Re: Frontend redesign

[Johan Strandberg <it!johan>]

> Have you noticed how the "smbl" button works on the wizard? [...]

Ugh!  The Wizards way of doing shorthand is OK (actually very good) for
novice users and infrequently used sequences.  For example, the same
mechanism is very good when setting timezones.

The problem is that it is impossible to learn the keystroke sequence
for doing a '(' to grab a frequent example.  It changes it's assigned
key as you type, and the only way you can enter a list of phone numbers
is by remembering what you did last and keep a sort of mental
simulation of the special characters menu, so that when you need a
character you can just hit the right key without searching.

If you intend to copy this interface (and it has its advantages in the
correct domain), please allow the user to "lock" favorite things in the
menu.  Otherwise you have to *read* the darn thing *every* time,
regardless of how good you are at remembering.  Short-term memory is a
wonderous and useful thing, don't work against it.

--johan