megaron.arizona.edu> Date: 1 Dec 88 17:24:05 GMT References: <318@aratar.UUCP> <651@sdics.ucsd.EDU> <1073@arctic.nprdc.arpa> Reply-To: rogerh@arizona.edu (Roger Hayes) Organization: U of Arizona CS Dept, Tucson Lines: 18 In article <1073@arctic.nprdc.arpa> trejo@nprdc.arpa (Leonard J. Trejo) suggests background color as a cue to mark the active window. It might be good to use a blue tint to mark the inactive window, as blue tends to recede visually (as in "atmospheric perspective"). Note that stippling is an approximation to coloring. I think the effect we want is a difference which is just above a "just-noticable-difference". We want (or at least I think that I would like) a difference which is perceptible if looked for, so that it is accessible consciously, but which does not intrude, so that it can be treated as a subliminal cue by experts. I like the idea of a color change as it does not require a change in focus to determine the active window. A border change requires a change in focus to read, as does a change in the titlebar. Roger Hayes rogerh@arizona.edu