[This page is a place holder for Cameron and others to write about the topic of using Tk to create intelligent interfaces - the creation of interfaces that anticipate the needs of the user and then customizing the interface so that only the right things can be done at any point...]

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RS hopes the stupid chevrons (that hide parts of menus, only to make you curious) as seen on recent Windowses are not counted as "intelligent"... though they adapt - if you selected "Paint" from a chevroned menu, next time it'll be out in the open...

schlenk likes the chevrons actually (after getting used to them). But actually they cure symptoms (to large menus) instead of curing the problem (overloaded interfaces).

AET 09feb05 hates the chevrons, too. How are you supposed to learn the features of a menu system when it hides stuff you haven't used yet? If you haven't used a feature for a while, it disappears, so looking for it is NOT intuitive. This scheme seems to epitomise a hidden agenda to dumb down the user and increase dependency on support. The feature can usually be turned off , but is usually the default. Irritates the hell out of me . . .

Chris Nelson also votes against the stupid chevrons! A bit of intelligence that I like is if you open a standard 'Windows Print dialog and type something in the page number field, the radio button for All, Selection, Pages, etc. automatically changes to Pages. This is so much nicer than having the page entry fields disabled until you select the Pages radio button.

[Kernighan; context-sensitivity; Tk "gray-out" idioms; ...]

See also BOOK About Face.

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