--- ST (& new XL) Keyboards ---

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2 total messages Started by nep.pgelhausen Fri, 25 Oct 1985 16:34

#1334

Author: nep.pgelhausen
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1985 16:34

14 lines
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While on the subject of keyboards.  WHERE DID ATARI GET THE IDEA FOR
THOSE (&@#$@#$%#@ SLANTED FUNCTION KEYS?   They may LOOK "futuristic",
they may be GREAT for those who use their left hands to select them,
but they are a real PAIN for those (like me) who try to use their
right hands!  Why not SQUARE buttons?  (For that matter, why are they
all up in one row w/ NO seperation?......maybe the pushing two keys
problem would go away if they weren't slanted.....)

When will Atari learn that ergonomics means more than appearance

			-Richard Hartman
			max.hartman@ames-vmsb
------

Re: --- ST slanted function keys

#1360

Author: Bill Henneman
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1985 16:28

26 lines
1987 bytes

One of the great attractions of the ST environment for me is, that it
possible to go beyond beginner mode into knowledgable user mode.  This
is in stark contrast to the Mac, where I am either forced to
relentlessly click dialog box after dialog box to get at some effect I
should have been able to express from the keyboard in a couple of
strokes. In a lot of the ST application software, you don't have to
click a quit item in a menu if you don't want to, Control C works too.
Unless I've been royally ripped off, I'll only be a beginner on the
machine for a little while:  I'll be a wizard for years to come.

Everyone I know who uses mouse-based computers or workstations, whether
they be LISP machines, graphics work stations, or home computers,
quickly home in on the "California" mode of use: left hand hovering over
the keyboard, right hand on the mouse.

Since I bought the Atari ST in July, people (programmers, really) have
been trooping through my house playing with it, and I have been struck
by the uniformity of response.  Everyone who works with Xerox 1108s or
Sun workstations think the keyboard is very well designed: everyone who
works with vt220s or 3270s grump about the slanted PF keys.  

I think this is another instance in which Atari made the correct choice:
the slanting is only annoying for a short break-in period, and a great
convenience after that.
					Ergonomically yours,
					Bill Henneman

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