Brief GUI vs Character Illustrative Example

[Fairlight]

Oh, this so -perfectly- demonstrates my point, I had to post it.  I proved
my own point better than I could have hoped had I tried.  You want proof,
read on.

This is something I do nearly daily:  Log into EverQuest.  This isn't
heavy data entry, but a simple, trivial task that demonstrates just how
inefficient the mouse use is.  Here's the login scenario, so you know what
I'm talking about:

When you get past the autopatcher, you get an EULA screen that defaults to
Decline.  You have to hit Accept to play.  Then there's a spash screen you
have to click or keypress past.  Then a menu, of which Login is the first
choice.  You're dropped into the password field if you've ever played with
an account name before, so you type that.  There are a few buttons, two
under that being "Quick Connect" to the last server on which you played.

Doing this with a keyboard, it's:

tab
enter
enter
[enter password]
tab
tab
enter

And you're in.  Doing it this way takes like 5 seconds to start connecting
to the server.

OR...you can use the mouse and point to click on Accept, click again, move
over to select Login and click, then take your hand off the mouse to type
your password, then go back to having your hand on the mouse and mouse over
to the Quick Connect button and click that.

Doing that is like 10-20 seconds depending how sloppy you are with the
mouse, your reflexes for the day and whether you overshoot a target area
for clicking, etc.  There is a lot of unnecessary movement involved that
adds to RSI/Carpal, for anyone considering that, as well.  All that
movement and needless pointer navigation to handle something takes 3-4
times as long.

NOW...you ask me why anyone should give a fieg.  I've been advocating
character based -only- use this whole time, right?  Because I -know-
better, and I'm using the mouse method 95% of the times I log into
-anyway-.

Why?  BECAUSE THERE'S A MOUSE CURSOR SITTING THERE!  It waits quite
patiently and expectantly.

NO other reason that I can discern.  I just sat and thought about it
for ten minutes and came up empty.  I've logged in by keyboard lots of
times--usually when in a hurry, but the ratio of keyboard logins to
mouse-assisted logins is VERY low upon reflection.

When you see a mouse cursor, especially in a prominent environment
like empty space, you expect to navigate with it unless you stick it
somewhere way the heck out of the way.  To me (and this is -entirely-
unscientific, although it strikes me as -very- plausible given what I know
of psychology), it seems to indicate some sort of visual cue that triggers
you to actually use the darned thing when you see the cursor and know it's
available to you.

So yeah, I could be gaming 15 seconds earlier, and I still don't bother
doing it.  And I'm -cognizant- of the time difference if I take the time
to analyse it.  I mean, I literally have been preaching the efficiency of
keyboard-only use, I tend to practise what I preach (I'll actually tab
through most HTML forms rather than mouse)--and yet here I am, guilty
of doing exactly what I said a user would do -if it was available-.

Apparently it's not only available, but some part of the mind tends to "go
with the flow" and use what is available when cued a certain way.  Best
guess hypothesis.  Either way, it bit me too, and I even know better than
to fall for it, logically.

Don't expect your garden variety office worker to give it a second's
thought, as they likely won't.  What they -will- do is waste an inordinate
amount of time, unless they're -specifically- trained to not use the mouse
at all.

I can't believe I just realised that I actually fall for it and use the
mouse -at all- to log in.  I'd -love- to see a psych research paper on
visual cues in user interfaces after this.  Dear Lord, that would be a
fascinating read if it would say anything close to what I'm starting to
suspect if even I can catch myself falling for it, knowing that I know
better, logically speaking.

Surreal.

mark->
-- 
Fairlight->   ||| "Fame makes a man take things over | Fairlight Consulting
  __/\__      ||| / makes him loose, hard to swallow |
 <__<>__>     ||| / puts you there where things are  | http://www.fairlite.com
    \/        ||| hollow..." --Bowie                 | info at fairlite.com