Re: I like Roberto's calculator..

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Re: I like Roberto's calculator..
by Jim on Monday 11/Oct/2004, @03:17

> Please, *please* PLEASE read the whole freaking article & thread.

I already did.

> And you are obviously being argumentative

Actually, it's you that appears to be argumentative. Simply disagreeing with one of your fundamental premises doesn't make me argumentative.

> but the keyboard does have a "1" button. That it doesn´t have a sqrt button doesn´t invalidate the argument I made about number keys

Yes it does, unless you split the interface between the mouse and keyboard. If, as you now suggest, add a graphical sqrt button, it means people making use of it are constantly switching between the keyboard and mouse. It's a basic ergonomics mistake. If you expect people to use the mouse for that task, don't force them to switch back to the keyboard for related tasks unnecessarily. If half the interface is the keyboard and half is the mouse, the application == calculator metaphor is completely broken.

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Re: I like Roberto's calculator..
by Roberto Alsina on Monday 11/Oct/2004, @07:16

Of course *I* was being argumentative. That{ s the whole point of the article.

But anyway, regarding your comment, I call bullshit. Every application has the interface split between keyboard and mouse: the common tasks are easier to access with the keyboard, the harder ones have both a harder keyboard shortcut, and a mouse access.

Consider a word processor. The text input is done via the keyboard, and there isn´t any way to perform it via the mouse. But switching to bold can be done via the keyboard (not too obvious), and a easily seen mouse interface.

The obvious analogous situation is that number and basic operation in a calculator should tend to be keyboard-based, while not-often used functionality should be mouse-accessible.

So, what you say about usability seems pretty much something you just made up right now. And yes, the point that the application == calculator metaphore is broken is absolutely right. That´s why my interface proposal dumps it.

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