Re: Helpful hint

[Shauna Jeanne Jones <shauna -at- ALOHA -dot- NET>]

Another thought ... Look at the application you're developing and think
about how people will be using it. If the users will primarily be entering
info through the keyboard, making them use a mouse simply reduces their
efficiency!

Also, think about what your users are used to! My husband's company is in
the process of moving about 300 users from mainframe terminals running
database applications to Windows PC's using Client Access terminal emulation
software to run the same database applications. Yet the company that
provided their Windows training taught a very mouse-obsessive approach that
has slowed the users down a lot! And getting to be proficient with a mouse
won't speed them up one bit -- they can tab to any field on the screen far
faster than when they put a hand on the mouse, move it, and click. (So my
husband and one of the in-house training specialists are collaborating on
"Keyboard Shortcuts" type material.)

At 09:41 AM 2/13/96 +1100, Colleen Dancer (02) 333-1862 wrote:
>This is a hint that I thought other techwhirlers might find useful.

>We have recently been doing gui design for a project, and the developers
>have been having a hard time coming to terms with my insistence that
>basically (nearly) everything that can be done with a mouse should also
>be able to be done with a keyboard.  When questioned, I explained that
>many people are keyboard oriented rather than mouse oriented and we
>should accommodate both.  As all of them were mouse users they were not
>convinced.  However, and this is the tip, I then suggested that we needed
>to accommodate people with RSI or wrist problems and that was a good
>reason for needing to allow the keyboard and they accepted that.  Note: I
>speak on good authority as I have wrist problems and find even an
>ergonimic mouse a hassle if doing too much with it.  So sometimes if you
>can't convince them one way, try another.