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From: paul@umix.cc.umich.edu ('da Kingfish)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.wizards
Subject: Re: Request for human interface design anecdotes
Message-ID: <2975@umix.cc.umich.edu>
Date: Mon, 30-Nov-87 23:39:02 EST
Article-I.D.: umix.2975
Posted: Mon Nov 30 23:39:02 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 3-Dec-87 23:47:03 EST
References: <1721@spar.SPAR.SLB.COM> <1621@megatest.UUCP>
Reply-To: paul@umix.cc.umich.edu ('da Kingfish)
Organization: University of Michigan Computing Center, Ann Arbor
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UUCP-Path: {uunet,rutgers}!umix!paul


In article <7994@steinmetz.steinmetz.UUCP> dawn!stpeters@steinmetz.UUCP (Dick St.Peters) writes:
>As [Ed] Gould argues, there should be an evolutionary path from novice
>interface to expert interface.  However, the overall interface should
>*encourage* the novice to take that path, not just passively allow the
>possibility.
>--

Yes, I think the key idea here is the *overall* interface.  For
example, three people were working on a software project under my
direction.  One rm-ed an entire directory of source, and stammered
something about rm star, spaces, backslashes, and something else.  He
was sweating profusely, and had something to say about the
inappropriate user interface that /bin/csh had, etc.

Well, this has probably happened to some of you, and it's always "well,
we lost a day's worth of work, but we had really good backups, etc."

Well, we hadn't done backups in about two months.

So, I fired him.

The other two saw the "big picture (or what I believe
dawn!stpeters refers to as "the overall interface") and got right on
that evolutionary path!

--paul
-- 
Trying everything that whiskey cures in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Over one billion messages read.