On Windows and other sanely-laid-out operating systems it's supposed to always be under Tools -> Options, because changing settings has nothing to do with editing the file.
I for one am glad you are an outlier and UI designs are not based on your, um, special way of thinking.
If everything is "supposed" to go where you want it because of your interpretation of a word, then I don't think you and I would have very similar operating systems.
I like the inconsistency of the ribbon. Unlike long file menus, the inconsistency of the ribbon sections make them memorable at a quick glance. With file menus, you have to go through each horizontal word, then all the vertical options, then any of the suboptions in there. We tend to memorize the string of words we had to cycle through to get to the function.
With the ribbon, the horizontal menu is the words, but all the sub menu options look like tools, with unique properties, that are easy to differentiate from each other, which helps you remember where they were easier than a long string of sub menu words.
Good points. I'd like to add the Mac switchers to your example. Many people switch to Mac OSX for one reason or another and many hate it because, well, it's not windows. Of course if you take away all pre-conceived notions, most usability experts will lean to OSX as the better UI (citation need, yes, I know), but that doesn't make OSX bad because some poor sod who has been beat down by the Microsoft way since 1995 has just learned there's another way of doing things.
That's my main beef with the ribbon. Too much functionality (the thing you describe, plus the "chevron" menu when the screen isn't wide enough) is hidden from view and not obvious how to access it.
For the most-oft accessed items, though, I think it is superior to menu system. My brain seems to remember the positioning of an item in a ribbon better than remembering which menu item and which choice in the drop down from that menu item.
Of course keyboard shortcuts make it all irrelevant.
...and don't see a useful purpose in evolving a GUI paradigm.
Except for when, you know, the evolving GUI actually makes file management better and/or easier. I think every release of OSX since about 10.3 has provided scores of UI tweaks that improve on the existing UI. Take for example in column view the columns are now manually re-sizable when they previously weren't.
And yes, sometimes the updates are empty eye candy with no real functionality, but for the most part, the updates are made to improve usability.
Aerosnap is great for me at home (single 24" widescreen monitor), where i can pin two full sized documents side by side. At work, though, it's a disaster. How exactly do you use areosnap to position two windows side by side in a dual monitor setup. The edge of the screen that bleeds into the second screen doesn't snap. Oh well, nice thought, MS, poor execution.
More importantly, Amazon knew "App Store" was used by Apple and is trying to piggy back off its success. That's what makes Amazon wrong, not the fact that Apple is trying to trademark a phrase.
Trash. Yes, what about it? You think it was fair for Windows to copy the UI metaphor of a trash can? I don't. Credit MS for coming up with "recycle bin"...that's so Apple (to be green and hip and all).
You probably also have a problem with "Quit". Apple tm'd that too, which is why Windows has "Exit" and not "Quit".
App + store are not the same thing as operating + system. Nobody used App + Store together to create a new meaning before Apple (unless I'm mistaken), so why not trademark it, especially when it is such an important centerpiece to their overall strategy.
I know this isn't going to be popular, but as long as the laws are on the books that allow companies to tm English phrases, then they have the right to do so, as dumb as you or I might think that is.
Besides, I don't think App Store together had any meaning before Apple, much like "Band Aid" had no particular meaning before becoming the de facto standard term for a bandage.
I'm like you--I use both (but don't have an iPad). The us vs. them comes from the "thems" always attacking what the "us" like, completely unprovoked. It's their dislike of US, not necessarily our Macbooks that they don't like because we are different, and different is scary.
Mac vs. PC is moronic. Even more moronic are the PC people who go out of their way to take a dig at a lifestyle they don't like (be it urban living, affluent tastes, vespas, hipsters, whatever...not that I like any of those things either, but I don't go out of my way to attack it).
No, it's people like you who draw conclusions that aren't there to be drawn. Thanks for proving his point.
Where in fact did he exhibit symptoms of cult-like behavior when he said he grows tired of people complaining about the big non-issue of the day because it's Apple/Google/MS, et. al?
