Probably the same designer who found out how wonderful the Ribbon is, and how people can figure out how to use things that they couldn't figure out with the menu. Me, just the opposite.
Did I say how much I hate MsOffice for the Ribbon?
"the only people I've met that at actually like the metro interface on phones are all big fans of Microsoft": ArmoredDragon, meet me. I've had both Android and (now) a Windows phone, and I much prefer the Win phone's interface. And no, while I use Windows, I think it peaked at Win7 and went downhill as a UI ever since. And don't even get me started on how bad MsOffice is. I hate icons (aka Ribbon)
"at least static icons give users a good idea about what they're for": Did I say I hate icons? When I had an Android, I had no idea what most of the icons were. At least my WinPhone has words...
"the customer has to specify what is needed": I'm lucky; I've been able to conceptualize my own programs and write them, based on what I want them to do. I have forced myself to specify in comments at the top of the file the way the program will work (general function, input and output, any command line parameters) before I write any code. Same for individual functions: I write the documentation for the function (arguments, return value, behavior including error conditions) before I write the code. Of course my concept of what it should do may change as I write the program, but in general I find this to be a good way to code.
I was a computer operator on a CDC Cyber 170/750 in the early 80s (one of those room filling computers), and it had one of those panels of toggle switches. I guess the 80s were the Old Days, although I don't like to think of it that way...
Working hours were (back in the 70s, at least) much shorter in port, at least if we had shore services (so we didn't have to run the engineering plant to generate electricity). And while things were really bad when we were on deployment, once back at home port we spent a good deal of time--I'd say over 50%--tied up to the pier. It sounds like it's worse now, in that they don't spend much time in port.
Also, if you stayed in (I didn't), chances were your next assignment would be to shore duty, meaning more or less normal business hours.
When I was in the Navy (1972-1975), unreps were nearly always in the daytime, even when we were off Nam. Did they really start doing them at night instead?
I understand that he's talking about channeling water, but what causes the water level to rise up to (I presume) nearly the top of the pyramid? The pyramids are clearly higher than the surrounding ground, so you can't just let the water flow in; you have to pump it *up*. (In principle, you could collect rain. Except it doesn't rain much there...) I doubt that they had any pumps, certainly not pumps sufficient to pump millions of liters of water more than a hundred meters up.
"'what's 4 times 6?', and she just did not know." What's this younger generation coming to; I would have handed her my slide rule. And then explained that no, the answer was not 2.4, because...
"consciousness... was a very recent discovery": Stuff and nonsense. That book was right up there with Future Shock and The Population Bomb. Go to any pre-literate society (there are a few left) and see whether they're conscious.
"the UI has to change to allow the user to access the ones they need": That's ok iff I do the changing. When the software's builder does the changing because s/he/it thinks they know what I want, then it's bad. The Ribbon is a case in point; with the menu, it was easy for me to find what I wanted. No more; everything I don't need is in my face, and what I do need is somewhere else.
And Microsoft is not the worst at making useful things hard to find--Adobe is. The recent versions of Adobe Acrobat are simply terrible at finding what I want, and the UI icons take up way too much room. (Microsoft at least gives you the option of making Start menu icons smaller; no such luck with Acrobat.) The only reason I use Acrobat is that I'm forced to at work. At home I use PDF XChange. I won't say its UI is ideal, but it's far better than Acrobat's, and much more easily modified.
Agreed. Also icons, which are as incomprehensible as hieroglyphics. (There's a reason why Egyptian hieroglyphics were indecipherable for almost two millenia, and Mayan hieroglyphics for centuries.) Give me an alphabetic writing system any day, and a menu.
I would *love* to have your friend for my friend. I once owned a 12" telescope, around 0.3m. Amazing, photons from a galaxy tens of millions of light years away end their journeys in my eyeball. (I thought about looking at 3C273, which IIRC is *billions* of light years away, but never did.)
Boring posts, I think I'll go read the man page for 'cat'.
Hmm, didn't realize there was a 'number the lines' option, nor a 'squeeze blank lines' option; both could be useful. Maybe reading that wasn't such a bad idea after all.
Slashdot Mirror
If you'd had your black horn rimmed glasses on when Agent K demo'd the neuralizer, you'd remember why you need them.
Probably the same designer who found out how wonderful the Ribbon is, and how people can figure out how to use things that they couldn't figure out with the menu. Me, just the opposite.
Did I say how much I hate MsOffice for the Ribbon?
