Great point, and one of the most overlooked issues in
Windows app development. It's always surprising when you
notice just how much more productive people are when
they're aware of the keyboard shortcuts for stuff versus
mousing constantly...
Definitely a good point, but the input speed depends one
the GUI app. We're currently working on a windows
application which replaces a "Green screen
app". Input needs to be fast, so everything can
be done using the keyboard. Because we redesigned the
lay-out, the input is even faster. I even think the
users will enjoy(or dislike less) their work more,
because of the nicer interface they are looking at all
day.
Something that informed me that I knew less about UI
design that I thought was the realisation that a user
who spends all day in an application may have different
issues than one who spends a few minutes a month (the
developer, for example).
I can't claim to be a better UI designer now, just a
more flexible (dare I say
"agile"?)one, in that I expect to have
to evolve the interface of a high-usage app as the users
clock up the hours of using it.
My company actually faced this problem with our old
COBOL based manufacturing system. They were looking to
replace it with a newer Java or .NET solution. We have
not gone forward yet, but one of the major concerns was
the GUI application. People now can just zip through
green screen terminals. I did a little research and
found a couple of frameworks that allow you build Java
green screen GUIs using curses. The implementations ran
on Windows and *inxs . It was wild! Even one framework
would translate the same code into and actual windows
based GUI. I often wonder if I should built the same
type of tool kit for .NET ;)
Why would anyone NEED to move away from a green screen
app if it works?
I think we all know the answer to that... BUZZWORD
COMPLIANCY!
Guy: yep. sometimes its best to keep what's working -and
even build interoperability layers on top of it rather
than re-write it "just becasue".
Sad truth is that I know plenty of people suffering from
exactly this symptom.