On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 3:28 PM, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> Jared Hardy wrote:
> > On Mon, Mar 24, 2008 at 1:47 PM, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell_at_gmail.com> wrote:
> >> I think I'm being realistic. Ignoring the case in filenames is about
> >> the same as ignoring the colors of a traffic light.
> >
> > I hate to quibble over such small things, but I must disagree with
> > this statement. Different character cases in strings are much more
> > like the difference between red and magenta (if you want to use the
> > color analogy).
>
> Not when they hit a case sensitive filesystem. There, they are simply
> different characters.
No, they are not. They are the same characters, in a different *state*
-- lower vs. caps state. That state is inherently ambiguous in common
use, and thus harder to perceive, than truly separate characters.
Depending on choice of font, even completely separate characters, with
separate common uses, LOOK the same: [1 l i I]. I'm talking about
humans here -- human perception, which is central to any interface
design. I don't care about filesystems -- that's a technical back-end
detail that users shouldn't be forced to contend with. This is about
the human interface, not the filesystem, nor any other back-end
detail.
> > In different contexts, those two colors can appear to
> > be exactly the same. It's only when you stack them directly on top of
> > each other, in the same (flat) lighting conditions, that the
> > differences become more apparent.
>
> This is precisely why the person using them needs to more sensitive to
> the difference, not encouraged to ignore it.
I'm not saying they should ignore it in every case. I'm just
acknowledging that humans do that by default -- none of your interface
defaults are going to change that fact, so they might as well
accommodate it, when technically feasible. In this case, I am speaking
for SVN 2.0 now, since Erik made it clear it's probably not feasible
for existing 1.x deployments.
> > Text case does not represent the same contrast -- it is
> > highly contextual. It's the same reason some pre-Internet grandparents
> > seem to have a tendency to keep the caps-lock on, and SHOUT at
> > everyone, in forums or e-mail. They don't see the difference, at all.
>
> Well, no... that was because this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASR33
> only had an uppercase ASCII character set.
Wow -- this just proves how twisted your mind is, by your CS
background. This is exactly why you shouldn't be trusted with human
interface design. ;) I assure you none of my parents or grandparents,
at least not the ones prone to SHOUT case, have ever used an ASR-33
Teletype, nor would they even know what that is. Even on old
mechanical typewriters, caps-lock was a convenience for those who
didn't care about case, not a technical requirement.
:) Jred
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Received on 2008-03-26 23:50:32 CET