[sugar] FW: Touchpad XO

Alan Kay alan.kay
Fri Apr 6 10:04:36 EDT 2007


Just curious (and I may have missed this 
suggestion), but why not just use colors for the 
two buttons? These are quite apparent, work in translation, etc.

Cheers,

Alan

----------

At 06:50 AM 4/6/2007, Xavier Alvarez wrote:
>How about two closed hands (fists) with either the index or thumbs projecting?
>The index, afaik, is universally regarded as the 
>pointing finger/device, while the thumb is used 
>a lot when 'tapping' on the buttons. In some 
>places it's common to use the middle finger as the pointer, but... ;)
>By representing both hands, you don't need to 
>read to understand or differentiate them and 
>there's very little associated meaning with the 
>symbols used -- they are not abstract symbols. 
>And can be used to teach left/right concept :)
>BTW, what about lefties? I don't think they 
>should be discriminated against by using the 
>'alternative' symbol for clicking... imho, they 
>should both be as 'neutral' as possible, without 
>denoting any 'preference' or 'abstract sequence' 
>in which one is before the other.
>
>Cheers,Xavier
>
>On Thursday 05 April 2007 14:35, Eben Eliason 
>wrote:EE> > FYI
 we are adding this.EE>EE> While 
>I really like the idea of labeling these buttons 
>toEE> prevent ambiguity, myself and the 
>Pentagram folks who haveEE> spent much time with 
>the UI feel that overloading the ideaEE> of the 
>X button in particular might not be a wise 
>choice.EE>EE> We already have an 'X' icon on the 
>keyboard where the esc keyEE> sits. 
>Additionally, the interface has been set up such 
>thatEE> 'check' and 'X' icons appear in 'OK' and 
>'cancel' buttonsEE> respectively, and in other 
>places where positive andEE> negative 
>confirmation is needed as well. Putting an 'X' 
>iconEE> on the left mouse button could lead to 
>its interpretation asEE> the 'cancel' button, 
>when in fact it is the primary buttonEE> and the 
>one that would be used to click on the 
>confirming EE> 'check' button.EE>EE> Though I 
>like the idea of using the X and O - since 
>theEE> machine is an XO, after all - I think 
>that the confusionEE> this could cause is a 
>bigger issue than cute button labels. EE> I 
>don't propose to have a better solution at 
>present, but IEE> do want to spur discussion 
>about possible solutions to thisEE> 
>dilemma.  Perhaps we can find better icons for 
>the buttons,EE> or perhaps we can find other 
>solutions within the UI, but IEE> think leaving 
>the hardware and software at odds will only EE> 
>confuse matters.EE>EE> I look forward to hearing 
>everyone's thoughts.  Thanks!EE>EE> - EbenEE>
>-- XA=========Don't Panic!  The Answer is 
>42_______________________________________________Sugar 
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