"the only people I've met that at actually like the metro interface on phones are all big fans of Microsoft": ArmoredDragon, meet me. I've had both Android and (now) a Windows phone, and I much prefer the Win phone's interface. And no, while I use Windows, I think it peaked at Win7 and went downhill as a UI ever since. And don't even get me started on how bad MsOffice is. I hate icons (aka Ribbon)
"at least static icons give users a good idea about what they're for": Did I say I hate icons? When I had an Android, I had no idea what most of the icons were. At least my WinPhone has words...
"the customer has to specify what is needed": I'm lucky; I've been able to conceptualize my own programs and write them, based on what I want them to do. I have forced myself to specify in comments at the top of the file the way the program will work (general function, input and output, any command line parameters) before I write any code. Same for individual functions: I write the documentation for the function (arguments, return value, behavior including error conditions) before I write the code. Of course my concept of what it should do may change as I write the program, but in general I find this to be a good way to code.
I was a computer operator on a CDC Cyber 170/750 in the early 80s (one of those room filling computers), and it had one of those panels of toggle switches. I guess the 80s were the Old Days, although I don't like to think of it that way...
That new body is a zombie, right?
Working hours were (back in the 70s, at least) much shorter in port, at least if we had shore services (so we didn't have to run the engineering plant to generate electricity). And while things were really bad when we were on deployment, once back at home port we spent a good deal of time--I'd say over 50%--tied up to the pier. It sounds like it's worse now, in that they don't spend much time in port.
Also, if you stayed in (I didn't), chances were your next assignment would be to shore duty, meaning more or less normal business hours.
When I was in the Navy (1972-1975), unreps were nearly always in the daytime, even when we were off Nam. Did they really start doing them at night instead?
And yes, There I Was...
Little Jim: How's the weather up there?
Big Jim: Raining!
I was with you, until you said "to".
I understand that he's talking about channeling water, but what causes the water level to rise up to (I presume) nearly the top of the pyramid? The pyramids are clearly higher than the surrounding ground, so you can't just let the water flow in; you have to pump it *up*. (In principle, you could collect rain. Except it doesn't rain much there...) I doubt that they had any pumps, certainly not pumps sufficient to pump millions of liters of water more than a hundred meters up.
Dr. Daniel Jackson isn't posting here any more.
"the water inside the pyramid acts like an elevator, the water level rises to the level needed"
How? Water doesn't rise by itself, except when it evaporates.
"'what's 4 times 6?', and she just did not know." What's this younger generation coming to; I would have handed her my slide rule. And then explained that no, the answer was not 2.4, because...
Ask a nurse who works with new-borns. Or even a neonatal ICU nurse.
"consciousness... was a very recent discovery": Stuff and nonsense. That book was right up there with Future Shock and The Population Bomb. Go to any pre-literate society (there are a few left) and see whether they're conscious.
Hey, I resemble that remark! About the geezer, I mean. At least early stages...
"the UI has to change to allow the user to access the ones they need": That's ok iff I do the changing. When the software's builder does the changing because s/he/it thinks they know what I want, then it's bad. The Ribbon is a case in point; with the menu, it was easy for me to find what I wanted. No more; everything I don't need is in my face, and what I do need is somewhere else.
And Microsoft is not the worst at making useful things hard to find--Adobe is. The recent versions of Adobe Acrobat are simply terrible at finding what I want, and the UI icons take up way too much room. (Microsoft at least gives you the option of making Start menu icons smaller; no such luck with Acrobat.) The only reason I use Acrobat is that I'm forced to at work. At home I use PDF XChange. I won't say its UI is ideal, but it's far better than Acrobat's, and much more easily modified.
Amen. I did a similar posting about hieroglyphics before I saw yours (which is much more complete than mine).
Agreed. Also icons, which are as incomprehensible as hieroglyphics. (There's a reason why Egyptian hieroglyphics were indecipherable for almost two millenia, and Mayan hieroglyphics for centuries.) Give me an alphabetic writing system any day, and a menu.
The first computer I owned was a Commodore VIC-20. It advertised "user friendly BASIC programming language".
Can you say "stereotype"? I knew you could...
I would *love* to have your friend for my friend. I once owned a 12" telescope, around 0.3m. Amazing, photons from a galaxy tens of millions of light years away end their journeys in my eyeball. (I thought about looking at 3C273, which IIRC is *billions* of light years away, but never did.)
Psalm 19.
not bad housing prices, for those of us who like dark skies...
Boring posts, I think I'll go read the man page for 'cat'.
Hmm, didn't realize there was a 'number the lines' option, nor a 'squeeze blank lines' option; both could be useful. Maybe reading that wasn't such a bad idea after all.