unity-design team mailing list archive

[Kevin Godby <godbyk@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello.

On Fri, Mar 12, 2010 at 11:45 AM, Ivanka Majic
<ivanka.majic@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 6) Fitts law, etc
> In devising tests the most important thing is to decide what you are
> measuring and why that matters.  For example, citing Fitts law (which I
> realise you don't mention but others have) is useful if one argues that time
> to button is the factor which is of most value to the user. If time matters
> most then the mouse is rarely the answer
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GOMS).

I think that the Hicks-Hyman law is more apropos.  By placing the
window buttons in the same area as the pull-down menus and the toolbar
buttons, you've increased the time it takes to make a decision on
which target to aim for.  This decision occurs before you start moving
the mouse toward the target.

Citing GOMS as a reason to not use the mouse only gets you so far. If
one's hand is already on the mouse, it takes less time to select and
acquire the target with the mouse than it does to select and acquire
the keyboard target and press a couple keys.

Switching from the keyboard to the mouse (and vice versa) also
potentially impacts the user's state of flow.

> With design, you can't always rely on standards and measurement and need to
> push for innovation. The place where opinion is unavoidable is where one
> should draw the line.

Could you elaborate on this a bit more?

Innovating new interfaces unconstrained by typical incremental changes
is great, but the results should still be verified empirically.  One
shouldn't assume that an innovative design is better just because it's
innovative.

Was the decision to move the window controls to the left made on the
basis of visual design?  Were you noticing usability (or other)
problems with their position on the right?

What is the goal?  What problem are you solving or what are you trying
to improve?

--Kevin