Oh, that's right, you are projecting your insecurity and think just because he has nothing damning to say about this Apple story he must be a kool-aide drinker, when indeed, there probably isn't much to this story after all.
Prosecution: "So I see here Mr. Americano, that in the past year, you've been located roughly within 70-100 miles of your home. Can you explain that to the jury?"
Phones aren't allowed into any SCIFs (lookup SCIF for yourself). Not because the people with the phones aren't to be trusted, but because the phones can be activated remotely without the knowledge of the owner. This has been shown to be true...a cell tower can turn on a phone in the off position and activate the microphone. Even though that seems very unlikely, people are really dumb and will do something they aren't supposed to with their phone, not out of spite, but out of stupidity, so the simple solution is to not allow them in.
"Did my client appear to be looking at the children?" would be a pretty hard question to answer by subpoenaing cell phone location records...which is precisely why these concerns are so comical. Please please PLEASE introduce "evidence" of my whereabouts from my phone log without any other substantiation of what I was doing. Any public defendant could win that case.
Except for the fact that the story is a lot bigger of a problem than reality. (I presume you are talking about the fringe who want to put creationism in the curriculum, not sure what your history reference is)
Actually I was surprised myself, but it was a link somewhere in a discussion thread on here. Texas ranked #1 in quality of educators (but ranked poorly in results). The "quality" was measured by how long they've been teaching and how many teachers have moved on to graduate degrees.
It only makes sense, given Texas has four of the top 15 largest metropolitan areas in America...those four alone offset all the backwoods Texas schools combined.
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On Windows and other sanely-laid-out operating systems it's supposed to always be under Tools -> Options, because changing settings has nothing to do with editing the file.
I for one am glad you are an outlier and UI designs are not based on your, um, special way of thinking.
If everything is "supposed" to go where you want it because of your interpretation of a word, then I don't think you and I would have very similar operating systems.
I like the inconsistency of the ribbon. Unlike long file menus, the inconsistency of the ribbon sections make them memorable at a quick glance. With file menus, you have to go through each horizontal word, then all the vertical options, then any of the suboptions in there. We tend to memorize the string of words we had to cycle through to get to the function.
With the ribbon, the horizontal menu is the words, but all the sub menu options look like tools, with unique properties, that are easy to differentiate from each other, which helps you remember where they were easier than a long string of sub menu words.
Good points. I'd like to add the Mac switchers to your example. Many people switch to Mac OSX for one reason or another and many hate it because, well, it's not windows. Of course if you take away all pre-conceived notions, most usability experts will lean to OSX as the better UI (citation need, yes, I know), but that doesn't make OSX bad because some poor sod who has been beat down by the Microsoft way since 1995 has just learned there's another way of doing things.
That's my main beef with the ribbon. Too much functionality (the thing you describe, plus the "chevron" menu when the screen isn't wide enough) is hidden from view and not obvious how to access it.
For the most-oft accessed items, though, I think it is superior to menu system. My brain seems to remember the positioning of an item in a ribbon better than remembering which menu item and which choice in the drop down from that menu item.
Of course keyboard shortcuts make it all irrelevant.
...and don't see a useful purpose in evolving a GUI paradigm.
Except for when, you know, the evolving GUI actually makes file management better and/or easier. I think every release of OSX since about 10.3 has provided scores of UI tweaks that improve on the existing UI. Take for example in column view the columns are now manually re-sizable when they previously weren't.
And yes, sometimes the updates are empty eye candy with no real functionality, but for the most part, the updates are made to improve usability.
Aerosnap is great for me at home (single 24" widescreen monitor), where i can pin two full sized documents side by side. At work, though, it's a disaster. How exactly do you use areosnap to position two windows side by side in a dual monitor setup. The edge of the screen that bleeds into the second screen doesn't snap. Oh well, nice thought, MS, poor execution.
