[9fans] Mousing muscle memory (was: Mousing is faster than typing but users do not believe it)

[Ethan Grammatikidis <eekee57@fastmail.fm>]

On Wed, 15 Jun 2011 09:23:56 -0700
David Leimbach <leimy2k@gmail.com> wrote:

> http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2657135
>
> Dave

Has anyone read the last few posts on this YC thread? Specifically the ones on game playing. The particular point which interested me was that game players can get so fast they must have developed muscle memory for mouse operations. I reflected on when I used to build a lot in Second Life, back when it had the "pie menu" - a circular menu with eight pie-shaped segments. I didn't need to look at that menu to know which segment I was selecting. It would just be a flicker in the corner of my screen as I opened it and selected the option I wanted in one barely-thought-about action, even through multiple levels of the menu. "Take Copy" (for instance) involved a right-click, the bottom segment for "More..." and then the top segment for "Take Copy" itself. All that became one action, the details completely instinctual. The audio feedback may have helped; it certainly told you by it's absence if you accidentally clicked on the sky instead of the object you were working on, but I'm di
 gressing.

I'm quite certain you can develop muscle memory for mouse actions in some situations. I'm very interested in determining exactly what situations and how to apply it in a more serious context. Chording can become instinctual if your fingers are up to the task but remembering that pie menu from Second Life, I wonder if such a thing would be just as efficient for text.

I find Rio's menus inefficient as they are, and I'm wondering why. One point is that the menus appear with the last chosen item selected, which means the pointer is not in a consistent position relative to the menu when it is opened. (I generally don't remember what my last menu operation was.) Another may be that the vertical stack of relatively narrow lines is just unsuitable for developing muscle memory; this certainly applies to me. I think direction is probably a more valuable property than distance when trying to develop muscle memory. SL's pie menu had relatively narrow but deep segments; the direction mattered much more than the distance, and that seemed just right to me.

Acme is a curious case. I think it's safe to say starting with the pointer in a consistent position relative to the interface is essential to building mouse muscle memory. Second Life always opened the pie menu with the pointer in the center. If the pointer was too near the edge of the window it was moved to the center of the opened menu. I've no doubt consistency is achieved in other games, albeit in different ways. In the worst case the player can leave the pointer on a particular icon. I've noticed I move the pointer to a fairly consistent 'rest spot' even in Second Life. Acme warps the pointer around in a way that fits with this idea up to a point, but then it spoils it by placing Del and Put somewhat inconsistently. It's not all bad, but I have to use my eyes for Put almost every single time.