On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 11:28:38 +0000, Tom Anderson
wrote:

Hmm. Select and menu were consistent, but adjust wasn't - it always did
somethink that wasn't selection or menu-opening, but what it did do was
completely context-dependent and random.

Perhaps - but it was generally related to Select but slightly
different... anyway, the other two were consistent

Indeed - the Arc was way ahead of its time. I was particularly impressed
by the way saving files worked: you popped up a menu, went to the save
option, and up popped a submenu containing an icon representing the file;
you then simply dragged this to wherever you wanted to save it.
Incredibly elegant - it makes saving just another case of a normal file
move, unlike under every other OS, where saving (and opening) takes place
in a special dialogue box that's totally separate from normal
finder/explorer windows.

I both liked this and didn't like it, TBH. It was supremely logical -
as long as the app was coded properly, you could transfer between
applications using it, for example. The trouble with it was that
you'd have to find a Filer window to do the saving - though (again
unlike Windows) you could of course have the current window somewhere
other than on top!

In general, though, the UI struck me as something that people had
spent a lot of time designing, rather than Windows which strikes me as
something that's evolved over time, sometimes but not always for the
best.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
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