( Set ... Followup-to: tilde.meta ... I hope without typo. )

What do we hate in GUIs?

-=<0>=-

GUIs should be as usable as possible without mouse, even if you need to
switch the arrow keys to pixel-exactly steer the pointer in some cases.

RIO and ACME are some of the worst things I saw so far. They are a pain
with a two button mouse and some actions/functions have no equivalent as keyboard shortcuts. To put the barb wire crown atop that cake of broken
glass, asking for improvements of this brings up the Pike Apostles
against you because Pike claimed that everyone would be faster with a
mouse.

-=<1>=-

How many GUIs allow exporting your fine tuning, icon placement, ... in a
way for easy re-import on an other system? That may or may not (see
sig) have improved a bit since I last cursed about that some years ago
while trying to sync multiple XFCE desktop configurations, but probably
most GUIs still assume that you only use one desktop, one phone, ... you
know what I mean. I've given up on that topic and leave most GUIy stuff
in their default configuration only touching the most annoying settings.

-=<2..n>=-

Your turn!
--
1. Hitchhiker 25: (59) Scarcely pausing for breath, Vroomfondel shouted,
"We don't demand solid facts! What we demand is a total absence of solid facts. I demand that I may or may not be Vroomfondel!"
--- Synchronet 3.19b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

In tilde.meta Vroomfondel <yeti@tilde.institute> wrote:

( Set ... Followup-to: tilde.meta ... I hope without typo. )

Ironically,
in a GUI, I simply copy the name of the group from an adjacent
window, whereas here in Tin running in a terminal the efficient
solution is not so obvious...

-=<0>=-

GUIs should be as usable as possible without mouse, even if you need to switch the arrow keys to pixel-exactly steer the pointer in some cases.

RIO and ACME are some of the worst things I saw so far. They are a pain
with a two button mouse and some actions/functions have no equivalent as keyboard shortcuts. To put the barb wire crown atop that cake of broken glass, asking for improvements of this brings up the Pike Apostles
against you because Pike claimed that everyone would be faster with a
mouse.

-=<1>=-

How many GUIs allow exporting your fine tuning, icon placement, ... in a
way for easy re-import on an other system? That may or may not (see
sig) have improved a bit since I last cursed about that some years ago
while trying to sync multiple XFCE desktop configurations, but probably
most GUIs still assume that you only use one desktop, one phone, ... you
know what I mean. I've given up on that topic and leave most GUIy stuff
in their default configuration only touching the most annoying settings.

-=<2..n>=-

-=<2>=-

Modern GUIs are designed to have a low entry level, which means you start clumsy, and you end up clumsy: there is not much prospect for ergonomical improvement, which requires some learning, and even training of reflexes:

Build a system that only a fool can use,
and only a fool will use it.

A low level of entry is the bane of the interfance, for ease of uSe
without prior learning actually discrourages any futher learning
whatsoever: people are lazy. So-called /material design/ is a good
example: it makes interaction with a computer as clumsly as with
the material world.

-=<3>=-

The visual design of modern GUIs appeals to persons with the
aesthetical developement of a six-year-old, who has not formed any
taste yet and likes everying that is bright, colorful, and in
constant motion. Consequently, much effort is spent on eye candy
that is not only useless, but downright harmful, becuase it pollutes
the user's visual input with noise. It is the dominiance of form
over essence.
--- Synchronet 3.19b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

ant@tilde.club writes:

In tilde.meta Vroomfondel <yeti@tilde.institute> wrote:

( Set ... Followup-to: tilde.meta ... I hope without typo. )

Ironically,
in a GUI, I simply copy the name of the group from an adjacent
window, whereas here in Tin running in a terminal the efficient
solution is not so obvious...

Because I don't want one window per shell I use Screen and that has own copy/paste support and Emacs (with and without GUI) has too. But the
number of keys pressed in pure keyboard cut&paste may not be much lower
than typing the group letter by letter.

GNUS even expands incomplete entries in headers like ...

Followup-to: nnt[TAB]

... would show all possible completions starting with the methods that
start with "nn" (e.g. nntp), but trimming that down to only the group
name before sending takes longer than typing it and wishing for it being
typo free.

It should learn to offer only groups from the same server. Or maybe
after I finally got this EmacsOS and its boot-loader (still Debian11)
upgraded (I hope to Devuan5), I'll see improvements in the GNUS included
there. EmacsOS is full of surprises.
--
"Emacs" rhymes with "Yessssss!". \o/ -- 20240328/yeti
--- Synchronet 3.19b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

What I hate about GUIs is that there is no easy way to script it. Does AppleTalk count? I hear there is something called Automator for macOS. I
never worked out how to use it. Something like “process all these files
using these actions.” That seems impossible to do well without falling back to programming languages (shells) and command-line programs.
--- Synchronet 3.19b-Linux NewsLink 1.113

Alex Schroeder <kensanata@cosmic.voyage> writes:

What I hate about GUIs is that there is no easy way to script it. Does AppleTalk count? I hear there is something called Automator for macOS. I never worked out how to use it. Something like “process all these files using these actions.” That seems impossible to do well without falling back to programming languages (shells) and command-line programs.

What I don't like about GUIs is that most of them are so ugly and the
spacing on the screen is usually so misused.
--- Synchronet 3.19b-Linux NewsLink 1.113