[openbeos] Re: Calculator still needed?

> I would vote to remove the buttons all together and only keep the 
> text control. Right now, you can hide the buttons and it will remember 
the setting. Having buttons on the calculator is like having buttons 
for every letter in the alphabet in StyledEdit. Totally stupid. It 
should have never been done like that in any calculator app. I totally 
agree that it is user unfriendly that there is nowhere a list of 
supported functions. So I like Axels idea to have some kind of popup 
for that. In defence of the look of the buttons... it was designed to 
sit on your desktop. Real buttons would just look too thick/bloated. 
But as I said, I'd remove the buttons anyways. :-)
The current method is actually best because advanced users can hide the 
buttons and basic users can jump right in and click the buttons or 
enter them on the keypad. The problem with hiding buttons is that it 
also hides functionality. It's actually not a good thing that the only 
way to know that there is even a way to hide the buttons is by way of a 
popup menu accessible with the right mouse button. There are only two 
ways that you can know that it even exists: experiment (average users 
won't do this) or look it up in the documentation (average users rarely 
do this). I honestly didn't know about function syntax or what 
functions were available until I glanced at the sources and then did 
some playing around.

> A sidenote on usability: my girlfriend watched me use DeskCalc, and 
> she loved it. As an example, for a user it is much more friendly to be 
able to get back to your previous equation (up arrow) and correct some 
mistake, than to have buttons "so you know what to do". Using the 
windows calculator to me is just frustrating in comparisson.
Of course you would find it frustrating. You're an advanced user. My 
mother-in-law, who isn't one, wouldn't have the slightest clue about 
what to do with the compressed mode unless someone explained it to her 
and even then, she'd have problems. The Windows calculator uses a real-
world calculator metaphor to make it immediately understood by everyone 
because it will be available for everyone. Personally, I'm not all that 
fond of the Windows calculator, either, but I don't know of too many 
people that can't figure out how to use it.

The problem with calculators is that advanced users want as much 
functionality as possible in a small space but the added complexity 
forces a particular design which is hard for basic users. This is one 
of those times where no one can be completely, utterly, and perfectly 
happy and still not frustrate others. The buttons are an example of 
this. I am a neatnik about my desktop -- a few icons in one corner and 
that's it. I can't stand having replicants on my desktop because it's 
always completely covered up or mostly so and as a result, it's a major 
pain in the neck to use it that way. I have a very strong preference to 
just putting a keyboard shortcut to it so that I can just bring it up 
without having to switch to the mouse. Does that mean that either way 
is wrong? Absolutely not. Now that I know what the design intentions 
were, I think that the look fits in nicely in that respect. In fact, I 
wouldn't have a problem with them at all if there were just a little 
space in between them -- it might slow basic users down a bit, but it 
would prevent some entry errors at the same time.


--DarkWyrm

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