That one would probably get you sued. I believe "Toys 'R' Us" claims *ALL* forms of 'R' Us and has sued over this before.
WeBeApps?
More importantly, Amazon knew "App Store" was used by Apple and is trying to piggy back off its success. That's what makes Amazon wrong, not the fact that Apple is trying to trademark a phrase.
... App warehouse.
I prefer App whorehouse.
Trash. Yes, what about it? You think it was fair for Windows to copy the UI metaphor of a trash can? I don't. Credit MS for coming up with "recycle bin"...that's so Apple (to be green and hip and all).
You probably also have a problem with "Quit". Apple tm'd that too, which is why Windows has "Exit" and not "Quit".
Before MS had an operating system that used windows called Windows, there was Mac OS, which also had "windows". I think windows is pretty generic.
App + store are not the same thing as operating + system. Nobody used App + Store together to create a new meaning before Apple (unless I'm mistaken), so why not trademark it, especially when it is such an important centerpiece to their overall strategy.
I know this isn't going to be popular, but as long as the laws are on the books that allow companies to tm English phrases, then they have the right to do so, as dumb as you or I might think that is.
Besides, I don't think App Store together had any meaning before Apple, much like "Band Aid" had no particular meaning before becoming the de facto standard term for a bandage.
I'm like you--I use both (but don't have an iPad). The us vs. them comes from the "thems" always attacking what the "us" like, completely unprovoked. It's their dislike of US, not necessarily our Macbooks that they don't like because we are different, and different is scary.
Mac vs. PC is moronic. Even more moronic are the PC people who go out of their way to take a dig at a lifestyle they don't like (be it urban living, affluent tastes, vespas, hipsters, whatever...not that I like any of those things either, but I don't go out of my way to attack it).
No, it's people like you who draw conclusions that aren't there to be drawn. Thanks for proving his point.
Where in fact did he exhibit symptoms of cult-like behavior when he said he grows tired of people complaining about the big non-issue of the day because it's Apple/Google/MS, et. al?
Oh, that's right, you are projecting your insecurity and think just because he has nothing damning to say about this Apple story he must be a kool-aide drinker, when indeed, there probably isn't much to this story after all.
My MacBook Pros sure are an expensive mp3 jukebox...
Prosecution: "So I see here Mr. Americano, that in the past year, you've been located roughly within 70-100 miles of your home. Can you explain that to the jury?"
Actually, it's pretty clear MY PHONE was traveling along a highway. Prove I was in possession of my phone at that time then get back to me.
Phones aren't allowed into any SCIFs (lookup SCIF for yourself). Not because the people with the phones aren't to be trusted, but because the phones can be activated remotely without the knowledge of the owner. This has been shown to be true...a cell tower can turn on a phone in the off position and activate the microphone. Even though that seems very unlikely, people are really dumb and will do something they aren't supposed to with their phone, not out of spite, but out of stupidity, so the simple solution is to not allow them in.
"Did my client appear to be looking at the children?" would be a pretty hard question to answer by subpoenaing cell phone location records...which is precisely why these concerns are so comical. Please please PLEASE introduce "evidence" of my whereabouts from my phone log without any other substantiation of what I was doing. Any public defendant could win that case.
I prefer brouhaha when discussing issues of minor interest as if they are issues of national security.
and stealing my credit card information...
I'm all for a little lighthearted security breaching from time to time, but steal my credit card info and I hope you go to jail.
Except for the fact that the story is a lot bigger of a problem than reality. (I presume you are talking about the fringe who want to put creationism in the curriculum, not sure what your history reference is)
Actually I was surprised myself, but it was a link somewhere in a discussion thread on here. Texas ranked #1 in quality of educators (but ranked poorly in results). The "quality" was measured by how long they've been teaching and how many teachers have moved on to graduate degrees.
It only makes sense, given Texas has four of the top 15 largest metropolitan areas in America...those four alone offset all the backwoods Texas schools combined.