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To Charles Irby
.' Welldell Sh ultz Date August 16, 1977
From Betty HII rr tocM ion Palo Alto
Subject Functional Specs Organ ization SOD-Palo Alto
MISSING PROMPTS: As specified, Janus supplies insufficient prompting for the
unsophisticated tlser. Whenever the system requires the user to supply information other
than text input, a promrt is called for. This is particulary true on option sheets unless the
item listed is exceptionally clear. For example, Oil the print option slleet, if the user specifies
special forms, a prompt should reqlte~t the name of the form.
These prompts will be very helpful to the beginning user and wil! not impede the
experienced user, since all such prompts would appear in the h1essage/Response are:l of the
screen.
COMMAND LANGUAGE: some terms are far too sophisticatedand would not be in the
vocabulary of the low end Janus users; other terms do not sufficiently explain the meaning
or options to which they are connected. Specifically:
Window' Commands:
Set window: implies change to window. Actually means change to view of document.
Should be WINDOW VIEW or DOCUMENT VIEW.
Reset: by proximity to Set Window command implies reset of window, but actually means
ERASE or CLEAR CHANGES.
Shrink: should apply only to windows that can become icons. It should not calise any other
action to happen slIch as the ::lpplications that result from this command in Reset Parameters
and Abort under System-wide features. Eliminate the Shrink comand from option sheet
windows; substitute FI N ISH ED.
Execute: The word Execute is too sophisticated. I suggest DO IT.
Do It: should appear in any window in which an action must be confirmed. (e.g., print
option sheet). If stich n window has a Finished option associated with it, the user mllst be
prevented from inadverkiltly shrinking the window withom invo}:ing the action if action is
desired: when the Finished option is cho~en without the Do Ii opti011, the system should
prompt the user that no printing has been ordered "No printing has bad reqllested. Are
you finished with this option sheet?"
FS Review 2
Des/roy is too dramatic. f suggest DISAPPEAR.
Aggregate and Disassemble should be GROUP and SEPARATE.
KEYS
Help: It is imperative that the Help key not have the Syslog on it. It would be too easy for
the user to stumble into the Syslog when already confused enough to need help!!!
Clear and Apply keys: this combination seems unfortunate. If the shift lock happened to be
invoked, the operator would get the exact opposite of the desired effect!
Abort should be STOP and should be an emergency terminate, as the word implies. It
should NOT be used in text editing to indicate completion of Move and Copy commands.
Keys for setting carriage: Users think of margins as left and !i&b.!, not start and end. Use L
ana R. Find other notations for tabs. Better yet, follow the suggestion to use code +
number to avoid multi-national problems. Numerical keys should then have inscribed
notations indicating use of each key in carriage setting.
MOUSE BUTTONS
The names Fine and Coarse should be changed to SMALL and LARGE, since the latter are
more descriptive of the actual purpose of the button name assignments.
The concept of use the left and middle buttons of the mouse for selection (by whatever
name) should be consistent. As specified, the named buttons are used for positioning as well
as selection. Positioning should be possible with either button. Specifically, in the Move and
Copy functions in graphics, the user must Ro~ition the symbol with middle for gridpoints
and left for arbitrary positioning. Since the logic of large and small relationships is not
obvious in positioning, the scheme should be: if the grid is selected, the symbol is positioned
on grid points; if it is not selected, the symbol is arbitrarily positioned.
Text Editing:
Cursor for paragraph selections: should be paragraph symbol, as in Bravo, to afford user
additional visual support. The cursors for line selection and paragraph selection should not
be the same.
Default display for text editing: should be continuolls fill-in with the "holes" routine
provided as an option. (Sec memo from iv1al Williams on this.)
Corrective Typing, Shifl/Code space, backspace. etc. A potential llser confusion exists in
the presence of of both code and shift characters for space, backspace, and backword. Two
possible solutions are:
1) code space, backspace, etc. for special character insertion be maintained to be consistent
with other code characters, but some other combination of keystrokes be identified for
corrective typing.
2) in the absence of a better keystroke combination, the options for the variOllS lise of the
backspace and backword keys should be inscribed on the front of the keys. (This would be
desirable in either case.)
FS Review 3
Grayed caret ill corrective typing'. appearance will be very confusing to the lIser. It is the
only time sllch a character appears. If the caret always represents the insertion point, the
llser will expect it to move with the shift backword/back')pacc action to the point of change.
I suggest lhat some marker other than a caret be USed to indicate the previous insertion
point in correclive typing; perhaps a solid bar (somewhat like the Bravo tab indicator.)
Search function: every attempt should be made to make the necessary operator input as
clear as possible. The use of "*,, and ":1<1<" seems too obscure. I suggest ahc---dej, or
abc ... def