>I know that a big barrier for most people is when doing stuff
>that require reading a manual. Like setting the VCR to record at a
>certain time.
>A good GUI should help with consistency, intuition and being very
>tolerant
>of different user styles. Take for a very simplified example: pen and
>paper.
>Once the concept is grasped you expect every pen and paper to behave the
>same way.
>If it does not you usually throw out the pen or the paper and find a new one.

> >OTOH, these form programs (IE, Netscape) do cooperate with native window
> >management and put that to use by using multiple native windows to present
> >information. As I said, that's probably the thing I miss most in Squeak.
>
> Well, anyone who really wants such a thing needs only ASMOP

What is ASMOP ?

> >  >Also, you may be aware that SqC in its earlier form at Xerox PARC
> >>originated many of the ideas that are now used in "standard" GUIs. I
> >>think that earns us the right to say that "Neither current UIs nor
> >>Squeak's current UI are any good".

Well, when I first had contact with Smalltalk Express, I built my applications
using the Window Builder Pro, and they were not much different from any other
Windows95 application windows, including fonts, colors, menus, etc.... But they
could be different if I decided to make them look different... And if an
application needs ask the user to find and select a file to open for example, I
can use standard Windows95 file dialogs or create my own, as I want. Using Squeak
seems that I do not have this choice, I must use Squeak style windows and/or
dialogs...

If I am a PC user - newbie or experimented - and I download a new application,
maybe I feel excited with a different look opening at the screen. But I will turn
angry in few seconds if I can't guess how to interact with it or use the
application.

Squeak does not have a window builder for MVC projects but there is something
similar to work with morphic projects. I think it is not a big problem how an
application window looks like, since it is easy to understand.
But the top for this subject would be a kind of menu with some options for any
project created with Squeak, something to make any look easy to set by the end
user:
'How do you want this window? -Mac look  -Windows look  -OtherOS look...'


Now, I would like to know if an application built with Squeak can run
'standalone', with only its own window  - how? - or it always must run inside a
Squeak window.
(Why should the development environment remain as background for my application?)
In Smalltalk Express there is not this main window: all browsers, transcripts,
workspaces - and your application window - can be opened, closed and minimized the
same way you can do with many independent Netscape windows in your desktop, for
example...
I expected that an evoluted Smalltalk version did not lost these creation
abilities.... This sounds like forget how to walk due to cars development.