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With something like the vim editor, I can understand why/how it is that modes can generally lead to confusion when implemented in a way that is not immediate to the user. However, I severely doubt that user confusion is inherent within the concept of modal computer interface usage. More likely, modifying implementation (say, by making the background screen colour of different modes change in a manner that corresponds to those different modes, is the most likely way in which it would be possible to implement modal computer interfaces whilst preventing user confusion).
I would be interested in any comments that are out there in regards to this. --[[Nukemason]|[Nukemason]] 08 August 2006 1911 (UTC)
Mobile phones aren't modal too? I believe it would be convenient to point out that the most ubiquitous device today, the mobile phone, has a modal interface (i.e. pressing twice the '1' key will dial '11' when making a call but will write a 'b' when writing a message as an easy example) but that was no problem to reach its present popularity. Ricardo Bravo
This article is very heavily biased against modal design. Attempts to add an admittedly imperfect advantages section have been completely undone.
An advantages section should be created, and Diego should help clean up submissions, as he's fond of doing, instead of completely preventing them for some reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.180.231 ( talk) 04:59, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm fine with adding that section as long as it's well referenced. I'd prefer to call it 'effects of modes' instead of advantages, or at least 'benefits'; 'advantages' implies that comparatively it provides some extra pay-off that can't be achieved in modeless interfaces, which is rarely true in my experience. So what are those obvious advantages? The only one I can think of is getting the user focused on a single shoehorned task, by making hard to escape from it. But I've haven't found references to support this usage. Diego Moya ( talk) 09:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
I'll try to place all content regarding mode errors in the "mode errors" and "criticism" section. This way it won't be disseminated all over the article. Diego Moya ( talk) 18:52, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
Several people found an earlier version of this article to be biased against the use of modes. I believe that this perception was caused first because there isn't a developed description of modes and its effects, and the most detailed description is that of mode errors; and second because the content about errors was spread all over the article. Almost all content about mode errors is well referenced, but having it appear in every section gave an overall negative impression.
To address these problems I've concentrated all negative descriptions of modes in the Mode errors and Assessment sections; and I've added an "Expand section" tag to the Examples section. In my opinion this better qualifies the problem with this article than the POV tag. The WP:STRUCTURE section in NPOV policy advises us to keep a neutral presentation, which I think the new article structure achieves.
Several editors have expressed their opinions that modes have some specific benefits in interface design, but have consistently failed to find sources that prove this view, which seems to be based in applications with a good design that also happen to be modal. Without any evidence to support that those advantages are due to modes, and given the lack of articles praising modes in the literature, I claim that this view by those editors is not a relevant one and thus I'm removing the POV tag until proven wrong with reliable sources. Expanding the examples section to describe how modes work, and keeping all information about mode errors together should be enough to address their concerns. Diego Moya ( talk) 20:06, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
"Emacs - has a special mode for issuing commands, which is entered by pressing the control key plus a letter key." Eh? Even for the people who argue that quasimodes are modes, this should say "which is entered and then exited by..." since the result of typing the control-letter combination is not to enter a mode — the alleged mode is all finished as soon as the command finishes. But I'm not suggesting that wording; my point is that the language makes the absurdity of calling control-letter a mode obvious.
Is this a bending over backward to appear neutral in the emacs/vi wars? It's unnecessary; the bullet point goes on to mention Emacs's many real modes, many more than vi, I think. If this is going to devolve into an emacs/vi article, the important point is that Emacs's modes are long-term, usually not changing within the editing of a particular document, whereas the vi user is constantly popping in and out of command mode.
But in any case, if the world's population is still growing exponentially, surely the fraction of Wikipedia readers who care about emacs/vi wars must be tiny by now. I suggest that this article would be improved by eliminating all references to either of those editors, and instead focusing on the importance of the idea of modelessness in the development of the Macintosh (in which Tesler and Raskin were both major contributors) and thus in the acceptance of computers by the non-techie population at large. If we're going to introduce specific bad examples, how about Photoshop, a program still in widespread use, which is so riddled with modes that lay users can never get it to do what they want? Briankharvey ( talk) 23:47, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
I find it ironic that while adding a wiki link for "quasimodes" I ran into one of my most common mode errors: editing a wikipedia page without being logged in. I typically only notice my mistake when the "This is a minor edit" checkbox doesn't appear, then when I log in I lose my edits. Argh. Sorry for venting but the irony was too good to pass up. Atomota ( talk) 16:40, 6 November 2014 (UTC)
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With something like the vim editor, I can understand why/how it is that modes can generally lead to confusion when implemented in a way that is not immediate to the user. However, I severely doubt that user confusion is inherent within the concept of modal computer interface usage. More likely, modifying implementation (say, by making the background screen colour of different modes change in a manner that corresponds to those different modes, is the most likely way in which it would be possible to implement modal computer interfaces whilst preventing user confusion).
