>If a UI leaves you with the feeling of being angry and upset, I would say you are putting to much emotion into the issue.

I talk to users all the time who are made to feel stupid by their computers. Are they putting too much emotion into the issue? You and I work with computers for a living. We don't mind accomodating to them, but most people out there use them because they have to to get something done. When the computer behaves in a way that confuses them or gets in their way, it interferes with their work. It does leave them feeling frustrated, angry, stupid or other negative emotions.

I was on the phone yesterday with a woman with whom I'm working on a community project. Providing computer support for her is not my job, but I end up doing so regularly because the interfaces for the tools she needs to use so bad that she can't get her work done and she gets frustrated. This is not a stupid woman. I suspect that everyone here can tell many such stories.

>Again, you are still speaking in very general terms. I ask you again, what practical work have you done in the area of web development that leads you to the conclusions you make? If web-based UI's are really that bad, what would you suggest in making them better. Enough with the theory. Please, share with us the practical work you have actually produced....

My work in the area of web development is irrelevant to this conversation. The comment that set it off was that I found the interface of the UT difficult _as a user_. However, if it makes you happier for me to say it explicitly, I haven't done web development.

>Your assertion is that web-interfaces are inherently bad. My counter to that argument is that web intefaces have the same chance of success as anything else. The issue is with the designers...

Wrong, my assertion is that we should hold the designers of web interfaces to the same high standards that we have for the designers of other interfaces. That is, that they must design _user-centered_ interfaces.

>That said, the browser interface is a document-centric. It lends itself to the use of a mouse.

That's a contradiction in terms. Document-centric interfaces should not depend heavily on the mouse, in my view. Do you use the mouse a lot when you're working in, say, Word? I keep my hands on the keyboard there.

> Have you ever used the mouse wheel?

Yes, I have. I haven't decided yet whether I like it or not.

> However, your opinion puts you in an extreme minority.

In fact, reading this thread, I saw a number of others who agreed that we've let web designers get away with sloppy design.

>If your mouse is broken, go buy a new mouse.....

What if my mouse is broken and I need to get work done _today_? What if I'm on the road and there's a problem with my notebook? I've had this stuff happen. Haven't you? I've had to navigate in Windows with the keyboard only.

>As for accesibility issues, that is a wide open topic. Obviously, folks need to take that into account when designing a site.

Hey, look, a point of agreement.

Tamar