A Single Click Operating System
As an IT lecturer, I occasionally get a class where I have to teach beginners how to use such fundamentals as Windows, Office and the internet. As such, I'm in a good position to see where points of confusion arise for people new to computers and there are two which got me thinking.
Firstly, that the web and Windows are two different environments with different rules. It's hard to explain to the students that they don't have to double click HTML links, for example.
And secondly... When exactly do you have to double click in Windows and when do you only have to single click? I'm sure you, the reader know, and I certainly do, but how can you get it into a simple one sentence rule that a beginner can take on board? Every time I come up with one, I find a loophole. "Double click is for icons" doesn't work because you then have to define what an icon is and the loopholes just pop up there instead. It gets even worse in MacOS X with the Finder sidebar, which is single-click, and column view, which is confusingly both single and double-click.
In thinking about this, I've come to wonder why we double click at all. It's baffling and seemingly inconsistent for beginners, entirely unnecessary and has no parallel in the real world. Can you think of a button you have to press twice quickly to activate some household device?
Two Genres
A lot of people say things like "there are no new ideas". It's something I don't agree with myself as clearly these people haven't seen Avatar, read The Dark Tower, used an iPod scroll wheel or, for that matter, been on the web at all. Still, assuming they're right then I guess the only thing to do is mix the ideas we have differently. Forget chocolate covered strawberries. Let's try chocolate covered fish.
In writing, you can craft some interesting and novel stories by blending two genres. One genre becomes your setting and the other your plot. Why not have a World War 2 style war movie set in the future? Or a detective mystery set in medieval times? Some of the most popular fiction around uses a two genre approach like this.
Two Endings
Two television shows I watch recently both came to their respective climactic endings. Avatar, a wonderful show which constantly surprises me with the respect it treats its viewers, came to the end of its three year run with a handful of simultaneous good-versus-evil battles. On the other side of the pond, Doctor Who polished off its fourth season in the typical teeth-grindingly farcical style of out-going head writer Russel T Davis.
The End of Moore
Moore's Law is a law that governs the advancement of technology in the computer industry. The original is quite lengthy and talks about transistor densities but the commonly accepted snappy, quotable version is something along the lines of "computer power doubles every two years".
And it applies to pretty much everything in computers. A hard drive that you buy in two years is likely to be twice the size of one you buy now. Computer processors are likely to be twice as fast then too. Memory would be twice as much, flash drives twice as big and internet connections would be twice as fast. So far, Moore's law has held firm for nearly fifty years - with just the occasional plateau as some limit is reached that requires a little extra thought to get around.
However, Moore's law is coming to an end.
Character Icons
An icon is something which is simple and distinctive which represents something larger and more complex. Company logos are, of course, and obvious example. A small, simple picture represents the company, the company's management and the company's brand. See an Apple with a bite taken out of it and you think "iPhone" and "iPod", for example. Steve Jobs, the company's charismatic showman CEO may also spring to mind if you keep up with the IT news.
Icons don't have to be pictures, though. They can use any of the senses. John Williams, a composer, brought into Hollywood movies the operatic traditions of having iconic musical cues to represent characters, places and even concepts. The Star Wars movies, for example, have instantly recognisable tunes and beats for Luke Skywaker, Princess Leia, the Force, Darth Vader and the Emperor, just to name a few. Similarly, four notes is all that's required for anyone to recognise the Indiana Jones march. (Dum de dum dum!)
There are other examples, too. The steady, mechanical breathing of Darth Vader is a powerful icon, as is the crackling breath of a Predator (from the movie of the same name). Indiana Jones' whip, his hat and his silhouette have all been used as icons in those movies. Even the way someone speaks can be a powerful icon, from the insane screeching of Doctor Who's Daleks as they scream "Exterminate!", to the typography of Death's dialogue in Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (HE TALKS LIKE THIS).