From owner-freebsd-chat Mon Jul 15 12:13:10 1996 Return-Path: owner-chat Received: (from root@localhost) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) id MAA02615 for chat-outgoing; Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:13:10 -0700 (PDT) Received: from gatekeeper.fsl.noaa.gov (gatekeeper.fsl.noaa.gov [137.75.131.181]) by freefall.freebsd.org (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id MAA02608 for ; Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:13:08 -0700 (PDT) Received: from emu.fsl.noaa.gov (kelly@emu.fsl.noaa.gov [137.75.60.32]) by gatekeeper.fsl.noaa.gov (8.7.5/8.7.3) with ESMTP id TAA22363; Mon, 15 Jul 1996 19:13:02 GMT Message-Id: <199607151913.TAA22363@gatekeeper.fsl.noaa.gov> Received: by emu.fsl.noaa.gov (1.40.112.4/16.2) id AA020568009; Mon, 15 Jul 1996 13:13:29 -0600 Date: Mon, 15 Jul 1996 13:13:29 -0600 From: Sean Kelly To: jfieber@indiana.edu Cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org In-Reply-To: (message from John Fieber on Mon, 15 Jul 1996 12:55:58 -0500 (EST)) Subject: Re: FreeBSD keyboard Sender: owner-chat@freebsd.org X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Precedence: bulk >>>>> "John" == John Fieber writes: John> Depends on where you drive. Shall I send out some photos of John> real road signs? :-) I guess the signs are fake where I am ... :-) Obviously the work of college pranksters: sneaking out in the middle of the night and improving things. John> Around here there are a couple places that have uniform rows John> of 6-8 rectangular white signs with black two digit highway John> numbers and arrows. Where the heck is this? I see `indiana' in your email/web address ... John> Hmm... I wouldn't associate Tufte with such a wholesale John> disposal of a visual communication tool. Then again, I've John> only read one of his books and it had almost nothing about John> computer interfaces. I recommend _Envisioning Information_ by Tufte (Graphics Press 1990, ISBN 0-9613921-1-8). Loaded with good stuff, and does include some stuff on user interfaces. I reread it often for inspiration as much as information. Here's the relevant passage from _Envisioning_: Shown above are convential graphical interfaces, with scroll bars, multiple windows, and computer administrative debris. ... Noise is costly, since computer displays are low-resolution devices, working at extremely thin data densities, 1/10 to 1/1000 of a map or book page. This reflects the essential dilemma of a computer display: at every screen are two powerful information-processing capabilities, human and computer. Yet all communication between the two must pass through the low-resolution, narrow-band video display terminal, which chokes off fast, precise, and complex communication. I recently got to attend a special one-day course by Tufte where he reiterated and expanded on his principles with regard to icons and windows and what-not. He didn't have very nice things to say about the Web either. ;-) -- Sean Kelly NOAA Forecast Systems Laboratory kelly@fsl.noaa.gov Boulder Colorado USA http://www-sdd.fsl.noaa.gov/~kelly/