NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/comp/os/vms/22006

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-27 | 1.9 KB

Path: sparky!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!Chris_F_Chiesa
From: [e-mail]
Newsgroups: comp.os.vms
Subject: Re: End-user on-line Motif tutorial
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 15:36:21 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world
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Lines: 26

On the sub-thread about mouse-vs-trackball...

Count me as a pro-mouser!  I find it very intuitive to move the mouse where
I want the pointer to go, and the act of picking it up and putting it down
somewhere else without moving the pointer, thus changing the mapping between
physical tabletop and on-screen "real estate," doesn't bother me at all.
On the other hand, I've had occasion to use a "TrackMouse," that is to say,
a gen-U-wine :-) trackball SUBSTITUTE for a mouse -- and THAT drove me NUTS!
I can't get the pointer to go where I want it to, much less coordinate poin-
ter-motion with button-clicking in any intelligent way.

As for the mouse "real-estate re-mapping," for some people there seems to be
an adjustment period, in which they must visibly painfully get used to the
idea of PICKING THE MOUSE UP and PUTTING IT BACK DOWN SOMEWHERE ELSE.  I don't
remember ever having such a getting-used-to period, myself -- or if I did, it
must have been vanishingly brief; I don't remember a time when using a mouse
was anything other than 100% natural and intuitive.

I'm certain that a psychological investigation into the ways people use mice
and trackballs (and why stop there? there are LOTS of computer peripherals)
would reveal a lot of interesting psychological byways and backroads...  Not
to mention some human-factors-engineering improvements!  (Have you seen the
things being done in non-standard keyboard designs?  Wooo-ee!)

Chris Chiesa
  [e-mail]