Former Microsoft exec explain how a behavioral psychologist utilized Fitts’s law to place the Windows 95 Start button in the bottom-left.

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  • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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    3 hours ago

    It takes up as much screen space as the Windows taskbar while doing a fraction as much.

    In windows that same screen spaces acts an application launcher / switcher, but also an individual window launcher / switcher, and a clock, utility, and notification space.

    Mac smears half of those into a fully separate system bar that takes up even more space.

    It’s not a mac vs anyone thing, it’s not a mac way of doing things, it’s not like if they had a better dock the whole OS would have to change or fall apart, it’s simply just a badly designed dock / taskbar.

    • LordMayor@piefed.social
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      3 hours ago

      They are not objectively worse than the way Windows does it. I find it way better. The Mac way works better for me. I’ve used Windows and Linux and prefer the menu bar and dock. On Linux, I’ll use a DE that mimics the Mac way.

      You may not like it. It may be inefficient for the way you work but it’s not objectively worse. There can be more than one way to do desktop interfaces. It’s OK.

      • masterspace@lemmy.ca
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        1 hour ago

        I listed objective UX shortcomings with it.

        I’m open to being convinced that you honestly think it’s better than the Windows one, if you can explain why.

        Otherwise this sounds like reflexive defensiveness.

        On Linux especially you can customize a dock to behave literally exactly the same way as Mac, so it’s honestly kind of nonsense to say that you prefer Mac’s way.