[Xastir] While we are on the subject of feature ideas for Xastir

[Chip Griffin]

On Oct 4, 2007, at 23:10, Gerry Creager wrote:

> GUIs are not designed to make anything easier, necessarily, for   
> the user. That's a fiction we foist off on users to make them think  
> programmers are their friends. GUIs are designed to limit most  
> users to be able to do just what the GUI programmer wanted them to  
> do. [...]
>
> One thing to consider is this: I spend my life, now, in Linux.   
> Most of it is spent at the command line save for the specific  
> applications I am using that require some form of graphical  
> interface because of their overall complexity.  I'm a dinosaur.  I  
> LIKE the command prompt.

Perhaps it is because of your latter comments that you make the  
first. But I would like to disagree with you 10,000%. GUIs _are_  
designed to make things easier for folks. Most folks would never  
touch a computer at all if CLI was the only option. Most folks are  
dangerous in a CLI. Some of us are successful at CLI and can make it  
sing, but we are the rarity, the oddity, the unusual. GUIs restrict  
users, but that is more of a consequence of the programming than a  
goal of the programmers. A good programmer can give the GUI nearly as  
much power as the CLI, yes, it is possible. An elegant GUI is  
magnificent, and rare, and frees us from having to think about what  
we're doing or worry about syntax.

I tip my hat to the programmers who make GUIs possible. I thank them  
for their struggles in the name of making my life easier. As some one  
who routinely tries to help users struggle with understanding  
programs, I have a deep appreciation for how difficult it is to  
design a truly user friendly GUI.


73,
--de Chip (N1MIE) FN41bn