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Subject:Re: Metaphors to aid description? From:"M. Dannenberg" <midannen -at- SI -dot- BOSCH -dot- DE> Date:Tue, 15 Jul 1997 14:24:51 +0200
John Cornellier wrote:
...
> Virtually
> all new products use metaphors from previous objects, whether
> terminological, functional, or visual.
> But we're hindered rather than helped by the fact that (for example)
> designers did not break away from the typewriter format when setting
> up the first computer keyboards. So is the best thing to boldly design
> user interfaces where no design has gone before?
>
...
As John rightly pointed out, metaphors derived from exsiting objects or
concepts are generally used to describe new ones. The trouble is that
fundamentally new concepts are hard to come by, so most new things are a
recombination or reorganisation of existing things with a few new bits
thrown in. Once a new concept has been created, it can develop and take
on a life of its own, to the point where its origins become obscure or
irrelelvant.
An example would be the good old desktop metaphor. The designers of the
first GUIs had to have some kind of blueprint on which to model their
new concepts. By now the idea of windows and icons is so pervasive, that
these concepts are completely removed from their underlying metaphors,
i.e. nobody thinks of a little furry animal when they move a pointer on
screen, or of a Russian Orthodox religious painting when they start a
program. The words have effectively taken on new meanings, and, as the
recurring mouse plural thread shows, this may eventually be reflected in
their morphology.
Mike
--
Mike Dannenberg
ETAS GmbH & Co.KG
midannen -at- si -dot- bosch -dot- de
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