Re: Looking for like-minded programmers who use the enhanced features of 5250

Hi Booth

I don't think the point is what they are used to - it seems that if you have to switch between keyboard and mouse, it is a time-waster.

There are different needs, as this thread has shown. If doing heavy data entry - putting in lots of text in lots of different fields - a character-based interface is generally more efficient, as several have pointed out. Entry can be done without looking at the keyboard, ever - tabs and newline keys are easily used in repetitive processing for input.

And as some have said, they just don't have that happening, so a more mouse-driven interface is OK. A mouse-driven interface is eye-driven, so far as I see it - and having to locate by eye is often slower - yes, a person can get faster over time.

And if you want to draw pictures, there is nothing but a mouse to be used - and we don't have too much of image manipulation in IBM i interfaces, although that could be opened up with GUIs. maybe?

Web pages can be designed to be really awful - as an example, how hard is it to set the input box that gets focus first? It's not - but even professional companies have made the mistake, at least in the past, a lot, of just letting the cursor end up wherever.

To me, one pretty-good approach is to have the 5250 character-based interface available, along with a graphical interface - people can learn to use what is more effective for the work they do.

Cheers
Vern

On 6/27/2018 11:57 AM, Booth Martin wrote:

People today are not used to a mouse?


On 6/27/2018 7:33 AM, Ken Meade wrote:

... While those that need to bring people in want an
interface that 'people are used to'.

In order to meet the needs of both we really need to design these new
systems so a mouse isn't required to do the task.