Comment 8 for bug 145673

On 9/27/07, Vincent <email address hidden> wrote:
> "when you copy-paste from a forum post or help dialog there is no
> change of a typo provided the original command was vetted properly
> (which I would assume to be the case if we put them in the docs)..."
>
> Well, yeah, but then you don't know what you're doing (not that most
> people know when they are clicking things in a window, but they have the
> feeling they do), which is the reason that is scary.

Exactly, it's scary because it's different and unfamiliar. Clicking
is like a safety blanket for people because, in most cases, that's all
they've ever done. So even when they have no clue what they're
clicking on, they feel safe because the button metaphor is familiar.

I'm just saying that we should make a serious effort to introduce
people to a different metaphor rather than trying to maintain a huge
repository of information about what to click in a given situation.
The less complex things are the less likely there will be bugs.

Not that they can't coexist to some extent, I think it's fair to say
that anything involving editing a config file is fair-game for a gui
because describing the gui in this case is easier than describing the
CLI version (e.g. "look for the section labeled "foo", you might have
to scroll up and down, it will be surrounding in brackets... etc.").

-George
--
~ George T. Lesica
<email address hidden>