5 ms·

did you ever use a stylus? painfully unsexy in a pocket protector kind of way. the stylus was a big reason why app interfaces were so terrible. it allowed la

by JMiao 16y ago

did you ever use a stylus? painfully unsexy in a pocket protector kind of way. the stylus was a big reason why app interfaces were so terrible. it allowed lazy manufacturers to strap a pressure-sensitive screen onto a notebook and call it a tablet pc. crappy hardware disinterests great software developers.

mrkurt 16y ago
Yep, I actually owned a few tablet PCs. A stylus is a fantastic interface for entering unstructured information, one handed input, or drawing. It's not great for navigating. The biggest flaw of the Tablet PCs was that no one really committed to the interface. This was surely a result of the expense and not having much traction. And a giant failure on Microsoft's part. However, the "keep handwriting around" thing was (and is) a good idea. People like to decry handwriting recognition, but the idea was really "use digital ink, don't convert". --EDIT-- Also, the screens weren't pressure sensitive. They were capacitive, it only worked with the stylus.
- ugh 16y ago
  I think we might see a stylus from Apple at some point in the future. They are unsexy and probably not generally something you want to construct your whole UI around. But they are clearly useful in some cases. It’s just that, as with the missing arrow keys (also clearly sometimes useful) on the original Macintosh, Apple doesn’t want anyone to get into bad habits. You can call that paternalism but that’s just how Apple rolls :)
viraptor 16y ago
Stylus is not more at fault of terrible UI than anything else. Designers simply did not design for the fingers in the first place. If they were told to design the other way, they would do it. The mere presence of the stylus did not have to change anything. I actually like using stylus and don't see anything unsexy about it.
- snom370 16y ago
  True, it didn't _have_ to change anything, but since it was there, there was no pressure to make dedicated applications and user interfaces that worked well with touch. With a stylus, you can use normal desktop applications even though it's sub-obtimal.

by JMiao 16y ago

mrkurt 16y ago

Yep, I actually owned a few tablet PCs. A stylus is a fantastic interface for entering unstructured information, one handed input, or drawing. It's not great for navigating. The biggest flaw of the Tablet PCs was that no one really committed to the interface. This was surely a result of the expense and not having much traction. And a giant failure on Microsoft's part. However, the "keep handwriting around" thing was (and is) a good idea. People like to decry handwriting recognition, but the idea was really "use digital ink, don't convert". --EDIT-- Also, the screens weren't pressure sensitive. They were capacitive, it only worked with the stylus.

ugh 16y ago
I think we might see a stylus from Apple at some point in the future. They are unsexy and probably not generally something you want to construct your whole UI around. But they are clearly useful in some cases. It’s just that, as with the missing arrow keys (also clearly sometimes useful) on the original Macintosh, Apple doesn’t want anyone to get into bad habits. You can call that paternalism but that’s just how Apple rolls :)

viraptor 16y ago

Stylus is not more at fault of terrible UI than anything else. Designers simply did not design for the fingers in the first place. If they were told to design the other way, they would do it. The mere presence of the stylus did not have to change anything. I actually like using stylus and don't see anything unsexy about it.

snom370 16y ago
True, it didn't _have_ to change anything, but since it was there, there was no pressure to make dedicated applications and user interfaces that worked well with touch. With a stylus, you can use normal desktop applications even though it's sub-obtimal.