A really good article on software usability

[fredex]

On Sat, Jan 06, 2007 at 02:11:35AM +1030, Tim wrote:
> Tim:
> >> I was helping someone come to terms with computing a while back, and
> >> every time they closed a document, they'd be asked about saving it, and
> >> they'd always say yes, no matter what.  
> 
> Anne Wilson:
> > But at least it's the safe option.
> 
> But it wasn't.  They were losing data and keeping broken copies.  They
> were saving unintentional changes to documents, irretrievably losing the
> originals.  Likewise, they were saving what were meant to be temporary
> changes to documents (bit they didn't want printed, but still wanted in
> the file).
> 
> >> They put no thought into the fact that they hadn't made any changes to
> >> the document, so that they shouldn't save as closing.  The program
> >> was stupidly prompting them, because they'd printed it (not a real
> >> document change, in the normal understanding of the word).  
> 
> > So you don't consider print settings for the document to be a real change?  I 
> > do.  It's odds on that if I want to print it again I will want to use the 
> > identical settings.
> 
> I don't.  If I'd changed printer settings, perhaps.  But just printing
> the document, no.  The "document" hasn't changed.  Data about it may
> have, if you keep track of how many times it's printed.  But in the
> usual sense of whether some document has changed, refers to the actual
> content.

I agree. MS Word (wash out my mouth with soap) ALWAYS asks if I want to save the 
document when all I did was print it. I made no changes to the content,
why would I want to save it? Grrrr.

-- 
---- Fred Smith -- fredex at fcshome.stoneham.ma.us -----------------------------
                       I can do all things through Christ 
                              who strengthens me.
------------------------------ Philippians 4:13 -------------------------------
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