Comments on: On The Usability Of Paper Clips

By: Stomfi

Stomfi — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 03:09:08 +0000

The 1974 designed WIMP interface was supposed to be cognitive. i.e. able to be learnt, not neccessarily intuitive.
With the power available in modern CPUs, GPUs and DSPs and their interfaces, it is about time that we had a modern interface that can read, listen, talk, see and recognise in a manner that fits in with how we perform the same information communitions in the physical universe.
It has only been MS’s desire to sell us the same ‘74 package over and over, that has hindered the development of a truely intuitive interface.
Now that IBM has given us the Cell chip, we can use our cognitive abilities to program this supercomputing marvel to develop a natural interface and leave the old WIMP paradigm back in the last century where it belongs.

By: chiron

chiron — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:29:25 +0000

Actually, I *do* remember a time when I didn’t know how to use a paper clip. It was a mystery to me.

I haven’t really seen where XP and KDE are so vastly different. I don’t find it difficult to use KDE. It has your basic GUI concepts, menus, selection, drag and drop, etc. They work much the same, in my opinion. True – KDE gives you a whole lot more options, but if you don’t care (or don’t know) about them, you can get along quite nicely using the defaults.

I like a black background with lighter text. I find this more restful on my eyes. The garish brightness of screens with white backgrounds begins to hurt after a while. A printed page relies on reflected light, which is much gentler. A computer screen generates its own light, which these days can be quite bright – much brighter than a similar printed page. This cause strain for me after many hours.

Like you, I prefer green on black – that’s how I set up my terminal emulator in KDE…

-C

By: Randomie.

Randomie. — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:05:50 +0000

What’s wrong with 1990?!

And I liked the article.. it does make good points.

I agree though, it is easier on your eyes.

By: anonymous coward

anonymous coward — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 18:45:51 +0000

Wonderful article. (Sorry I can’t use my name)

I absolutely love the paperclip – it really gets the point across better than anything else I’ve ever read.

As someone who has white-on-black, green-on-black and orange-on-black on his 3 websites, I find it a lot easier to read than black-on-white or (shudder) black-on-random-tiled-picture.

By: John Fabiani

John Fabiani — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:39:37 +0000

I did not find Amarok easy to use. I can recall spending sometime attempting to figure out how to play more than one song at a time. I don’t normally use amarok on a daily bases and can say I often forget the user interface.

By: Pafnoutios

Pafnoutios — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:02:20 +0000

Using a paper clip like that is very similar to the way a hair (bobby) pin is used.

PS. I use the Dvorak layout, too.

By: Ashton

Ashton — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:18:20 +0000

I find white on black very soothing. Especially since there’s a light bulb behind your screen, and with black on white, you’re basically staring at that light bulb. Black on white is considerably easier on my eyes. Good article too.

By: Daniel Aleksandersen

Daniel Aleksandersen — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 10:46:11 +0000

Haha, I just laugh to hard of how they had attached the paper clips! ^^ It just looks so wrong! Surely they must have understood that they had not attached it correctly!?

By: Osugi Sakae

Osugi Sakae — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:18:12 +0000

Surely I am not the one who finds white-on-black easier to read? Actually, I prefer green-on-black, but obviously that combo is an accessibility nightmare for some people.

By: Osugi Sakae

Osugi Sakae — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 05:15:49 +0000

Darius, I agree and admit – not original points but I think the children’s paper clip anecdote makes the points about as clear and concrete as you can get.

BTW, I suspect that comment #2 is not by Darius but from someone who failed to put in their name. Darius, if this is the case, let me know and I’ll change the name on the second post.