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* On 2004.01.14, in <20040114091916.GI22103@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx>,
* "Simon Wistow" <simon@xxxxxxxxxx.xxx> wrote:
>
> I can't remember what book it was I read it in, possibly Insanely Great
> by Steven Levy, where it was indictaed the the reasoning was that whilst
> there was a strong metaphor for the one button mouse (i.e pointing with
> your index finger) there was nothing for a second mouse button.
The trouble, of course, being that this is the sort of thinking that
gives us desktop CD player programs with half-bright faux green LEDs
and brushed-metal knobs that you have to mouse-drag in a semicircle to
adjust volume, and librarian software that displays titles vertically
along little book bindings that you have to click on to see in full.
The "natural" metaphor is far too central in software. A volume knob
works well for the human hand, but it's lousy for a mouse or a tablet,
and completely absurd for a trackball. (Who drags their stereo knobs
around by the finger, like a telephone dial, anyway?) We need new models
that aren't rooted in the real-world behaviors that we design software
to exceed, but rather in the functions and modes that computers actually
work with well. Simple is good, but "natural" does not imply simple.
If I could get my stereo to tell me the track name, author, and playtime
of a tune in 14-point Futura Grande, at 70% black on an off-white
background, or if I could display my bookshelf horizontally and
remove volumes without collapse, or if I could wave my left hand to
context-menu the sandwich in my right into a gin and tonic, I'd be all
over that. But I'll thank my software not to limit me the same way my
living room does. What sort of primitivity would we constrain ourselves
to if all our everyday interfaces were modelled on pointing with one
finger, grunting, and scratching ourselves?
If lack of a corresponding metaphor for a second mouse button is what
held them back, they were looking at the wrong metaphors.
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