On Wednesday, Jan 30, Jim Crumley wrote: > Anyway menu systems seem more useful for newbies (or at least icons with > balloon help describing name or function. There is a solid reason, based in human psychology, why menu driven systems are more useful for newbies. The human mind is wired to be able to recognize many more things than it can directly recall. IIRC, research shows an approximately 8:1 ratio between recognition vs. recall capability -- people are typically able to recognize about eight times more "things" than they can directly recall. Real world examples of this phenomenon might be: having a word "on the tip of your tongue" (i.e. if someone spoke the word, you would recognize it) or being able to drive somewhere yourself but being unable remember enough details to tell someone else how to drive there. Menu systems leverage the human mind's natural propensity for recognition. Menus make it possible for a novice user to perform useful work without first having to overcome the significant learning curve imposed by the necessity to memorize a bunch of commands or keystrokes. On the other hand, expert users generally will get sick of "row, row, row your mouse" menu navigation and will want to have keystroke shortcuts. IMHO, a good user interface should provide for both novice and expert users. Joel