Morlocks and Eloi at the Keyboard ATS 315. Metaphors in GUIs Made it easy to work with complicated...

Morlocks and Eloi at the Keyboard

ATS 315

Metaphors in GUIs

• Made it easy to work with complicated ideas.

• Forced simplifications, assumptions, biases, etc. on us.

Metaphors Gone Wild

• “Save”

Metaphors Gone Wild

• “Save”

Metaphors Gone Wild

• “Save”

• What happens to the “old version” of the file?

Metaphors Gone Wild

• “Save”

• What happens to the “old version” of the file?

• “Destroy”

Metaphors Gone Wild

• “Open”• “Print”• “Help”

• Icons• Desktop

Interfaces

• Make the invention easy…• Make the invention useful…

• Talk about the “interface” for an internal combustion engine:– Clutch, brake, accelerator, etc.

Fly By Wire

Fly By Wire

Fly By Wire

Fly By Wire

Interfaces

• Reflect the technology of the times:

– Clutches, brake pedals, etc.

– Airplane controls

– VCR Controls

WXP Menus

tkwxp

Appliance Interfaces

Appliance Interfaces

Appliance Interfaces

Appliance Interfaces

• Why is it okay to learn so few features on my microwave?

• Why do the manufacturers keep adding more and more features to microwaves?

Cellphone Interfaces

Cellphone Operating Systems

• Symbian– A version of Unix– You can tell that there are folders/directories– You can get compilers, etc.

• No command line interface (reminds me of a Macintosh!)

Cellphone Operating Systems

• Why is the GUI for Symbian adequate?

Simple Interfaces for Simple Tasks

• Making a call• Making popcorn• Recording “24”

Simple Interfaces for Complex Tasks

• Where we run into problems.

Metaphor Shear

• Upgraded to a different version of Word• Couldn’t read his old files anymore

Metaphor about staying at the hotel

What was the “metaphor shear”?

• He pictured his documents symbolically--– Quasipermanent– Ideas were more than the sum of the letters of

the alphabet

• …but they were just binary bits on a magnetic plate…

• …without the right decoder, they were nothing!

“bit rot”

• Nothing was wrong with the files…• …there just wasn’t any code for reading

them anymore!

• A BIG problem in meteorology!