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GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

ckardaris.com

541–548 of 548 posts

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#541

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In this case it's not a context menu, it's just a menu. User experience is degraded, see GP's case. There is an expectation and a common paradigm which is intentionally ignored because the OS developers thought they knew better than the users. This reminds me of frequent conversations with other developers when presented with a bug report. "That's not a bug, it's working as intended." The intention is wrong, then --…

Not working for your particular preferences isn’t a bug; your preferences are just wrong for the vast majority of users. The hubris of HN posters never fails to astound me. The most niche of workflows, then wonders why regular users don’t all learn esoteric keybindings and use TUIs.

I don't know if this is aimed at me or not. I don't use this workflow; in fact I'm pretty bog-standard in many of the ways I use my computers. In any case, I don't see how expecting to be able to bring up a context menu is in any way esoteric. We're in a thread about navigating GUIs using a keyboard. On many keyboards there's literally a key dedicated to opening a context menu, and on most OSs there's a pretty standard shortcut to do it as well, which is what GP was talking about and what sibling comments discuss being added more recently in MacOS. So, again, not very esoteric.

I also don't see how trying to emphasize empathy toward users translates to hubris. But sounds like you've got a bone to pick, so keep picking I guess.

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#542

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> Democracy is about access No, not really. I know what you are trying to say, and I fully agree. We need to stop using "democracy" or "democratizing". Democracy, in it's purest form, is about mob rule --majority rule, if you want to say it in a softer/kinder way. "Democratizing" means giving a mob control of the thing, it does not mean making it accessible to all at all.

> Democracy, in it's purest form, is about mob rule --majority rule, if you want to say it in a softer/kinder way. You're just parroting an old urban myth. The terminus technicus for mob rule is ochlocracy [1]; democracy, per se , includes minority protections (i. e. if it doesn't then it isn't a democracy to begin with). 1. [ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_rule ]

"democracy, per se, includes minority protections (i. e. if it doesn't then it isn't a democracy to begin with)."

Does anyone believe this?

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#544
post #177

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I had to keep accessibility in mind a lot in my previous job (web development for a university). The thing that I consistently found was that, the more accessible a website was, the better the experience for everyone , not just people with disabilities.

This is true in other fields too. Wheel-chair ramps are used by people with baby strollers. Subtitles work for deaf people, those who can't understand the spoken language, or simple folks in situations where someone is sleeping next to them. Pretty much every accessibility-oriented feature ends up helping out people beyond the original audience.

While this is often true, sometimes accessibility features can be distracting to those who don't need them so should be implemented in a way that they are optional. For example, closed captions intended those who can't hear at all contain much more than spoken lines and are not appropriate for learning the (spoken) language and even less so when watching something in your native language with a good audio environment. Which is why subtitles are not on by default and you have different tracks for closed captions and regular subtitles.

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Baby strollers are not accounted for enough ! One might wonder (wrongly) why everyone should care about the special and expensive needs of a few (or old) people when designing public spaces. But a majority will actually need to use these spaces with a baby stroller. Not a few. Baby strollers are a driving power of our society! Enable them!

Not to mention luggage. I find it hard to believe that it’s a coincidence that rolling luggage became common shortly after curb cuts and wheelchair ramps did.

Those are even worse because the tiny wheels do not take well to cobblestone or gravel surfaces that strollers handle just fine.

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#546
post #523

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> Another is using smaller font size to make more info visible at once This doesn't sound very usable to me.

You might be the kind of person who does benefit from accessibility features such as larger font size. On the other hand, I'm not; I can read 10pt font on 100 DPI display just fine, without glasses. I'd rather have an extra column in table view visible without scrolling than larger letters, but for you the tradeoff might be different. That's why it's accessibility and not usability. Usability would be if the bigger f…

Yes and unfortunately font size is usually one of those things where everyone is subjected to the "improvement". Accessibility guidelines should not be specifying minimum font sizes but rather require websites to respect the browser settings.

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#547
post #518

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> Riddle me this - why would you want to disable something that increases usability of an application? Why don't you run your apps/OS with every usability feature enabled? Share your reasons.

I think you are mistaken which side I am on in the "accessibility is just usability" debate. For the record, I am on the side that says not at all.

Nope! But that you can't answer my question says all I need to know about the type of person you are.

Re: GUIs should be fully keyboard-driven

#548
post #524
post #488

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty cool video. I would love to know more about the internal design of the as400 platform and how people thought and designed user interfaces. I can't shake the feeling that these interfaces are so lean they're satisfying. Also, I feel that a lot of interfaces today are wasting resources.

watch the whole video from the beginning! :-)

oh i will, i let the second half run, but i'll make sure to see the first part too
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