Comments on: Usability depends on context! http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/ Random thoughts of a triangle pusher Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:56:51 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jessy http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-21724 Jessy Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:27:10 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-21724 It's not even as simple as Exposé - I use two monitors and still spread my apps across multiple Spaces. I tend to use a different Space for any case in which I anticipate overlap within the same app. It's faster to hit Ctrl+arrows than it is to use Exposé. Although, with the multitouch trackpad, Exposé is no slouch. Four-finger swipe down to activate, two-finger scroll to choose a window, four-finger swipe down to bring it to the foreground. A little nicer than cycling through with Command + ~, to be sure. But I never used Exposé much before that multitouch functionality was enabled. Vincent, maximizing an app with panes, such as Unity, Blender, or Logic (Apple loads its Pro apps in maximized mode by default), is different than maximizing an app without panes. To further what Aras said, maximizing a web browser, for example, actually decreases usability. Part of efficient workflow is not having to move the cursor any farther than necessary in order to click/drag. The smaller you can make a window, the closer its elements can be to other elements to which you may need to perform a cursor action. FWIW, I keep Unity maximized on one monitor, with the Console on another. (I have no idea what I'll start doing if Unity iPhone ever gets the 2.5 Editor - I really only use Unity iPhone anymore at length.) It’s not even as simple as Exposé – I use two monitors and still spread my apps across multiple Spaces. I tend to use a different Space for any case in which I anticipate overlap within the same app. It’s faster to hit Ctrl+arrows than it is to use Exposé. Although, with the multitouch trackpad, Exposé is no slouch. Four-finger swipe down to activate, two-finger scroll to choose a window, four-finger swipe down to bring it to the foreground. A little nicer than cycling through with Command + ~, to be sure. But I never used Exposé much before that multitouch functionality was enabled.

Vincent, maximizing an app with panes, such as Unity, Blender, or Logic (Apple loads its Pro apps in maximized mode by default), is different than maximizing an app without panes. To further what Aras said, maximizing a web browser, for example, actually decreases usability. Part of efficient workflow is not having to move the cursor any farther than necessary in order to click/drag. The smaller you can make a window, the closer its elements can be to other elements to which you may need to perform a cursor action. FWIW, I keep Unity maximized on one monitor, with the Console on another. (I have no idea what I’ll start doing if Unity iPhone ever gets the 2.5 Editor – I really only use Unity iPhone anymore at length.)

]]> By: Aras Pranckevičius http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-21062 Aras Pranckevičius Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:18:48 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-21062 @Vincent: well, in quite a lot of cases a fullscreen window does not really improve things. Take fixed width websites, or text editors for example - they need vertical space (which is not enough), but usually have quite a lot of unused horizontal space. @Vincent: well, in quite a lot of cases a fullscreen window does not really improve things. Take fixed width websites, or text editors for example – they need vertical space (which is not enough), but usually have quite a lot of unused horizontal space.

]]> By: Vincent Scheib http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-21061 Vincent Scheib Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:15:29 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-21061 I must not have enough hours logged on a mac, I still don't understand why users would want to throw away so much of a limited resource. Screen space is one of the key ways computers have failed to scale up in the last few decades. I must not have enough hours logged on a mac, I still don’t understand why users would want to throw away so much of a limited resource. Screen space is one of the key ways computers have failed to scale up in the last few decades.

]]> By: Lewis http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-20874 Lewis Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:16:52 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-20874 You make a good point, I always wondered why my colleagues (who are mac users) tend to have an inconsistent mess of windows. So mac have a neat tool (expose) and windows ppl are forced to buy more monitors! You make a good point, I always wondered why my colleagues (who are mac users) tend to have an inconsistent mess of windows. So mac have a neat tool (expose) and windows ppl are forced to buy more monitors!

]]> By: col000r http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-20836 col000r Mon, 14 Sep 2009 14:19:40 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-20836 yay! Animation! yay! Animation!

]]> By: Aras Pranckevičius http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-20835 Aras Pranckevičius Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:30:29 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-20835 @yarpen: yeah, built-in Profiler is coming in Unity 2.6 soon :) @yarpen: yeah, built-in Profiler is coming in Unity 2.6 soon :)

]]> By: yarpen http://aras-p.info/blog/2009/09/14/usability-depends-on-context/comment-page-1/#comment-20834 yarpen Mon, 14 Sep 2009 13:26:27 +0000 http://aras-p.info/blog/?p=387#comment-20834 Is that Unity's internal profiler? Looks sweet! Is that Unity’s internal profiler? Looks sweet!

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