"....rather than forcing us to think about how to do it."
Yep. We're all becoming numb robots who do not think about WHAT we want to do anymore... It is clearly evident when you call customer service, ask for help in a store or generally interact with these "dont make me think" types in the REAL world.
Wasn't one of the initial findings from the PARC experiments in the late 60s/ early 70s, that users work less efficiently when they have to remember commands (keep it familiar with the user's mental model).
Having said that I can see some of the features helping luddites or a toy for command line addicts.
You make a good point, Max. But if Ubiquity's verbs are tightly associated with the mental model, it isn't about memorizing commands. For example, when you want to email a section of a page, the thought is "I want to email *this* to so-and-so". The alternative is to copy the section, open your email client, compose a new message to so-and-so, paste the contents, and send. Which seems to be like memorizing even more commands (though these steps may seem 'natural' or automatic for many people these days).
"....rather than forcing us to think about how to do it."
ReplyDeleteYep. We're all becoming numb robots who do not think about WHAT we want to do anymore... It is clearly evident when you call customer service, ask for help in a store or generally interact with these "dont make me think" types in the REAL world.
Its very sad that it is getting to this.
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ReplyDeleteWasn't one of the initial findings from the PARC experiments in the late 60s/ early 70s, that users work less efficiently when they have to remember commands (keep it familiar with the user's mental model).
ReplyDeleteHaving said that I can see some of the features helping luddites or a toy for command line addicts.
You make a good point, Max. But if Ubiquity's verbs are tightly associated with the mental model, it isn't about memorizing commands. For example, when you want to email a section of a page, the thought is "I want to email *this* to so-and-so". The alternative is to copy the section, open your email client, compose a new message to so-and-so, paste the contents, and send. Which seems to be like memorizing even more commands (though these steps may seem 'natural' or automatic for many people these days).
ReplyDelete