I would be interested in any comments that are out there in regards to this. --[[Nukemason]|[Nukemason]] 08 August 2006 1911 (UTC)
Mobile phones aren't modal too? I believe it would be convenient to point out that the most ubiquitous device today, the mobile phone, has a modal interface (i.e. pressing twice the '1' key will dial '11' when making a call but will write a 'b' when writing a message as an easy example) but that was no problem to reach its present popularity. Ricardo Bravo
This article is very heavily biased against modal design. Attempts to add an admittedly imperfect advantages section have been completely undone.
An advantages section should be created, and Diego should help clean up submissions, as he's fond of doing, instead of completely preventing them for some reason. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.64.180.231 ( talk) 04:59, 19 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm fine with adding that section as long as it's well referenced. I'd prefer to call it 'effects of modes' instead of advantages, or at least 'benefits'; 'advantages' implies that comparatively it provides some extra pay-off that can't be achieved in modeless interfaces, which is rarely true in my experience. So what are those obvious advantages? The only one I can think of is getting the user focused on a single shoehorned task, by making hard to escape from it. But I've haven't found references to support this usage. Diego Moya ( talk) 09:16, 23 December 2010 (UTC)
I'll try to place all content regarding mode errors in the "mode errors" and "criticism" section. This way it won't be disseminated all over the article. Diego Moya ( talk) 18:52, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
Several people found an earlier version of this article to be biased against the use of modes. I believe that this perception was caused first because there isn't a developed description of modes and its effects, and the most detailed description is that of mode errors; and second because the content about errors was spread all over the article. Almost all content about mode errors is well referenced, but having it appear in every section gave an overall negative impression.
To address these problems I've concentrated all negative descriptions of modes in the Mode errors and Assessment sections; and I've added an "Expand section" tag to the Examples section. In my opinion this better qualifies the problem with this article than the POV tag. The WP:STRUCTURE section in NPOV policy advises us to keep a neutral presentation, which I think the new article structure achieves.
Several editors have expressed their opinions that modes have some specific benefits in interface design, but have consistently failed to find sources that prove this view, which seems to be based in applications with a good design that also happen to be modal. Without any evidence to support that those advantages are due to modes, and given the lack of articles praising modes in the literature, I claim that this view by those editors is not a relevant one and thus I'm removing the POV tag until proven wrong with reliable sources. Expanding the examples section to describe how modes work, and keeping all information about mode errors together should be enough to address their concerns. Diego Moya ( talk) 20:06, 30 December 2010 (UTC)
"Emacs - has a special mode for issuing commands, which is entered by pressing the control key plus a letter key." Eh? Even for the people who argue that quasimodes are modes, this should say "which is entered and then exited by..." since the result of typing the control-letter combination is not to enter a mode — the alleged mode is all finished as soon as the command finishes. But I'm not suggesting that wording; my point is that the language makes the absurdity of calling control-letter a mode obvious.
Is this a bending over backward to appear neutral in the emacs/vi wars? It's unnecessary; the bullet point goes on to mention Emacs's many real modes, many more than vi, I think. If this is going to devolve into an emacs/vi article, the important point is that Emacs's modes are long-term, usually not changing within the editing of a particular document, whereas the vi user is constantly popping in and out of command mode.
But in any case, if the world's population is still growing exponentially, surely the fraction of Wikipedia readers who care about emacs/vi wars must be tiny by now. I suggest that this article would be improved by eliminating all references to either of those editors, and instead focusing on the importance of the idea of modelessness in the development of the Macintosh (in which Tesler and Raskin were both major contributors) and thus in the acceptance of computers by the non-techie population at large. If we're going to introduce specific bad examples, how about Photoshop, a program still in widespread use, which is so riddled with modes that lay users can never get it to do what they want? Briankharvey ( talk) 23:47, 8 January 2011 (UTC)
I find it ironic that while adding a wiki link for "quasimodes" I ran into one of my most common mode errors: editing a wikipedia page without being logged in. I typically only notice my mistake when the "This is a minor edit" checkbox doesn't appear, then when I log in I lose my edits. Argh. Sorry for venting but the irony was too good to pass up. Atomota ( talk) 16:40, 6 November 2014 (UTC)
Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 4 external links on Mode (computer interface). Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018.
After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than
regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors
have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the
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source check}}
(last update: 18 January 2022).
Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot ( Report bug) 07:23, 3 February 2018 (UTC)