
Newton Interface Design
Anticipate the User's Action
Offering dynamic pickers is obviously one way of anticipating user actions, but there are several other ways as well. The interface rule is simple:
- Whenever possible, anticipate what the user wants to do and go ahead and do it yourself.
Here are some examples:
- Auto-number items
- For example, in a checkbook application, you should auto-number the checks.
- Preset items
- For example, in applications that use the date, set the entry to the current date when new items are created.
- Pre-fill known entries
- For example, if a user does an Intelligent assistance of "Pay Bob", then fill out a new check to the last-found Bob in a checkbook application.
An online version of Programming for the Newton using Macintosh, 2nd ed. ©1996, 1994, Julie McKeehan and Neil Rhodes.
Last modified: 1 DEC 1996