Chapter 13 -- User Input and Notification

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Chapter 13

Users communicate with a program by way of keyboard and mouse input. Programs communicate with users by way of sounds, message boxes, dialog boxes, and other visual cues. This two-way communication allows users to work smoothly with an application, getting their jobs done as easily as possible.

NOTE

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Many different pointing devices are used today, including touch pads, tablets, and trackballs. For the most part, the concepts presented in this chapter apply not only to the mouse but also to these other pointing devices. I'll refer to the mouse when discussing interaction with the user's pointing device in general, however, for simplicity and because the mouse is still the dominant pointing device in the market.

It's important to remember that a program is really just a tool. Unless you've written a game, most users aren't running your program simply for the sake of running it. Instead, each is using your program to accomplish some task more efficiently . When the two-way communication between the user and your program suffers from deficiencies in either direction, the effectiveness of the program as a tool is diminished. Users shouldn't have to think much about using your program, much like you don't have to think about the mechanics of using a butter knife to spread peanut butter on a slice of bread.