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>To motivate this with a somewhat blunt example, what if we had a typical GUI but named each control (button, field, etc) with a short code (1-2 letters), in th

>To motivate this with a somewhat blunt example, what if we had a typical GUI but named each control (button, field, etc) with a short code (1-2 letters), in the style of Vimperator/Tridactyl/Vimium? Excel basically does this. If you hold down alt it hovers the companion hotkey above each function on the ribbon. It is very handy for learning your way around. I think this is actually the big challenge with keyboard interfaces is that there is a learning curve. The advantage of mouse (or even mores touchscreens) is that a literal monkey can figure it out. But they're also limited in what they can do and how quickly they can do it. Meanwhile, keyboard based inputs take some time to learn but become extremely powerful once you're adept at them. But for non-power users who aren't that comfortable navigating a computer, it can feel like trying to learn a musical instrument for them. We nerds can flit from one interface to another because a lot of the general mechanics and muscle memory can carry over. But for people who haven't trained that skill it's much harder to learn these things, similar to playing video games. People who have never done it have no clue what they're doing when you put a controller in their hands.

feanaro 7y ago
I mostly agree with your point: keyboard interfaces are often harder to learn than the standard graphical mouse interface. But I'd like to argue that a mouse also takes a bit of time to grok when you first encounter it. A simple interface like "each thing on the screen has a two-letter code; type the code to select it" doesn't sound intrinsically harder to explain to me than teaching someone how to use a mouse the first time. Especially when you consider that there's often a lot of subtlety in when to use the right or the left button. I find this is something that often trips up people that are encountering a mouse for the first time.
josinalvo 7y ago
> no clue what they're doing when you put a controller in their hands. May I agree to that? I am a power user by any measure (CS major and program for a living) but still fail to grasp the controls of the simplest video game, to the point that, after hours of play, I still confuse (say) jump and attack
ptx 7y ago
Older versions of Excel, that had traditional menus, did this by underlining the access key so you could see it immediately at a glance without first holding down alt and waiting. And so did every other Windows program (and OS/2, and GTK, and Qt).

feanaro 7y ago

I mostly agree with your point: keyboard interfaces are often harder to learn than the standard graphical mouse interface. But I'd like to argue that a mouse also takes a bit of time to grok when you first encounter it. A simple interface like "each thing on the screen has a two-letter code; type the code to select it" doesn't sound intrinsically harder to explain to me than teaching someone how to use a mouse the first time. Especially when you consider that there's often a lot of subtlety in when to use the right or the left button. I find this is something that often trips up people that are encountering a mouse for the first time.

josinalvo 7y ago

> no clue what they're doing when you put a controller in their hands. May I agree to that? I am a power user by any measure (CS major and program for a living) but still fail to grasp the controls of the simplest video game, to the point that, after hours of play, I still confuse (say) jump and attack

ptx 7y ago

Older versions of Excel, that had traditional menus, did this by underlining the access key so you could see it immediately at a glance without first holding down alt and waiting. And so did every other Windows program (and OS/2, and GTK, and Qt).