🚀 go-pugleaf

mathew@mantis.co.uk (CNEWS MUST DIE!) writes:

>Please name some Mac look-and-feel ideas which are not trivial, and which came
>from Apple research.

Well, first you should be talking about the Lisa (1981) AND LATER, the
Mac (1983).  That's a long time ago.  Here's a rough attempt at
listing some of the innovations in these machines.  Please forgive me
if I go too far in this list....

1.  The one button mouse was considered to be an idiotic, useless
device, before Apple showed you could build a good machine around it.

2.  Other features to support the one-button mouse.  Mouse-down to
drag.  This concept did not exist before the mac.  Shift-mouse to
extend selection.  Pull-down menues (other systems had "pop up" menues
at the time).

4.  Icons in arbitrary places on the screen (XEROX STAR and Viewpoint
1.0 constrained you to a grid, with consequent loss of screen real
estate).  Icons with text BELOW them, not INSIDE them, as in Xerox
Star.

5.  A small screen to make the slow processor seem usable.  Extremely
efficient use of screen space to compensate.  Autoscrolling windows.
Region software to avoid the need for a hardware quickdraw accelerator.

6.  An extensive reprogrammable library of textures for the whole
operating system.  ? Automatic font scaling and font face processing
(italicizing, bolding, etc. automatically).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

These features were NOT found anywhere in Xerox systems when apple
released the mac.  You need to realize that many of the innovation in
the Mac interface is not *what* is there, but *what is not there*.
Another innovation is how it is packaged/used.  Sure you can simulate
a 2-button mouse by pressing a second key on the keyboard, but Apple
chose not to do this.  Why?  Because the Mac design was simpler.

Don Gillies	     |  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
gillies@cs.uiuc.edu  |  Digital Computer Lab, 1304 W. Springfield, Urbana IL

-- 




--