From: Alex Bochannek (alex@p9.com)
Date: Fri Jul 25 2003 - 16:51:47 EDT
I think it really depends on how people work. I am using an on-screen
display frequently, but cannot afford to have it up all the time since it
eats up screen real estate and also won't travel when switching virtual
desktops/workspaces. I agree that these are fairly minor implementation
issues though that can be resolved.
While I also agree with your ergonomical comment in principal, I have found
both for myself as well as many other people I have worked with that they
will inevitably look at the keyboard as soon as they move outside the
standard graphical keys they are all used to. I myself have been in
situations where I had to switch keyboard layouts (as well as actual
physical key arrangement) several times a day and just finding something
like an ampersand or a dollar sign proved difficult. The immediacy of
having the correct symbol printed on the key I am supposed to hit is, in my
opinion, superior to having to derive the physical key location from an
on-screen rendition of the keyboard. Not that the latter isn't useful and I
do not doubt that it works better for some people.
Another area of application that I already eluded to in my previous posting
is the use of function keys. Since sufficiently complex, graphical
applications frequently remap keys including the standard graphical keys,
their users will replace the keycaps with often times color-coded keys that
have symbols in addition to letters printed on them. I have seen this in
different business fields including finance and A/V.
Alex.
--On Friday, July 25, 2003 11:44:21 AM -0700 Kenneth Whistler
<kenw@sybase.com> wrote:
> Count me among the people who wouldn't.
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