[VP} - Msgboard: Windows Is Not User Friendly

../Msgboard/General customization/Windows Is Not User Friendly

Explicit - 28 Jun. 2004 - 02:15:

Windows Is Not User Friendly

And here's why:

You right click on a taskbar item, and quickly hit the bottom most menu item which is Close... But wait... Not on the command prompt!

Click here
A key component in usability is repetition, if the same buttons or menu items are in the same place on every application, you don't have to think as much, and you can work more effectively... This can probably be hacked, but why should we have to... You'd think that by now MS would have been able to get usability at least on the right track...

28 Jun. 2004 - 03:15 dreamz

yeah, i've always found that annoying. windows isn't the greatest, but it is pretty good.

28 Jun. 2004 - 10:57 grigri

I have the same problem with my MSDN library CD help file. Right-click it and the bottom items are "Jump to URL..." and "About HTML Help". I can't count the number of times I've pressed "About HTML Help" when I wanted to close the damn thing.

28 Jun. 2004 - 18:59 hobgoblin

want to close the command prompt? write exit in it

or if you have it as a window, click the x button, never use the dropdown menu as its a source of frustration.

btw, that menu is not the only one with something below exit. the same can be found on the help window dropdown menu...
(oops, didnt see grigris post at first, what he describes is what i talk about above. the library uses windows help)

28 Jun. 2004 - 19:46 Explicit

Is THAT what the X in the top right corner of every window is for?!?!

Thank you!

29 Jun. 2004 - 03:52 saunders

most of the time when i wanna close a window, i just 'Alt+Space, C'
it's equivalent to right clicking and hitting close, but faster for me cus i don't often have my hand on the mouse

and before you tell me that Alt+F4 is faster/easier, sure it's one key less, but then I have to reach my hand all the way to the top of the keyboard to hit that F4 key

29 Jun. 2004 - 08:03 grigri

Thanks saunders! another hotkey I didn't know...

and I thought Rick Wakeman was the Keyboard Wizard

29 Jun. 2004 - 08:06 methodik

lol @ explicit.

i have to say, i have never before seen the console system menu (i don't close apps that way). it does make one curious as to why ms deviated from their own standards.

i do knwo that the command prompt window is a special type of window, could have something to do with it.

02 Jul. 2004 - 20:27 saunders

grigri: it's amazing what you learn when you get bored and thumb through a Windows 95 for Dummies book in your highschool library, that's what i did hehe. if you didn't know about Alt+Space, then did you know about Alt+- (Minus) it brings up the system menu for subwindows (like the individual file windows in Photoshop, know what i mean?)

who's Rick Wakeman?

02 Jul. 2004 - 22:34 JohnnyFist

How much easier do you really need? For god's sake, you click the little picture and it carries out the associated task. Windows is about as idiot proof as I think it gets.

03 Jul. 2004 - 07:31 saunders

@Johnny
Click? Picture? Bah, I don't want this outdated style of physical interaction, I demand mental scanning so I can shutdown windows or reformat my hard drive just by thinking so!

05 Jul. 2004 - 10:59 grigri

Rick Wakeman is the keyboard player for YES, one of the most long-standing progressive rock groups ever [started in 68 I believe, still going strong]. He was nicknamed the "Keyboard Wizard" in the 70s by the newspapers because he was the first person ever to play several keyboards (Moog synthesizers) at the same time.

His best solo album is "The Six Wives of Henry VII" [although "Aspirant Sunshadows" is also good], and my favorite piece of his with YES is "Awaken" on the album "Going for the One".

05 Jul. 2004 - 23:03 hobgoblin

@saunders
just be careful so you dont format your brain at the same time

13 Jul. 2004 - 02:56 JakeHazelip

Yup. Microsoft got to the top of the OS heap by having a difficult user interface. It was just as difficult and incomprehensible to users when it was Mac '84 too...

Good lord, is this guy serious?

14 Jul. 2004 - 21:42 hobgoblin

say, who are you refering to? the original poster?

15 Jul. 2004 - 12:38 JakeHazelip

Yes, hob.

16 Jul. 2004 - 02:18 Explicit

Excuse me, boy.

I am very serious, Windows isn't user friendly...
It has nothing to do with whether or not they're on top or not.

I suggest before you insult people, you should consider where your posting. This msgboard is full of very nice people, I hope your one of them, if your not I could show you the door.

17 Jul. 2004 - 01:41 craeonics

Microsoft became top dog because they had this deal with IBM to install MS-DOS on every PC IBM sold. Whether or not they had interface had nothing to do with it.

As for why this is the way it is, Explicit, my man, have you talked to Microsoft about it already? There is some consistency in that when there are extra options, they always appear below the exit command.

19 Jul. 2004 - 03:30 Explicit

I know it's consistant, but I don't think it's a good idea...

22 Jul. 2004 - 03:48 JakeHazelip

What is it about the Windows interface you find so terrible, boy? I mean, grandmothers and children use it without difficulty, boy. What's so hard about Windows is securing it, boy. Making it secure is about as counter-intuitive to the user experience as you can get, boy.

Show me the door for a non-vulgar comment, boy? You got some seriously thin skin, boy.

22 Jul. 2004 - 13:57 plastic

Hey, drop it! Both, I mean. Comment may not have been vulgar, read the words above msgboard overview. Explicit got that right (and forgot when he responded

..). The fact the web is stockfull with sites about toying with Windows means it needs some work at least...

25 Jul. 2004 - 01:38 Chloe

I was wondering if there was a way of hacking a program to change the arrangement of the items as pointed out in the original post so that Close is at the bottom.

25 Jul. 2004 - 14:28 hobgoblin

resource hacker may do the trick...

26 Jul. 2004 - 12:11 Chloe

I didn't find anything with reshacker, so I tried hexediting, which left me with a space where the text should be, but didn't change the arrangement at all.

29 Jul. 2004 - 17:41 hobgoblin

gah, i tested with reshack after makeing the comment and discoverd that it in fact didnt do the trick. tryed to come back here and delete the post but was continualy taken to a diffrent thread when doing so and the post was not deleted.

sorry for sending you on a wild goose chase...

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